The History

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The Society of Norfolk Golf Captains was formed on 19th May 1976 at an inaugural meeting held at Thetford Golf Club.

The Committee of Thetford GC had kindly offered courtesy of the course for this meeting.

The Objectives of the Society were stated and remain in the rules as:

(a) To promote goodwill and fellowship between Present and Past Golf Captains in the County of Norfolk.

(b) In so doing, to strengthen and maintain a closer bond between Members Clubs.

(c) To promote good neighbourliness with other Societies of similar nature.

This objective was later compressed just for use in press etc to:

Founded in 1976, the Society remains a friendly and welcoming group of likeminded golfers, drawn together by a common experience of having been a Captain at their golf club.

At the inaugural meeting there we sixty-nine interested parties present representing Royal Cromer, Dereham, Eaton, Fakenham, Hunstanton, King’s Lynn, Mundesley, Royal Norwich, Ryston Park, Sheringham, Swaffham, Thetford and Great Yarmouth & Caister Golf Clubs. Fourteen Clubs in all.

The main driving force for the Society formation prior to the first meeting appears, from the records, to be H.R. Wilkinson who was Captain of Thetford Golf Club in 1975. The Thetford club President was also heavily involved, and it was helpful that in 1976 he was also the Vice President of The Norfolk Golf Union.

The first meeting was chaired by H.R. Wilkinson and ‘caretaker rules’ were drawn up for consideration. These covered the objectives of the Society, Entry Fees and Subscriptions (£1.00 and £2.00 respectively), trophies, Officers, Elections of Officers, 

Initially, the AGMs were to be held at the Society’s meeting held in September. This was Captain’s Day. There was only one other meeting in the year, and this was held in April. It was the President’s Day.

Hence, on 29thSeptember 1976 the first proper meeting and AGM was organised at Swaffham GC. Forty (40) players took part and attended the AGM. The new rules were proposed and agreed. In many ways they remain the same today.

In October 1977, the second AGM minutes reveal a membership of 83. Furthermore, Mr. E.G. Askew recorded a hole-in-one at Kings Lynn GC.

In September 1979 the AGM was held at Royal Norwich GC. It was proposed and agreed that the Captain’s Day and President’s Day should change and henceforth the Captain’s Day was switched to the earlier slot and President’s Day to September. It was also proposed that 75-year-old members became honorary members and indeed Honorary Vice-Presidents.

1979 was the first year of the now annual fixture V Suffolk. It was a whitewash in Norfolk’s favour.

1980 against Suffolk Captains at Felixstowe Ferry GC, Norfolk lost 1-7. Not a good day for SNGC and a near reversal of the previous year.

1981 a closer match, Suffolk 4½-Norfolk 3½.

At a meeting held in 1982 (not the AGM) members are asked for their views on playing Suffolk twice a year.

1981 the AGM reported membership had grown to 131.

In 1984 the Suffolk match was lost 7-1, but the one game that Norfolk did win was a 10-8 maximum recorded by W.R.F. Jennings and P. Skelton. One would think this sole win for Norfolk was received with a certain level of amusement or bemusement by the Suffolk team.

The 1986 AGM minutes record the agreement to purchase a Society flag. It was presented to the AGM in 1987. The President, Mr. N. Lambert and Captain, John Bell were thanked for their generosity and for arranging the design and production thereof.

1988 saw the introduction of a match against Warwickshire Captains, although as far as can be ascertained, this was a one-off match. 

1993, the annual match against Northamptonshire is established.

In 1993 Hilary Wilkinson retired as Secretary and he was followed by John Picken. At the end of the AGM the final reads ‘There being no other business the President asked the new Secretary John, to recover the Society flag and duly closed the meeting’. It appears from a handwritten note after the AGM that John was not aware he would be the ‘keeper of the flag’!

1995, the matches V Norfolk Juniors and Cambridgeshire captains commence.

In 1995, at the AGM it was recorded that the Society had a total of 193 members, although, it was also noted that 63 had yet to pay their annual subscriptions. Obviously, the Society employed some heavy leverage because in the end only 11 remained in arrears.

Eaton Golf Club was the venue for the 1996 President’s Day. The results of the day saw the appearance of a name that is familiar to many Society members, Ian Alderton, who came second. 1996 also saw the introduction of the annual match versus the County Ladies. The match was held at Sheringham, and the men won!

