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OLD ALLEYNIAN GOLFING SOCIETY After the winter lockdown it was great to be back on the course and back to playing matches and Society meetings. Although the Spring meeting at Rye was a casualty of the pandemic, the Halford Hewitt was played, albeit in September. Sadly, we narrowly lost to Clifton in the first round having drawn a very early Friday start yet again. We had three new players in our Halford team this year: Jonny Waugh (04-15), Colin Webb (79-84) and Mat Flint (78-83) and fielded four golfers under 30 years of age in Freddie Neden (10-15), Felix Suther-Jones (11-16), Hugo Avshu (01-12) and Jonny Waugh. Jonathan Swinney (77-84), Simon Anthony (86-91) and Roger Kelly (81-88) made up the rest of the team under Captain David Rutnam (70-77). Although we lost, the team spirit was excellent and a good time was had by all. We progressed to the semi-finals of the Cyril Gray plate, a scratch foursomes competition for over 50’s played annually at Worplesdon in June. Although beaten by Eastbourne, we prevailed against Framlingham and St Pauls. We went up to Scotland and played in the Queen Elizabeth 2nd competition at Royal Burgess for the first time since the 1960’s, where we enjoyed a very warm welcome. Our team lost narrowly to Glenalmond and we are looking forward to returning next year. David Rutnam, Duncan Anderson, Roger Kelly, Jeremy Brewer (64-71), Paul Kimber (82-89) and Nick Donald (73-80) made up the team. At the evening dinner, Roger Kelly was called upon to sing! In our matches this year we started by beating Loretto (who won the Halford Hewitt) and Sedbergh. We also had good wins over staunch rivals Whitgift and Alleyns, as well as in our inaugural match against Sevenoaks. In our Autumn meeting at Tandridge in October, Alex Mitchel (89-94) won the Threlfal Cup and the Scratch Cup was won by David Rutnam. On Captain’s day at Littlestone in September, Mark Camp (63-70) and John Simpson (58-68) won the Camp candlesticks. We are fast approaching our Centenary in 2025 and will be looking to celebrate this occasion in style. The Society has decided to institute a Youth Cup to be named after Peter Oosterhuis (57-67), one of the College’s greatest sportsmen, to be played for by golfers under the age of 30. Peter, who is now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, is the only golfer to have played in the Halford Hewitt and Ryder Cup. His wife, Ruth, is delighted that we are remembering Peter’s career in this way and has told us that Peter often talked about his happy days playing golf at Dulwich and Sydenham Hill, trying to raise golf from being a minor sport at the College. It is time that his achievements are recognised. Peter won 27 tournaments in his career, won the European order of merit 4 times, was runner-up in The Open twice and played in the Walker Cup and in the Ryder cup on six consecutive occasions. A magnificent career. Nick Donald has been our captain through these strange times and has held the post for an unprecedented two and a half years. During that time, he has instigated the setting up of our website and we urge you to register and express your interest in playing in Society events – the link is at the bottom of this article. All OAs over the age of 18 are welcome to join and for those aged under 30 there is no subscription and match fees are heavily subsidised. In May 2022, Chris Smith (66-73) will take over as Captain and we wish him well. Finally, our past Chairman and Vice President Will Lewis (54-65) has been made Captain of Royal Ashdown GC and this year has persuaded the club to have a bench at the turn dedicated to the Old Alleynian Golfing Society, so please look out for it.
OLD ALLEYNIAN LODGE The Old Alleynian Lodge celebrated its Centenary on 28 October 2021 in fine style. We were delighted to welcome the Metropolitan Grand Master, Sir Michael Snyder, as our Guest of Honour, together with other distinguished Freemasons. The Master, Dr Joe Spence, was our principal non-masonic guest – he had kindly arranged for the impressive facilities of the College to be made available, and the events team did a splendid job. Having been unable to hold our usual social events during the pandemic, members of the Lodge were able to bring wives, partners, friends and family. Other representatives of the College and the Alleyn Club were also invited. In total, 73 Freemasons and 29 non- masonic guests attended. Generous charitable donations were formally presented at dinner by the Lodge’s Worshipful Master, Roger Croucher (48-55). For further information about the Lodge, please visit: www.oldalleynianlodge.org.uk
Honorary Secretary Duncan Anderson (64-71) oags2013sec@gmail.co.uk oags.co.uk
The players in the Autumn meeting at Tandridge Golf Club
Photographs: Bob Tuthill
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