SCARA Golf Day 8 July 2021

After a miserable 18 months, a small band of brothers from the Great and Heady days of the OCL/P&OCL/P&O Nedlloyd empire, once again gathered to battle for the now famous ROSEBOWL.

Bentley Golf course was again chosen as majority of the regular attendees are from Essex (well North of the Thames put it that way- Yorkshire is North of the Thames isn't it) and the Course apart from being very interesting is a fair test for the average Golfer.

Was it only me that noticed that since the height of the Pandemic lock downs, the wildlife on the course was not only in abundance, but not that bothered about Humans getting close. I have never been so close to a baby rabbit (it was nibbling on the white tee whilst we teed off on the yellow) Mr and Mrs Pheasant, in all their glorious colours did little to move out of the way on the fairways. squirrels were everywhere and seemed to ignore our approach and the Carp in the lakes and ponds seemed to want to come over to the side for a chat (which was a shame as I only speak Cod).

I must also make a passing remark about the Starter at Bentley who unfortunately wasn't the most helpful but comical all the same.. apart from the fact he looked like he had just come out of a Burtons window in 1958, when confronted by 5 SCARA members waiting for the pro to unlock his Pro shop he appeared round the corner like an irate school headmaster and barked "well what you all doing here ? " (I would wager in his working life he did not work for the Diplomatic Corp). He then came over to the first tee to lecture us about the Weather, Course condition, where not to go on certain holes, where to go on certain holes, where pin placements were, colours of flags to denote their position on the green, his Aunts operation and the price of petrol........ (Ok his Aunt and Petrol didn't happen but you get the drift that he liked the sound of his own Voice).

The fact that we have been apart for so long made seeing everyone a real pleasure, and it is appreciated that so many SCARA members make the effort to keep this very enjoyable fixture on the SCARA calendar alive.