President’s Day in 1997 held at Sheringham witnessed a hole in one by John Hall on the 200-yard 6th. 

In 1998 the fact that the society demographic was seen to be aging led to a discussion at the AGM and proposal to increase the age groupings for President’s Day to 70 instead of 65. It should be noted that it took another 23 years before a change was eventually made. The annual dinner in 1998 attracted 117 attendees, including guests. It was just viable making a loss of just £130.

The annual match V Suffolk in 1999 was held at Richmond Park. Norfolk won 4½-3½, but it was obviously quite a tussle, one the Norfolk members Brian Noble even suffered a heart attack for his contribution. 

2000 saw another county fixture added to the calendar – Leicestershire and Rutland.

John Picken resigned as Secretary in 2000 after seven years of service. He was replaced by Frank Myers of Thetford GC. The minutes of the AGM do not state if his first duty as Secretary was to retrieve the Society flag!

From 2000 onwards the Society increased its programme of matches. This included the Three Counties and matches against Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Essex.

The 2001 President’s Day and AGM was held at Mundesley GC. The Society President in 2001 being Ray Wayte of Mundesley. It was appropriate that this was the venue as Mundesley GC were celebrating their Centenary Year. Of note from the 2001 AGM was the recorded membership being 292. 

The AGM of 2005 minutes make mention of the 2006 Dinner Dance which was going to be held at Sprowston Manor. 

This year also saw the start of the Society raising funds for the East Anglian Air Ambulance organisation. £1,400 was raised in this first year.

In 2007 the Society Captain, Mike Collison, and Society President, Mike Lake donated a Trophy for the annual ‘Two Mikes’ competition. This is based on aggregated scores from the John Picken Shield, the Captain’s Day and President’s Day. 

In 2008 the Society introduced match managers, a system which is still being utilised today.

The 2009 AGM was a quick affair and really it was only to make the handover from Frank Myers who was standing down as Secretary. Ian Alderton assuming the reigns. Frank had served 9 years as Hon. Secretary. He did not though disappear as he continued for another year as Treasurer whilst also becoming the Society President.

After several years of holding a successful Dinner Dance the event had started to suffer from falling numbers and rising costs. Regrettably the 2012 event was cancelled.

In 2014 Ian Alderton handed over as Secretary to Alan Hill.

At an EGM held in 2015 at the John Picken Shield the Society decided to allow Captains from other Counties to join. This was an original proposal made by Ron Kent. At the 2015 AGM an amendment to the rules was passed which removed the Male only status of the Society.

2016 saw the introduction of the Founders Trophy. Held at Swaffham GC in September the Trophy, donated by Kevin Woolley was won by Martin Cork.

In 2017 Alan Hill stood down as Secretary. There were no volunteers to take over the role and so it was decided that Paul Filby (President) and Howard Maylard (Captain) would do their best to cover the Secretary’s duties. Jack Norton became the Society Treasurer.

At the 2018 AGM a new Secretary was appointed: Paul Filby. Paul and Jack would work in tandem as Sec and Treasurer, respectively.

The 2020 schedule was decimated by Covid. All inter-county matches were cancelled and just three events were held. The President’s Day (re-labelled the Autumn meeting, the John Picken Shield and an additional meeting held at Swaffham GC. This allowed the Society to complete the Two Mike’s cup/competition.

The 2021 schedule also suffered from a delayed start, but the Society did manage to complete the full season. The Captain of 2020 Gary Goodchild and President Tony Thacker were asked to continue for a second year, which of course they did with great credit to them.

2021 saw the introduction of two new competitions, the Norfolk Golf Captains Inter-Club Trophy and a Mixed match versus Hertfordshire.

Past and current Officers of the Society:

http://www.norfolkgolfcaptains.com

Honorary Secretaries and Treasurers of the Society:

Secretary and Treasurer 1976-1993 Hilary Wilkinson

Secretary and Treasurer 1993-2000 John Picken 

Secretary and Treasurer 2000-2009 Frank Myers

Treasurer 2009 Frank Myers

Secretary 2009 Ian Alderton

Secretary and Treasurer 2010-2014 Ian Alderton

Secretary and Treasurer 2014-2017 Alan Hill

Treasurer 2017- Jack Norton

Secretary 2017- Paul Filby