Although the effects of COVID-19 are thankfully well behind us, this was not to be a year without disruption. One of our first events of the academic year is the Queen Elizabeth Coronation Schools Trophy, held at Royal Burgess in Edinburgh. This was due to be Sandy Gray’s last year as tournament organiser. However, it had to be cancelled, perhaps fittingly, as a mark of respect on the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in whose honour the tournament is named. Thankfully the tournament was held in September 2023. Sadly, Glenalmond’s performance is not worth mentioning going down to the eventual winners, Glasgow Academy, in the first round. The highlight of the weekend was the dinner where Sandy was presented with a painting to thank him for his time as secretary, and OGGS Captain-elect, Stephen Titterington replied to the toast to the QE with his usual skill and wit.
October saw the annual meeting return to Elie for the playing for the society trophies, the AGM, and the annual dinner. We took the opportunity to remember those OGGS members we have sadly lost last year; Gordon Thorburn, Peter Mudie, Neil Burns, Colin Brown, David Richmond, and past Warden Gordon Woods. The annual dinner was the usual excellent evening. Guest speaker, Allan Snedden, a well-known face in the Glasgow rugby scene, was excellent, and Andrew Richmond replied with great aplomb. Andy Todd, the new master i/c golf was there at dinner and was able to update us on his first month at the school. As always, we are grateful to the Golf House Club for their excellent hospitality (it has been 50 years since we first held the annual weekend at Elie in 1972, having moved from Gleneagles). On the course, we were treated to some decent, if windy weather. On Saturday, the Boyes (Scratch), Neishes (Handicap), Veterans (Handicap) and Ladies Trophies were played for. Congratulations to David Rennie, who took the double of the Boyes and Neishes, Andrew Thomson, who although he couldn’t match his heroics of last year when he shot his age, still took the veterans trophy. David Sanderson who produced an excellent 40 points to win the Sunday stableford. We were also delighted to have 4 pupils join us on Sunday morning and they had a very enjoyable day.
For our tournaments, 2023 started with a bang as the at the Scottish Wayfarers weekend at Elie in March, the team managed to win the Stenhouse Quaich, an event we had last won in 2018. This was a fine achievement as the other schools had strong teams out that weekend. We hoped this would be the start of an excellent year for the society, but it didn’t quite turn out that way. At the Hewitt, we could not quite match last year’s great run, defeating Uppingham and Cheltenham. Victory in round 1 over Stowe could not be matched by another win against St Pauls. The Senior Wayfarers, held at Western Gailes, a venue at which the seniors had never done worse than 1st place, proved a slightly harder challenge this year, and the side lost in the semifinals. At the Grafton Morrish qualifiers, where we now enter at Denham, we struggled to get our strongest side together (too many weddings!) so despite some good golf from some newcomers, we failed to qualify for the finals in Norfolk in October. Bad news also befell us at the Gordon Thorburn Memorial Putting Tournament at Royal Wimbledon in June. Groups of 8 play over 4 nights, with the top two qualifying for the final, but the bottom two facing a two-year relegation. Lying in 5th with one match to go, a couple of losses on the 18th sent Glenalmond into 7th place, and thus we face relegation. Finally, the Cyril Gray team did well to get to the quarter-finals, and despite a hole-in-one from Richard White, they fell to defeat to Dulwich.
On the social side, our matches continue to be played, but perhaps with not as much success as we would like! Coinciding with the Hewitt, our match against Sedburgh at Royal Wimbledon was a close affair, but Glenalmond went down by 3 holes over the 5 games. Our big game of the year against the school, the Fraser Cup was also a defeat, the school enjoying victory this year. In our most recent event, the Anniesland Trophy at Denham we came a respectable 7th out of 20.
The Loretto Foursomes at West Sussex was new to the fixture list this year, thanks to Alasdair Cockburn, and was a reasonable success, with the Glenalmond pair coming in 4th out of 15 pairs. The fixture against Loretto at Prestwick was a three-way match including Sedburgh this year. Sadly we came third on the day, perhaps a reflection of the comparative ages of the Glenalmond and Loretto teams!
We are also pleased that the Old Glenalmond Golfing Society Scholarship has found a deserving recipient for next year in Violette Mir, whose recent tournament wins we hope are a sign of great things to come. We are also pleased that those funds raised by the society continue to go to good use in supporting the golfing facilities at the school.
We are greatly looking for to the 2023/2024 year. In particular, the Halford Hewitt, the most prestigious event that we enter is celebrating its Centenary Year in 2024. Coincidentally, Glenalmond will play its 100th match in the first round next year; a double celebration!
