The golfing week at Forest Hills commenced on Wednesday morning, following an idea floated by Seniors Secretary Mike Steward, writes Geoff Norris.

Mike’s suggestion was to see if it was possible to resurrect the Burston Challenge, originally a round robin, involving the Seniors, Ladies, Mens and Juniors.

In an effort to relaunch the fixtures, Seniors’ Captain Clive Winward, and Ladies’ Captain Amanda Jones, agreed to play a fixture between the respective sections.

A couple of willing hands were asked to see if the original trophy could be found and, not only was the Burston Challenge Shield unearthed, but also a shield that was last contested between the Seniors and the Ladies in 2011.

Due to late unavailability of a player from each team, the initial encounter was a singles, contested by Amanda Jones and her father John Humphries, with John winning 6&4.

The first pairs contest saw Sarah Mainprise-Tate and Kay Durrant come from four down at the turn, to lose 2&1, in their encounter with Paul Morphey and Geoff Norris.

Next up, Val Bland and Anne Wall beat Clive Winward and Bill Peffers 2&1 to get their team back in the contest.

The scores were levelled in the mext tussle as Karen Alexander and Chris Everett finished one up against Kev Greening and Pat Simcoe.

The Seniors went back in front as Sue Nancollas and Corrine Clarke lost 2&1 in another close match against Mike Steward and Glyn Earle.

With the end result still in the balance, all eyes were focused on the last match.

With the Seniors pair of Richard Demery and John Skinner seemingly in the driving seat at five up with eight to play, they then managed to lose six holes, arriving at the 18th tee, one down.

With the opposition pair of Sue Williams and Joy Skinner, and playing partner John, all finding the pond in front of the green, Richard managed to win the hole and secure a hard fought half to leave the final score of Seniors 3.5-2.5 Ladies.

In his address after the excellent fish and chips, Clive thanked Amanda and her Ladies, for providing excellent competition and contributing to a very special day, the proof of which was emphasised by the camaraderie in the clubhouse after the match.

The Seniors’ competition on Thursday was the Don Brain Memorial Trophy, a Yellow Tee Stableford.

Division One was won by Neil James with a commendable score of 40 points. Alex Harvey was second with 38, and Phil Gwynne third on 36.

Glyn Earle won Division Two, and the Don Brain Memorial Trophy, with an extraordinary 10 under par score of 46 points, off his 18 handicap, including ten pars and a birdie.

Steve Keepax was second with 43, and Pete Chisholm third.

Division Three was won by Colin Laver with 40 points, ahead of John Skinner, who pipped Alan Wearmouth on countback, as they both returned 39.

There was a total of eight twos which were bettered by Andrew Johnson who had a hole-in-one on the 14th.

The Saturday Medal Trophy attracted 45 entrants despite the North Gloucestershire Foursomes fixtures later in the day.

The winner was Josh Groves, with his score of 81-11 70, on countback from Ian Drew who was second.

Daniel Lord was third with71 on countback from Gene Lewis and Joe Wilcox.

There were only four claims made on the twos kitty,with Jacques Malan staking a twin claim by virtue of birdies on the 14th and 17th, with Josh Groves and Darren Passway, also holing out in two on the 14th.

The Foursomes fixtures on the weekend involved home and away matches against Broadway Golf Club.

The A Team were at home, and did themselves a big favour in their endeavours to secure their future in the first division with a hard earned victory.

Wins were gained by James Bath/Lee Hanson, Gav Butcher/Will Smith, Matt McGirr/Ryan McDonald, and Connor Mullan/Keelan Reddan while Simon Killen/Ashley James and ‘Sty’ Williams and Josh Goode lost, to leave the final score of : Forest Hills 4-2 Broadway.

In the B team fixture, the opening three legs were all lost by the Foresters. Steve Jones and Pat Simcoe lost the opener 2&1, followed by Derek Freeman-Jones and Gary Davies going down 5&4 and Alan Edwards and David Cole losing 3&1.

Tony Laws and Toby Turp then took their opponents to the 18 before winning one up.

Steve Graham and Jaques McCinnes, also won on the 18th green, one up. With the the overall result still in doubt, the focus was on the final match, which Matt Yemm and Daniel Garlick lost 3&2, to leave the final score Broadway 4-2 Forest Hills.

The competition on Sunday was The Macullan Individual White Tee Stableford.

Mike Parry kept up his recent run of form with a level par score of 41 points, off his five handicap.

He finished four ahead of the minor places as countback was required to separate Kev Burford, Alan Edwards, David Cole and Jason Skidmore who finished with 37 points.

The twos kitty was shared by Paul Keily, on the eighth, and Simon Killen, Tom Knight and Joe Wilcox on the 17th, with each claim worth £18.

The Monday competition for the Seniors was a Cha-Cha-Cha Stableford, and all but one of the teams managed to better the competition par of 72.

Andy Shenton, Jim Fairweather, Gerald Woodley won with their team score of 90.

John Auton, Colin Chappell, Mick Hilliam and Pat Simcoe were second with 86.

Colin White, Ray Innes, Steve Cole and David Stannard were third, a further point adrift.

The twos kitty had ‘the mick taken out of it’, as the only winners were, Mick Hilliam, Mike Steward and Mike Wallis, who will see their bar account enhanced to the tune of £10.50.

On Tuesday, The Forest of Dean Golf Club, under the leadership of Vice Captain John Bodnar, made their way across Coleford to Mile End for the second leg of the 2025 Miners’ Lamp.

Forest Hills held a slender one point lead from the first leg played at Lords Hill in July.

Clive Winward and Kev Doyle opened the proceedings for the home team, against the aforementioned Bodnar and his partner Mike Ryder.

After a very close contest the spoils were shared.

Geoff Norris and Roger Hall then won one up in another close encounter against Dave Donoghue and George Legg.

Bill Peffers and Kevin Greening also halved their match against Keith Marfell and Andrew Cook.

The next two ties were won by the home team as Mike Steward and Pat Simcoe shook hands on the 14th as they beat Steve Tucker and Kevin Beaumont 5&4. The next game saw Kev Burford and Dave Howard ensure the overall half was registered in the match.

Despite giving a plethora of shots, they beat Frank Beech and Jim Cawthorne, 2&1.

It was a good job that the points were secured early, as John Binnie and Adrian Vines then lost 2&1 to Phil Hopkins and Phil Cotterell, followed by Phil Gwynne and Gary Davies, who lost 3&2 to Mike Sinclair and Pete Shingfield.

The last match was won 3&1 by Mark Barnard and Neil James against Peter Hoare and Frank Akenhurst, to leave the match score of Forest Hills 5-3 Forest of Dean .

That meant that the Miners Lamp stays at Mile End for another year, by virtue of an aggregate score of : Forest Hills 9.5-6.5 Forest of Dean 6.5.