West Hove GC beat Golf du Sart 5½ - 2½ in Lille, France today

Sixteen Members travelled to France last Friday to play Golf du Sart GC in the first of the Club's 2010 centenary matches. As happened last year, a practice round took place in the afternoon before the team travelled into old Lille for a lovely dinner at 'La Cave aux Fioles', an atmospheric  restaurant in a 17th Century building owned by Golf du Sart member Eric Chevalier.

On the Saturday, and in recognition of our centenary year, our hosts had organised a special Stableford competition called "God Save the Green". Each West Hove Member played with two Golf du Sart Members, but nobody from this side of the English Channel played well enough to feature in the prizes. However, after the golf some of our Members did win prizes in a special draw where typically English fayre was up for grabs! In the evening our hosts invited their wives and partners to join both teams in a casual dinner in the Clubhouse. Magnifique!

The main 'business' however was the match against the French side. The series stood at 1-1 so there was everything to play for. On a dry, but chilly, Sunday morning the team's green fleece jumpers proved beneficial, helping our pairings to perform as follows:

Gordon Eaton and Keith Fender won 5&4
John Godley and Maurice Grange won 7&5
Brian Hazelgrove & Bernard Barker won 1 up
Kevin White and Bob Smith lost 1 down
Andrew Macgregor-Boyle and Dave Southon won 3&2
Pete Rodger and Damon Raikes lost 1 down
Steve Nielsen and Neville Hudson halved their match
Jeff Rhodes and Dave Nealer won 1 up                   
West Hove won the match 5½ - 2½

Following a splendid lunch in the Clubhouse, Club Captain Gordon Eaton spoke to the assembled mass in French. Amongst other things, he thanked our hosts for their fantastic hospitality and friendship. He endorsed the view of all West Hove Members that it had been a wonderful weekend and it was good to see that the 'entente cordiale' had been maintained. He then arranged for Brian Hazelgrove to present a 'Clock with a Coq' and a bone-china centenary plate to Golf du Sart. Their President, Jean-François Toulemonde, replied in his typically humorous manner.
         
We would like to thank everybody at Golf du Sart for a wonderful weekend, particularly those Committee Members who played in the match - namely Jean-François Toulemonde, Pierre-Marie Flipo (Vice- President), Thierry Dujardin (Communications Manager), Philippe Rogeau (Sports Committee) and Didier Renard (Responsible for Interior). We very much look forward to welcoming our French friends when they visit us in August next.