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
Our latest Club Walk was in the Costa Vincentina Nature Park on stunning Atlantic Coast near Carrapateira, a 7km circuit from the Restaurant Sitio do Forno returning there for a superb lunch.
The route takes us along wide tracks, through open landscape with many sand dunes. The views are simply amazing. We walked along to Praia do Amado, a beach famous for its surf schools. We then passed through the very typical Algarvean village of Carrapateira and then back to the cliff top.
Keith and Alison Scott were again the leaders, with over 30 walkers it was very well attended.
So the weather relented and the captain’s drive in took place on the 6th of April a week later than originally intended.
A slightly reduced, but still very impressive, field of seventy two from the previous week braved the less than typical Algarvean weather to enjoy a fantastic day.
To summarise:
I managed a moderate 181 metres with my opening drive and Eddie Kassner won the pot – which he immediately donated to the captain´s charity the excellent Castelho de Sonhos that continue to do such great work for the local community.
At our new Captain Dave Darling's drive in Members were treated to a great performance of our adhoc ladies choir who did the finest "Mackem Hacka" in history (maybe the only one come to think of it!) - a truly magnificent surprise!
It was recieved with much hilarity, well done to all.