A word from the outgoing Captain John Ward

Hello everyone,

What do I have to be thankful for? A great club full of golfers that a friendly and welcoming, Green staff that love their course and take pride in what they do.

I have had a bit of insight this year to the course and it’s maintenance, some weeks they no sooner finish cutting the rough then they have to start again, cutting round the trees is more of a limbo skill (we have an unsung hero in Paddy) and the greens are double cut most days another time consuming job.

Trees maintenance has been a full time Job for the volunteers led by Brian Sellers, it is a large area to keep on top off with many different challenges well done all. Mark and his team do a fantastic job of keeping the place in tip top condition.

It has been a real pleasure to get to meet so many of you this year, wth the opportunity to play all the local courses in Captains’ Invitation Days and then to showcase our own course in mine. We were battling the weather on that day but the course was set up brilliantly - another example of the team going the extra bit with a special thanks to Shawn, Paddy, Lewis, Shaun and the leader of the team Mark.

Putting our course up against the rest, what I can say? For me, the variety of our course is second to none in this area; the wind it changes the course, which may not be to be everyone liking, but it is never boring and every day is a different challenge. 

Thank you all for the support with my competitions, events with the food were as always lovely, but definitely up a notch on the captains invitation day. Thanks Tracey, John, Mike, Nina in the catering, the guys behind the bar Alex, Caitlain, Mags, Will and Phoebe - not forgetting Bekky, brilliant as always and fantastic they way she pushed the Captain’s Charity every day and supported our whole work for the year.

The Juniors and Ladies section are going very well and it was a pleasure to play a few rounds with our Lady Captain Jayne in charity events. Well done to the juniors in the inter district Yorkshire league, coming second for such a small catchment area is a testament to all the work Matt and Luke do at grass roots level - keep it up lads!

To our two top junior gunners Ethan and Tom, well done boys played some awesome golf at the highest level on some testing courses.

To the seniors, again thanks lads I saw the support and competitions you entered in aid of my charity and the bus stops you supported every week.

To the past captains, what a great bunch donating prizes and putting teams in just made it that much easier for me, you know who you are!

To Brian Wilson, Burstwick’s first ever Hull & District Captain of Captains, it was a pleasure and an honour to serve alongside you representing the club - you did a fantastic job and I hope you enjoyed your year as much as I did - you did Burstwick proud!

Thank you to the Key family for supporting me throughout the year and holding some great events for me including the Charity Am-Am, Captains Invitation and Captains Race Night, it was a pleasure to Captain your club.

Finally to my biggest supporters, my family. My wife Annie, daughter Grace and son Tom for giving their time to me to help me do the role justice and drive the charity events, and last but not least Gilly great vice, who I’m sure will be be a greater captain I was! If you see him please say hello to him and support as you have me.

My Captain’s Charity - We proudly raised and donated £7,000 to this great local cause and the Wilkinson family supported every event, thank you! It was a real pleasure to support this and look forward to supporting them in the future.

The Daniel Wilkinson Foundation 

 The Daniel Wilkinson Foundation

#doitfordan

John A. Ward
Club Captain 2023