Birdie boost for charity appeal

RACHEL CONNOR (right) is pictured with her younger brother Nick and Pam Daley (The Rainbow Trust Francis House Appeal).

RACHEL CONNOR’S golfing exploits helped raise over £1,500 for The Rainbow Trust Francis House Appeal.

Sponsorship was based on the number of birdies the 18-year-old from Royton scored in four major amateur tournaments.

England international Rachel achieved 30 birdies, which enabled her to raise a four-figure sum for the Didsbury-based respite home for terminally-ill children.

Rachel explained she chose the Francis House Appeal as the beneficiaries for a number of reasons.

While she was a pupil St Herbert’s Primary School, she remembered fund-raising for the charity while her younger brother Nick was also keen for her to support it.

And top European Tour professional Nick Dougherty, whose father Roger is her coach, raises money for a similar respite home in Lancashire.

Rachel said: “I was playing golf in America and met a player who was raising money for charity based on the number of birdies she scored, so I decided to do likewise.

“Francis House needs a lot of money every minute to run and it is a cause I intend to keep supporting.”




BROOKDALE’S Winter Final saw Neil Buller (84-19-65) emerge the victor. Second was Paul Goulden (80-13-67) on the card from Craig Taylor (80-13-67).



Four qualifiers were staged to determine the 60 finalists while a subsidiary Stableford for non-finalists was won by Mick Owen (39pts) from Chris Breakey (36) and George Hinchcliffe (35).




THE Pinehurst Greensome at OLDHAM was won by Gordon Howard and Brian Best with a score of 57.8.



Runners-up were Rick Fallon and Steve Squires (58.6) while third place went to Steve Smith and A Chadwick (59.2).

The victors in a four-ball betterball medal were Norman Radcliffe and Norman Radcliffe jnr with a nett 61 on the card from Mike Allen and Terry Kelly.

Third place went to Dave Bruce and Alan Squires (62) on the card from Matt Radcliffe and Phil Mathews, David Bailey and Mark Furnival.




SADDLEWORTH’S turkey shoot, a four-ball betterball Stableford, saw father and son Brian and Liam Parfitt emerge the victors with a score of 44 points.



Runners-up were Martin Orme and Nigel Rhodes (43pts) while third were father and son Dave and Stephen Pullen (42), on the card from Graham Wildbore and Graham Widdall.

John Powell amassed 43 points to be the overall winner of a singles Stableford.

The first-division prize went to Ben Simpson (41pts) from D J Barnes (40) while in the second division the honours went to Nick Corrigan (41) from Gerry Hobbs (39).




CROMPTON AND ROYTON’S yellow ball team Stableford was won by Chris and Dennis O’Neill, Paul Clark and Brian Stanton on the card from Pete Davies, Paul Ireson, Charlie Lowe and Alan Scoltock who also scored 78 points.



In third place with 77 points were Robert and Chris Calow, Andrew Bottomley and Andrew Bottomley-Clift.

Richard Flynn, Steve Oldham, Steve Sharrock and Mark Sinfield finished fifth to retain top spot in the order of merit for the autumn/winter league.




A four-ball betterball turkey Stableford at WERNETH was won by father and son Louis and Chris Cordwell with 44 points.



They triumphed after a card play-off against runners-up John Booth and Eric Webb and third-placed Danny Wilkinson and Peter Griffin.




WHILE many golf clubs have been hit by the credit crunch, nearby Marsden appear to be bucking the trend.



Though Marsden is only a nine-hole course, it still has a thriving playing membership of 200 - a third of whom come from the Oldham area.

They waived their joining fee a couple of years ago and have just announced a price freeze for 2009.

With the cost of adult membership £450 and senior citizens £282.50 they believe they offer really competitive rates.

And they have just introduced a new category of membership aimed at university students from Huddersfield and Oldham who don’t live in the area for the whole year.

The student category, which will be valid from October until June, will cost £125 for a nine-month period.

Marsden report visitor numbers up for a second successive year. But the most spectacular increase involves clubhouse catering and bar sales which have almost doubled in the year since Jackie Tuck took over as stewardess.