The 61st AGM of Grafton District Golf Club was conducted last Sunday, from which a new Board of Directors were elected for the next twelve months. There are only two new faces on the Board, those being Matty Dougherty as a Director and David Morgan as Club captain. David has previously held that position in 2003/4 so has had considerable experience in that important position. He takes over that responsibility from Neil Hayward, who did a fantastic job for the nine years he has had the job. Neil is not lost to the Board, as he has assumed one of the vice president positions for next year. All candidates for the available nine Board positions were filled unopposed, and apart from Matty and David, served on the previous Board. They include Trevor Townsend (president), Heather Robinson (public officer), George Cowan (treasurer) Robert Usher (vice president), Tim Newsome (Director) and Glenda Chad (Director) as well as Neil Hayward (Vice President) as previously mentioned. There were a couple of highlights to come out of the meeting, the main one being the elevation of John Tibbs to the status of Life Member, an honour, without question thoroughly deserved, and endorsed unanimously by the members present. The other highlight was the awarding of “Club Person of the Year”, especially to Pam Kenway. For several years now Pam has supported the Club with her remarkable skill as a photographer, focusing on the bird life and environment of the Club. Through Pam’s effort almost 140 different species of bird life have been identified and featured on two CD’s that have been produced, with all proceeds from the CD’s being directed to the support of the many volunteers who are involved with the Club. Bob Forrest was also rewarded with the recognition of Club Person of the Year. Preceding the AGM of course was our normal Saturday competition which on this occasion was a 18 hole Stableford sponsored by Cromack Transport. The overall winner from the 109 starters was Stephen Hancock (13) with a commendable score of 42 points. Greg Harvison (1) continued his good form to take out A Grade with 39 points on a countback from Ian Langley (8). B Grade went to Michael Beehag (12) with 42 from Jason Casserly (10) on 38. The results in C Grade were fairly close with Lee Anderson (17) claiming that grade with 40 points from the man with the best golf swing in the Club, Peter Lane (17) on 39. A visitor from Toukley Golf Club, Scott Spierings (26) tried hard to win D Grade with 38 points, however Tony Daly (21) managed to survive the required countback to claim that particular grade. An unfortunate by-product of the event was the disqualification of five players, their crime, failure to sign their cards either as player or marker. A massive penalty for a mere oversight. Players are reminded to pay a little more attention to this minor detail and avoid this preventable circumstance. The best mid-week score for the week was recorded by Richard Maquire, who with 43 points on Tuesday took out not only the Veteran’s competition (85 starters), but also the members competition (79 starters) held in conjunction. Gary Bondield in both competitions was awarded the first runner-up position with 41 points from Len Franey on 40. In the members competition, Geoff Shepherd made sure he won the NTP trophy for the 2nd shot on the par 4 13th, by firing his 2nd shot straight into the hole. There is a new leader in the Summer teams competition with Elders Insurance taking over from Elgas at the completion of round 4. Only 7 points separate the first to last position in the series, therefore all teams remain in contention for finals glory. The best individual score in the competition for the week was recorded by Glenda Chad (Elders Insurance) for her outstanding 22 points for the 9 holes. As we approach Christmas and the end of the year, now would be an appropriate time to recognise and thank a couple of ladies for their assistance in producing this column. I refer to Heather Robinson and Mary Katte who have the task of converting the rough draft to a suitable condition and transmission for printing. Also we cannot ignore Trevor Gleeson who ensures all our efforts are included on the Club web site each week. Their assistance in this regard is very much appreciated. It is not known if this column will appear next week, in case it is not the management and staff of our Club would like to extend the compliments of the season to all golfers in the Clarence Valley and look forward to big year of golf in 2016. Ray Hopwood