A friendship first established in 1948 continues to blossom and 75 years on Spalding Golf Club took on their Woodhall Spa counterparts in their annual Harold Ireland Trophy encounter.
Mr Ireland was a pre-Second World War member at Spalding but left to join Woodhall Spa.
However, he wished to maintain his long-standing friendship with his former club so, with another Spalding member, Nib Temple, he set out on a mission to create an annual social match to be played each year, home and away, in the name of friendship.
The first match was played at Woodhall Spa in May 1949 with the away leg at Spalding in August.
The matches have been played every year since, apart from 2020 when play was interrupted by Covid.
The 2023 edition saw Spalding welcome a team of 16 friends from Woodhall Spa to play the 146th match. Following a heavy defeat in May at Woodhall Spa, Spalding were keen to regain some honour and bring the trophy home.
They did that in style and the trophy was presented by the visitors’ team manager Alan Howe to Spalding club captain Ben Blom.
Both clubs look forward to many more years of playing for this coveted trophy and further developing a special friendship between the clubs.
p Spalding finished sixth at the English Junior Club Championship.
The squad qualified last year by winning their league and further qualification matches.
Junior captain Bethany Gough led the team over the two days and was joined by Ollie Cunnington and Alfie Timby.
It was a team effort to get to the final with Louie Gooderson, William Langford and Ruby Creasey all helping reach the final.
The team played on the Bracken course at Woodhall Spa and were supported by club members who travelled to watch them competing on some difficult bunkers and tricky greens.
