The continuing cloudy weather and brisk northerly winds made for a chilly day and numb fingers as well as seeing the greens suffering a little from the conditions, although the course generally played very well. Kingswood excelled itself with an excellent three course lunch, served in the ballroom, at which the assembly paid tribute to the late, great Manfred Kopelman, who died the previous weekend.
The cold and breezy weather did not prevent Alex Heath from storming away from the pack and earning himself an automatic two shot cut for the Autumn Meeting. Against an average score of 28.5 for the day, Alex shot 38 points, winning by three from Neal Avent (on countback) and Rob Draisey. Alex thus also took the Captains' Cup, the Directors' Cup and the Carr Sargant for which he represented Mocatta. The Scratch Prize went to Chris Jones with a gross 80 off 6 handicap and the King Cup for 24 handicap went to David Farrar. John Ambery took the Guest prize along with the nearest the pin and longest drives and having now joined the LMEGA will be a useful addition to the match managers' arsenal.
The afternoon saw the Charles Davis Foursomes Salver won by Jan Rommer and Brian Woodbridge for Rudolf Wolff. For those of you who are too young to remember Rudolf Wolff and many other firms, the Ring was once 36 trading companies, many of which have now vanished but all of whom live on as long as there are still ex-employees to sustain them. The competition rules now refer to Category One and Two Members for the Carr Sargant and Charles Davis to reflect changing times.
In the other afternoon competition, the Greensomes was won by a threeball, forced on the day by the late withdrawal of one player, which was won by Chris Jones, Bill Green and Jake Doran.
The Captain's generosity extended to pre-luncheon drinks and she presented some generous prizes for all winners.
All players at the Spring Meeting are eligible for the Aggregate Cup, which is awarded to the highest combined scores for the spring and Autumn meetings, so please do mark the date in your diaries, especially if you played well - Thursday 7th September at Sandy Lodge GC.
The Summer tour takes place at St Andrews from 25-29 May, where 18 compete for the Foster Plate and on 2nd June the LMEGA takes on the London Iron and Steel GS at Berkhamsted.