The TT Roll-up annual Xmas Lunch was held on Sunday 7th December 2014 at Frilford Heath Golf Club.
Following an excellent carvery lunch with festive accompaniments, the party repaired to the upstairs lounge for coffee and mince pies.
Once all were suitably mellow and comfortable, Nigel French (aka Emperor Hirudo) thanked Paul Richards (aka Père Noël Leech) for organising the lunch and then spoke, thankfully briefly, about matters affecting the TT Roll-up during 2014.
He noted that participation in the TT Roll-up had again been good during 2014, with 24 Regulars (playing more than 20 times) and 28 Irregulars (playing at least once), of whom 5 had played more than 10 times.
He said that the year had sadly seen the deaths of two Regulars, Peter Crawshaw and Roger Marris. Members of the TT Roll-up had attended Peter Crawshaw's funeral in August and participated in the inaugural Roger Marris Memorial Golf Day "ARound4Rog" on 23rd October. The latter had raised more than £10,000 for the purchase of a portable ultrasound machine for the Churchill and John Radcliffe Hospitals - a machine specifically used for the insertion of medication lines in patients suffering from the same condition as Roger Marris.
He added that, earlier in the year, two groups of TT Roll-up Regulars had participated in the Ronald McDonald House Charity Golf Day on 21st May.
Meanwhile, throughout the year, members of the TT Roll-up had also contributed to the charity collection, organised by Bob Headon (aka Uncle Holly and The Joker) principally on behalf of the Saturday roll-up, which had again raised over £300 for local charities in 2014.
Nigel French then announced the results and presented the prizes for the TT Roll-up Turkey Trot. The winner on countback with 41 pts was Martin Hankin. Second, also with 41 pts, was Nigel French and Eddie Wragg was third with 40 pts. For a full report click here.
Finally Nigel French announced the results of this year's Hugh Chamberlain Trophy competition.
He said a total of 23 players were eligible for consideration for the Hugh Chamberlain Trophy by virtue of playing a minimum of 10 times in qualifying TT Roll-up competitions during 2014.
The winner, with an average Stableford score of 33.67 pts (over 69 rounds) was Nigel French.
Second with 33.47 pts (over 19 rounds) was Peter Clarke. Third with 33.16 pts (over 58 rounds) was Dave Parker. Fourth with 32.69 pts (over 64 rounds) was Eddie Wragg and fifth with 32.64 pts (over 33 rounds) was Nigel Swinford.
The trophy was presented to Nigel French by Hugh Chamberlain, accompanied by suitable expressions of appreciation and some unfounded queries about the reliability of the scoring and associated handicapping system. A bottle of wine, kindly donated by Ken Morris, winner of the 2013 Hugh Chamberlain Trophy, was presented in absentia to the runner-up, Peter Clarke.
In conclusion, Nigel French proposed that, since the Hugh Chamberlain Trophy was designed to recognise the player who has played most consistently well throughout the year, the minimum number of qualifying rounds should be increased from 10 to 20 in 2015. This proposal appeared to be well received by those present.
Following Nigel French's speech, Paul Richards orchestrated a raffle draw with prizes allocated based on criteria far more complex than the TT Roll-up's handicapping system. Having duly embarrassed all present, Paul concluded by embarrassing Nigel French further by expressing the TT Roll-up Regulars' thanks for his continuing organizational efforts.