Under the leadership of society captain Stephen Price some 24 golfers took to the road last weekend on their annual trip to Bidford Grange Golf Club in Warwickshire. Situated just six miles from Stratford on Avon, this was a delightful spot, mixing beautiful river scenery with the finest literary culture. A venue tailormade for the Rabbits. This, however, was not to account for the British weather this spring. Sleet was the forecast for the Midlands on Friday, but the eventuality was worse. A very strong wind blew down from Siberia which was bad, but the frozen snow carried by this force made it worse. Not just the fingers which froze, but eyebrows became frost encrusted and icicles fell from the lashes. Before long, the intrepid Rabbits appeared as the last remnants of Captain Scott's fatal mission to the South Pole. Curiously, the temperature in Moscow was 11 degrees this day. Here by the Avon, the chill made it -11. These conditions did not make for low scoring and any report on the points accumulated during the opening day's competition would be misunderstood by readers. In any case, when it was reported there had been a sighting of polar bears, the golfers called it a day after only 11 holes. Rees Davies had the best of the cards and duly won the coveted Silver Rabbit, with John Cook in second place pressing him hard. Paul James took the bronze having played very well. Later, the bar in the clubhouse was offering free pints of beer from six o'clock until midnight. The golfers brought pride to Tenby Golf Club. Champions in every respect. Saturday brought slightly warmer weather, but not the sort which would allow for a picnic on the beach. The competition was a singles stableford for the Oman Cup, presented by the Sultan many years ago. Paul James excelled with 32 points after the finest of golf craftsmanship. The frighteningly big-hitting Chris Smith was second with 29 and evergreen John Cook took third with 27 points. These scores may seem meagre to followers of the US Masters from Augusta, but readers must be aware that Bidford Grange is the third longest course in Great Britain at 7,233 yards. The ball did not run on the fairways and the effective length must have approached some 9,000 yards. Forget the lakes and the bunkers, it was difficult even to see some of the distant holes from the tee. On Sunday, the event was played in pairs for the Peter Nobes Salvers. The weather was improving and John Cook and Rees Davies carried on with their good form to muster 37 points and win the day. Dorian Thomas and Bill Beynon were one point behind, with Stephen Harries and Simon Evans taking the bronze. A former club captain, Alan Morton, had begged to be allowed to join in with the Rabbits for this break to learn how things can be done at the top end of golf. Called on to present the prizes, he was quite emotionally moved by this privilege. Amongst the sundry other competitions, Colin Smith won the nearest the pin with a precision scorcher on the 15th and the village blacksmith Maurice Lewis won the longest drive with a pile-driver of 302 yards on the ninth. Chris Smith and Chris Watts were the only players to score a two and so shared a very large jackpot. Mark Edwards won the forecast for lost balls (106) and so has achieved immortality at last. C. P. Marsden played horrendously all the weekend and deserved the trophy that that brings, but was unable to receive this from the hand of Alan Morton owing to severe frostbite. He was also tongue tied. The Peter Watkins trophy for the top golfer of the trip went to Paul James and he followed this 'Big Star' win with a sentimental little speech full of wisdom and mirth. The whole weekend had been a great success and Stephen Price and his committee had excelled themselves with their planning and leadership. The society photographer, Simon Evans, had also done a great job, though this will not be evident to readers as he and his camera are in Exeter at this moment of going to print. Brilliant.