SUNNY weather continued to greet the golfers at the Rayleigh based club at the annual ladies' drive-in More than 120 players saw new lady captain Shelagh Norton make a drive of 114 yards to start her year in office.

This was followed by a StableFord competition which saw Marc Holland winning for the men with a score of 44 pts ahead of Greg Claxton, who had 42.

Winning for the ladies was Jean Fordham with a score of 40 ahead of Debbie Suttie, who had 39. Taking the prize for the nearest the pin was Paul Williams for the men and Pat Smith for the ladies.

Holland made it a double when he won the longest drive for the men with Nicola Lee having the longest for the ladies The day was finished off with a dinner for Shelagh and her vice-captain Denise Edkins Other competitions played was the midweek medal which saw Darren Lee (0) taking the title on day one with a net 70.

Finishing second was Yogi Patel (11) 73 and in third place was Parminder Panesar (9) 79.

Day two the title went to Lloyd Billett (19) with a net 66 ahead of Stan Macal (12) 71 and John Healey (21) 72.

Day three it was the turn of Stephen Toomey (15) who had a net 66 ahead of Phil Howlett (14) 68 and Leanard Fordham (22) 69.

Former Southend United player David Crown (10) took the title on day four with a net 69 ahead of Stephen Brough (16) 70 and David Battle (18) 73.

Next it was the five-day members to have their championship competition with the honours going to John Williams (24) with a nett 70 ahead of Peter Osborne (14) 72 and Colin R.Cordingley (16) 76. The ladies also played their Stableford and medal competitions with Nicola Lee scoring 40 pts to take the title ahead of Jean Fordham and Joanna Kurn, who scored 36 and 35 respectively.

In the medal the honours went to Tracy Sutton, beating Wendy Oakley.

Finishing up on the Dukes course the new ladies captain held her first game in office with a fun game (best of three) Stableford with herself and fellow team-mates Ann Lawes and Carol Hall taking the prize ahead of Joanna Kurn, Linda Cosgrove and Pam Chlopas Over on the Earls course the ladies completed their summer single and double finals Joan Gardiner took the singles, beating Pat Kurn, and then teamed up with Jacquie Saunders to take the doubles ahead of Sheila Harris and Pat Kurn.