The Seniors’ long-awaited Away Day at Pontardawe Golf Club on Tuesday, August 2, turned out to be a victory of optimism and high spirits over the very un-August-like conditions. A very interesting day, featuring coach travel, fire and rescue services, poor visibility, lost sense of direction, lost sense of balance, saturation, good company, fine food, a very unique group photograph - and most of all a good day’s golf!

Let’s start at 08:30 at Kilgetty, where the coach was loaded with golfers and kit (actually 08:45 for a tardy journalist) and our experienced driver set out for Pontardawe through the persistent rain. Morale was high, and while Seniors captain Peter Williams sorted out the teams for the Texas Scramble and treasurer Stan Hudson collected the cash, the Seniors tried to gain some advance knowledge of the course from anyone who had played there before - to very little avail, since all that was remembered was that it was hilly, had lots of trees and was exposed to the prevailing wind.

On our arrival, it was obvious that these points were accurate, and that the approach road was certainly not designed for a 55-seater coach! - but we made it, and were given a warm welcome at the clubhouse, with coffee and bacon rolls preceding the donning of waterproof kit and the studying of course layout maps.

On venturing out to the practice area to warm up, we were greeted by no less than five fire engines, which, we were informed, had been summoned to rescue a lady who had slipped while walking her dog on a cliff path near to the club, and slithered down some 80-odd yards to a position from where she and her dog could not climb back. The rescue teams were setting out to help them as our tournament started, and we were informed later that both slitherers were safe and well.

This mishap should have served as a warning, because the conditions were pretty horrid, with persistent rain and fairly heavy banks of mist, in fact it was often the case that the route to the green was a matter of guesswork.

Some guesswork was a tad misguided, for example the trio of John Hancock, Bart Youll and Dudley Williams actually got completely lost and moved from the 10th green to the 16th tee; it took some time to backtrack and re-organise in the gloom, but they did get back on track - qualifying for the ‘Longest Round of Golf’ award.

A little later, failing to learn from the previous accident on the cliffs, I demonstrated my amazing downhill skills by slipping, completing a 25-metre bum-slither and collecting several pounds of clinging mud on my back - much to the amusement of my playing partners!

Despite these distractions, and the fact that everybody was saturated, the Texas Scramble was completed, the players slithered back into the locker room, peeled off their wet kit, showered and trooped into the bar for a well-earned tincture or three and a delightful meal.

Morale was amazingly high, the atmosphere was jovial and all the Seniors were keen to discover the results of the day’s squelch. Club captain Gethin Evans, who was appearing as a Senior - and not a TV personality on this occasion - rose to start the proceedings, thanking the Pontardawe club and our Seniors committee for such an interesting day. Pontardawe is Gethin’s home town, and it really was a pleasure to share his reminiscences about the town and some of his acquaintances.

Next came an extremely pleasant surprise as Ponty’s vice-captain, Gwyn Williams, addressed the company - assuming much of the blame for the conditions and showing immense generosity by presenting the Seniors with two green fee vouchers in recompense. What a splendid chap - the applause was deafening!

And then the moment we had all been waiting for, captain Peter rose to announce the results and distribute the lavish rewards. The successful golfers were:

Winning team - Idwal David, David Rees and Mike Fox.

Runners up - Des Stone, Paul Bradley and Geoff Aston.

Third place - Alan Sayers, Rod Clarke and Brian Morgan.

Fourth place - (eventually) John Hancock, Bart Youll and Dudley Williams.

Nearest the pin, hole five - Alan Sayers

Nearest the pin, hole 14 - Paul Bradley

Captain Peter choked back his disappointment at not having made the winners enclosure and courteously welcomed our new member, David Rees, to the venerable order of Seniors and welcomed back long time Senior Geoff Aston after a period of absence.

Much more applause, considerable banter, some flash photography and it was time to board the coach for the return trip - a group photograph was required, but the rain was falling with a vengeance, so discretion was the better part of posing, and it was hoped that the rain would have ceased by the time we arrived at Kilgetty.

This proved to be the case, and the group was duly digitally recorded - and here is the weird bit - you can clearly see the image of Sir Winston Churchill, hiding behind Dudley Williams, but clearly giving his famous ‘V for Victory’ sign to the camera - Amazing!

A really good day, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!

M.F.