And the inaugural Newton Invitational Jug Golf competition.

So away the 10 of us went to the De Vere at Slaley Hall for an overnight jolly and a round of golf on the wonderful championship Hunting Course. Bov, Trace, Wez, Tones, Pete and Jackie were off early morning, and Me, Gaz, Rach & Suzi followed later on in the afternoon. Obviously Bov needed to get off early to fit his Burger King pit stops in. It’s nice to see all that hard work at the gym is paying dividends!

It’s a beautiful part of the country Northumberland, and Slaley Hall is equal to it’s surroundings. We met up in the bar, and had the snooker room all to ourselves where we shot a few frames and sank a few beers. A very relaxing start to a lovely weekend.

The evening meal was nice, nothing exceptional for the price we paid, but the service left a lot to be desired. And when we found out that they’d given Bov’s birthday cake to the wrong party then words had to be said. They were, and we received £150 off the bill. That at least went some way to easing the pain!

Next morning it was up bright and early ready for the days golfing action to find the weather was damp, wet and generally miserable. Such a shame as the previous day was glorious. Still we weren’t going to let it dampen the spirits so off onto the first tee we went.

Newts was towing his trolley, Pete was carrying, Gaz had his PowaCaddy and birthday Bov was in the privilaged position of being chauffeured around in the buggy by camera man Wez.

It’s a glorious championship course is Slaley, beautiful, but difficult with it. We were playing Stroke Play so every stroke counted and the results were as follows…

1st - Garry Ornsby - 101 gross - 84 nett.
2nd - Scott Newton - 115 gross - 87 nett.
3rd - Peter Clarke - 103 gross - 88 nett.
4th - Bov Oliver - 104 gross - 92 nett.

It was only a VERY close longest drive competition win for Bov that prevented Garry from achieving a clean sweep of all the medals and the coveted jug. Wez did score a prize for best supporting role as camera man and buggy driver, although the competition in that particular field was a little ‘thin’ to say the least!

A big thank you to Bov for organising, and subsidising to a large part, his own birthday bash. A wonderful weekend away with great friends. The rest of the golfing pictures can be found here.

And there’s some pics of the night do here.