CRICKET St Thomas held their ‘drive in’ for the new club captains in front of about 100 members on Saturday.

The largely ceremonial occasion marked the start of the golfing year at the club, formerly known as Windwhistle.

Since the club was taken over by new owners last November, an extensive programme of improvements and renovations has been started and is well under way.

The drive in was preceded by a match in which 80 players took part in teams of four, playing a yellow ball competition.

Each team member played the yellow ball in turn, the yellow ball counting double the normal points.

The match began with a shotgun start, with players waiting at every tee. At the sound of the gun which could be heard at all points on the golf course, each team started their rounds simultaneously. Some golfing rules were suspended for the day and special rules were agreed as the aim of the day was to raise money for the various charities each captain supports.

Following the competition, the outgoing men’s captain, Mike Wilkes formally handed over to Paul Manley at which point the three new captains ceremoniously drove off from the first tee.

Manley was joined by John MacOmish, the new seniors’ captain, and Barbara Wilton for the ladies.

At lunch Manley thanked the sponsors of the event, Stokes Solicitors, Chalmers Chartered Accountants, Paul Fenton Financial Services and Liam Clark, the club’s head professional.

Manley also thanked all those who had helped to make the day so successful, in particular, Steve Holt and Graham Pike. He then presented prizes to the competition winners.

The Men’s section winners were Danny Dowell, John Stone, Matthew Corrick and Chris Robjohns.

The Ladies and Seniors sections combined their competitions and the winners were Barrie Heath, Mike Burt, Richard Hall and Nobby Hodder.