The first event of the year was the Halford Hewitt Centenary Dinner. Typically, the first Wednesday of January is when the Halford Hewitt draw and the Public Schools Golfing Society AGM is held, but this year, to celebrate the centenary of the Halford Hewitt tournament, a dinner was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. It was a splendid occasion, with over eight hundred attendees, dress in either black tie, or, as we were, FP blazers with black tie. Your own Hon Sec has not only an OG bowtie, but also a cummerbund to match his blazer, not an outfit to be worn in public admittedly! We were able represented by Niall Booker, John Gordon, Sandy Gray, Jim Patrick, David Sanderson, and Hon Sec Mike Thomson.
Normally the AGM is a rather dry affair, but I have important news regarding the PSGS committee. Firstly, past OGGS President, John Gordon, has been elected as the new Vice-President, so will become President in due course. Secondly, past OGGS Captain, Sandy Gray, has been elected to the committee. Please pass your congratulations to both when you next see them.
The AGM also holds the draw. It is done FA cup style, where the position in the draw and the school are drawn at the same time, and for Glenalmond we were drawn to position fifty-one. That means Glenalmond plays its first-round match on Thursday 11th April at 13:30, against Harrow. This is not the most straightforward of draws, as we have never beaten Harrow in three attempts. However, while they are ranked above us, they are not a “top ten” school, which gives us hope. That said, Charterhouse would be the likely round two opponents. The draw of the round will be 3-time defending champions Loretto vs Watsons. Merchiston join us at Royal St Georges, while Edinburgh Academy and Fettes begin their tournament on Royal Cinque Ports. Full details of the draw can be found on www.halfordhewitt.org
Dinner was followed by a short speech from outgoing President Jamie Warman, and the PSGS was toasted by Andrew Reynolds, who was the Professional at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club from 1978 to 2023. He entertained us with stories of his Hewitt experiences over the years and making plenty of fun of the thousands of public schoolboys who have come through his shop, and ideally spent lots of money in it!
As well as being the Halford Hewitt’s centenary, Glenalmond’s first round match will be our 100th in the competition. This makes it a big year for both Glenalmond and the Hewitt, and there is a series of events, that you will see in the fixture list, and I’m pleased that we have several supporters joining us for some of those events, and if there are more who wish to join us, please contact the Hon Sec. So far, we have seven supporters joining us for a celebratory dinner, and some golf at Rye and in the Peter Kenyon Bowl.
The team for the Halford Hewitt has been announced and I am delighted to share it with you now.
Sandy Gray
Cameron Grieve
John Laird
Matthew McEachran
David Primrose
David Rennie
Tom Simmonds
Mike Thomson
Niall Watson
Richard White
Travelling Reserves – John Bushell, Niall Booker and Ruaraidh Stewart.
We are also joined by OGGS Captain, Stephen Titterington and OGGS President, Jim Patrick, as well as past President John Gordon and Geoff Ballantine.
