Jamboree Report - 2025

We arrived at Kilmarnock Barassie Golf Club to be greeted by Storm Floris with the promise of gusts of 40 mph on Sunday and 60 mph on Monday! Luckily, we had booked an additional practice round on the Sunday so that the players got to see the course. On the Monday, most players just walked the course and played the odd shot as conditions were so treacherous!

Our first match was against the Midlands and the first two foursome’s matches were won very convincingly. The final match was close but we lost it to go into lunch 2 v 1 up.
The afternoon singles did not go our way. Karen Jobling halved her match but the other three went Midlands way. Sara Spencer had a convincing win and the final match on the course was Lynn Wass against Jenny Deely. With both teams watching Lynn got a magnificent birdie on 17 to win her point giving us a halved match against The Midlands.

Our second match was against the South and sadly the foursomes, normally our strong suit did not go our way. The change in wind direction favoured the South and we went in to lunch 0 v 3.
The team fought bravely in the afternoon to try and make up the deficit, Sara Spencer and Karen Jobling won their matches and Barbara Jamison and Lynn Wass halved their matches. So, we lost the match overall - 3 v 6.
I should mention that Lynn was two down playing 17 and a magnificent eagle on 17 kept her match alive. She won the 18th to claim her half point.

Our last match was against Scotland. We knew that sadly we couldn’t retain the Miller Stirling Trophy but we could win the Tony Moffat Quaich for second place if the other match went our way.
The foursome’s matches were very close. We won the first two and only lost the third one down.
In the afternoon Sara Spencer, Sharon Eales and Karen Jobling won their matches and Cath Rawthore halved her match. She needed to win the last hole and hit a magnificent six iron which secured her half.
We now had an agonising wait to see what happened between the South and the Midlands. When they halved their match, we were now in joint second position but sadly came third on games won by half a game!
Your team played magnificently in some very trying conditions. The fourth hole is truly the hardest par three I have ever seen.

Many thanks to Paul Eales who gave us his insight into tackling the course. Many thanks to our President, Gill Travis who organised the caddies and helped on and off the course. Thanks to our playing Vice-Captain Julie Wheeldon, she made my job very easy. We always get so much support and it is really appreciated. Thanks for travelling up.

Finally, many thanks to the team. You were very supportive of all the officials and each other. It was fabulous to be your Captain and can I take this opportunity to wish your Captain for 2026, Julie Wheeldon, all the very best at the Jamboree in Worthing.

Caroline Berry
Captain - Northern Counties VLGA