I have to say that on Friday, December 18, golf was slightly overshadowed by the occasion. The annual competition for the coveted Roger and Mary Trophy, which will always provide a fine feather in the cap of the winner, is possibly reduced to being an interesting preamble to the Chicken Trotters’ Christmas lunch.

This in no way detracts from the excellence of the competitors - well most of them anyway - so I shall communicate a dazzling array of factoids for your delectation: 20 Chickens trotted, a fine turnout indeed, and the gods of golf provided a virtually rain-free morning for them to strut their stuff. Our hard working secretary, Steve ‘the statistician’ Cole was kept very busy compiling the pecking order, allocating the prizes and recording the statistics for posterity. In reverse order, the results were:

Claiming the last Booby prize of 2015 - Ken Gouldsbrough, who nonetheless smiled as he received his 30p prize.

In fifth place was Derek Cole with a respectable 28 points, which earned him a unremarkable 30p, also with 28 points, but a better back six, was Neil Dickinson, who also rejoiced in receipt of 30p for his fourth place.

Mel Hicks scoffed at 28 points, scoring a far better 29 to claim third place and an inflation beating 60p, while Stan Hudson notched up an even better 29 points, grabbed second place and pocketed 90p. Stan, who as you know by now, is the Seniors’ very able treasurer, provided invaluable help by collecting the Trotters’ ‘dinner money’ pre-lunch.

And the winner was - pause - Roger Scholfield! Roger amassed 30 points, without a single blob, and won £1.20 plus the invaluable Roger and Mary Trophy.

The par for the day was 22 points, there were 72 ‘blobs’ scored by the field, and there have been no twos scored since October 23 - buck up!

Just a few more factoids; Stan Hudson has only played three times, but has recorded a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Neil Dickinson leads the race for the Booker prize, having the best points total for five trots - but Steve Cole is only one point behind him. Roger is the 29th winner of the trophy since the inaugural competition in November 1985 (it was played for twice a year in the beginning) - and finally, only four players have ever won the trophy twice; John Mabe, Doug Perry, Ken Gouldsbrough and John Hancock - John was the defending champion this year, and he abstained just in case he won it for a third time and became the holder in perpetuity!

All this golf happened between eight o’clock and one o’clock, serving as an appetiser for the main event - Christmas lunch! This year, the Trotters’ chosen guests were our captain, Gethin Evans, our secretary; David Hancock, our secretary’s secretary, Marilyn Marquis and our sponsor, Marion Hutton.

In all, 26 diners were gathered for this special event, and every one followed the historic Trotter tradition of bringing along a raffle prize. Lunch was a traditional turkey roast, followed by Christmas pud., really excellently prepared by Lee and Alec and skilfully served by Emma and Lauren. The food was delicious, the complimentary wine was delightful and the whole occasion was thoroughly enjoyable.

Adding to the pleasure was the post lunch draw for the raffle - 26 prizes and 26 winners, but the re-allocation of the goodies is a fun way to exchange Christmas presents.

After the last spoonful of pudding was devoured, it only remained for captain Gethin to stand and express his intention to play more frequently with this fine body of golfers, to thank the Trotters for their invitation, to pose for the mandatory photograph - and then to take David and Marilyn off to join the rest of the staff for Christmas drinks and a buffet! It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it!

So, another year’s trotting slips past, there will be more riveting news in the New Year, but until then, a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous New Year to you all.

M.F.