THE Mere Resort and Spa staged the 65th annual dinner for the Cheshire Union of Golf Clubs.

There was an attendance of over 180 representing Cheshire clubs and officials and many guests from other county unions and golf organisations who enjoyed a night to remember for the county as it moves closer to its centenary in 2020.

The principal guest was Keith Macintosh, the captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, who gave an informative and amusing account of his distinguished time in golf and praised Cheshire for its high profile.

The response was given by Cheshire president Roy Smethurst of Crewe Golf Club, a true golfing legend in his county, country and in Europe.

He outlined the hard work done by county officials during the past season which saw them organise over 50 events for the county championships, life members, county matches, seniors and juniors plus many coaching and practice sessions.

He also thanked them all as well as recognising the achievements and successes of the many guests at the dinner.

Smethurst also presented prize vouchers to Dave Nelson (Northenden GC) for the Seniors Order of Merit, Tom Dolan (Heswall) for the Northern and Cheshire Order of Merit and Mike Harrington (Mottram Hall) as the Cheshire Player of the Year.

Bolton Old Links GC are enjoying a great year of celebration of their 125 years as a leading golf club in the North West.

The future for the club looks bright as their outstanding junior team won one of the area’s top team trophies by winning the Manchester and District Golf Alliance’s Williams BMW Junior Challenge final at the traditional venue of Lowes Park GC.

Old Links had battled through several rounds to reach finals day where they took on Davyhulme Park, whose junior team had also had an outstanding run of victories to reach the last two.

It promised to be an epic battle as DHP drew first blood with a win from Matt Picken by 3&2 against Max Powter.

But then Old Links showed their intent as they took the lead with wins for Nathan Clarke, 3&2 against Dean Douglas, and Jamie Welsby, 4&3 against Andrew Coleman.

Charlie Ward hit back for DHP to draw his team level with a 3&1 win against Jack Bryan.

Oliver Chadwick restored the BOL lead, beating Matt Gallagher one-up and then the trophy was secured with a 4&3 victory for Ryan Hamer over Ellis Willott.

Ben Barwell won the other match for DHP, one-up against Sam Rigby to give BOL a 4-3 winning margin.

Both teams were complimented by all present for their sporting attitude and skill on the excellently presented Lowes Park course.