Thank you for giving me a wonderful President's Day, although it was a little bit windy to start with the day was bright and sunny.
I would like to thank Jackie and Pauline for a super half way house with an excellent snack and drink provided for all.
Again thanks to Les for tent duties in a force 10 gale.!!! and Danny for his photographic skills.
Also thanks to the staff and family at Victoria's which did a super job of looking after 70+ people on the day and finally thanks to the BUZZ for all the music on the day.
Eddie thank you for doing a great job of organising the competition and getting the results sorted so soon so that we could present the trophy yesterday and congratulations to the winners (Karen, Ken, Andy and Peter).
I was so pleased that every winner was able to be there to celebrate on the day.
Thank you all once again and I am looking forward to next year.

As you will see below the scores were incredibly close with all three podium places being decided on countback!

Results

This year's club tour saw a return to the fabulous Cabanas Beach and Nature Resort. A wonderful complex set on the Atlantic coast. The itinerary included two rounds on the picturesque Quinta da Ria course and one on the equally fabulous Quinta de Cima course. There was also a free day with members having the opportunity to explore local sites or simply chill out round the pool.

Each evening began with  drinks before dinner, which was in our own dining room. One evening  included a lucky dip bran tub event, a traditional occurrence with SdM tours.

Day one saw a pairs betterball stableford, day two a team event: Foxes vs Squirrels and day four was the Cabanas Trophy, an individual stableford.

The event ran flawlessly, due entirely to the brilliant organisation of John and Julia Hall. They both put in hours of hard work and their efforts were appreciated and admired by all.

All the results:

Many congratulations to SdM member Steve Day on his first hole in one on the 13th hole at Silves. Steve used a 6 iron for the successful shot. He also brought all those other members playing on the day a celebratory drink.This may be an appropriate time to remind members SdM has a Hole in One Club that for a small fee will insure the cost of the drinks bar bill. Details of this can be found in the members section of the website. There is also a list of all those that have joined the scheme.

This year saw SdM celebrate 3 international days in the same week! First up was St George's Day.
under a mostly sunny sky the members were resplendent in their red and white.

Eventual winners were Keith and Alison Scott partnered with Richard and Wendy Emrich.

Runners Up were Hans and Marit Linnet with Simon Agnes and Malcolm Marshall 

Third place went to Tommy and Karin Sundin and Des and Barbara Briggs 

The second of our three international days is Freedom Day on April 25th it celebrates the 1974 Revolution in Portugal that ended the dictatorship and started a democracy. It also commemorates the first free elections that took place a year later on April 25th 1975.

A massive field of 84 players took part in a team competition with Vinho Branco the eventual winners  

Players all gathered in the clubhouse afterwards for a choice of typical Portuguese fare: Chicken Piri Piri of Bifan, followed by music, dancing and presentations.
a fabulous day.

Our final International Day Celebration was for the birthday of The King of The Netherlands: Willem van Oranje.
It was great to see how most of you put so much effort in the Orange Clothing.
The Norwegians, Swedes, Italians, English, Irish, Americans, Scottish, Welsh, Finnish, Germans, Canadians, Icelanders, Belgians, Indians and not to forget the Dutch members, all in Orange.

Congratulations to you all, because you have raised for the Associacao Oncologica do Algarve a total of 331 euros.

Winners: Des and Barbara Briggs, Tommy and Karin Sundin

Second: John and Julia Hall, Simon Arnes and Merja Ronkko

Third: Berge Billiauws and Ilse Loncin, Amarjit Gill and Henriette Beukert