Jamboree Report - 2024

We were greeted by glorious sunshine when we arrived at Trentham Golf Club for our first match of the tournament against The South.
After some close games in the morning foursomes with all 3 matches going to the 18th hole we went into lunch 2.5 v 0.5 ahead after a very satisfactory morning.
The first couple of the afternoon singles games did not go our way but our fortunes turned with a convincing win by Barbara Jamieson and another win in a closely fought match by Karen Jobling.
Caroline Berry sealed the win in the last game after a great match with her fellow England International Aileen Greenfield.

The sun was shining again on Day 2 as we teed off against the Midlands. After a convincing win in the top foursomes match luck played its part in the third match. Playing the 18th one up Sara Spencer had a very friendly bounce off the Club house with her approach shot back onto the green giving the North a win. Luck was obviously on our side!
The afternoon singles session was however tense. Caroline led out the team with another good win and when Barbara closed out her match by 4&2 we only needed one point from the last 2 games to win.
Sara came down the 18th all square and after both herself and her playing partner flirted with the trees sadly lost 1 down.
At that point we could only draw the match as our Champion Lucy was 1 down playing the 18th. After a fantastic pitch to 10 feet Lucy holed her putt for a birdie to gain the half point we needed.

Rain was forecast on the last day in our match against Scotland. We knew we had to play our best not only to win the match but to gain as many points as we could as the likelihood was that the final result was going to be a count back with the Midlands.
We started brilliantly and when Karen and Barbara won their match on the 18th (again!) we were leading 3:0 going into the afternoon singles.
The afternoon start sheet indicated that there were going to be some very tough and tight matches.
After 9 holes we were up in virtually all our games and it was looking good. The Scots, however, hit back with birdies on the back 9 with Cath losing her match on the 18th.
It was now very close indeed especially as the Midlands were making a charge in their games. Yet another convincing win from Barbara and another tight tussle from Karen secured the match for us.
The question was did we have enough points to beat the Midlands? Fortunately we did and it was smiles all round!

Well done Team - it was a pleasure and an honour to be your Captain both on and off the course.
Many thanks also to our President, Gill Travis who was a great support all week and also to the many supporters from the North who had travelled to Trentham to cheer us on!
Your help and support was very much appreciated.

Janet Melville
NCVLGA Captain 2024