ROSS Golf Club's Men's and Ladies captains Mark Whitmore and Lorraine Fenner are set to raise more than £10,000 for worthy local charity Megan Baker House after combining their fundraising efforts, reports KEITH RAY.

Based in Ledbury, MBH proved the ideal fit providing meaningful services for adults and children with neurological motor disorders using methods of conductive education.

Mark and Lorraine have been highly proactive, seeking every opportunity to engage members in their objective and have much valued the considerable support.

A dedicated Captain's Day golf event was blessed with dry weather and good course conditions which saw 100 members from all sections of the club take part in a four players Florida team scramble.

This resulted in a big 'Thank-You' to all those who played and helped on the day, including providing valued raffle prizes.

A fantastic £1,284 made its way to the fund and the signs are that Mark and Lorraine will ultimately see more than £10,000 benefitting MBH thanks to club members being energised and inspired.

The expected sum exceeds the previous best amount raised in the Gorseley-based club's 120-year history, providing another reflection of its 'caring for others' reputation in the Wye Valley community, in providing experiences of purpose and meaning for members in addition to their golfing experiences playing its ‘hidden-gem’ tree-lined course.

As regards golfing achievement, the final score-sheet was headed by Steve Bartholomew, Angus McIntosh, Simon Buck and Wayne Rees with an impressive 98 stableford points total.

That these members have each enjoyed excellent individual golfing seasons suggests that their success could almost have been predicted.

This most certainly applies to Steve following his 'hole-in-one' achievement when representing Ross Seniors earlier in the year in a summer friendly fixture at Worcester Golf & Country Club.

To their credit, the day's runners-up matched the winning 98 points and were Alastair Watkins, Murray Thomson and Simon and Max Phillips.

Colin Gladwyn and Ros Ashton were nearest the pin winners and Andy Petersen and Angus McIntosh were also rewarded for their precise shot-making earning them both 'boxes of booze' prizes.

Zach Galliford was presented with a silver salver by Ross men's captain Mark Whitmore in honour of how Welsh PGA title.
Zach Galliford was presented with a silver salver by Ross men's captain Mark Whitmore in honour of his Welsh PGA title. (Ross GC)

Mark also chose his Captain's day to highlight and acknowledge the amazing achievement in September when club professional Zach Galliford against all odds became the 2024 Welsh PGA Champion to add to his Welsh Amateur title won in 2016.

Battling through challenging weather conditions at Pyle and Kenfig, he emerged as the only player to finish under par, securing victory by four shots from Chelmsford’s Andrew Pestell.

It was not lost on some of those present and certainly not on the club’s Tim Hall School of Golf assistant, that he was following in the footsteps of some household names who were previous Welsh PGA Champions.

These include Ian Woosnam, Philip Price and life Ross member Brian Huggett, who sadly passed away just a few weeks after Zach's success.

For many years, Brian had been closely associated with the Ross Club so there was also the meaningful co-incidence that Brian's wake took place recently in the same clubhouse.

As Brian had played in six Ryder Cups and was non-playing captain in 1975, it was highly appropriate too that members were able to examine the trophy itself, which attended Brian's funeral and wake that day.