The annual Crewe Centenary Past Captains Trophy was held at Leek on Wednesday 8th July, with teams competing in exceptionally hot conditions.

The event was first conceived during the captaincy years of Ian Baker (Crewe) and Mike Baggley (Newcastle), who introduced the competition in 2011 to celebrate Crewe Golf Club's centenary. Initially contested by Crewe, Chester and Newcastle, Leek joined the competition in 2014. The keenly contested event features teams of ten Past Captains, with the hosting duties rotating between the participating clubs. Crewe will next host the event in 2027.

Despite the challenging temperatures, everyone enjoyed an excellent day of golf and fellowship. Congratulations to Leek Golf Club, who were this year's worthy winners.

Our thanks go to Baileys for kindly providing refreshments before play and a delicious two-course meal afterwards, which was greatly appreciated by all.

We look forward to Crewe hosting next year's competition.

Astbury Golf Club Captain Mike (Hall) and Lady Captain Jane are proudly supporting East Cheshire Hospice as their chosen charity for the year, with a programme of fundraising events taking place throughout the season.

On Monday 25th May, they completed an incredible challenge — playing 18 holes across 17 different golf courses in one day, including two holes at Astbury Golf Club. During their journey they visited Leek Golf Club at around 8:40am to play the 11th hole, where they were welcomed by Captain Roy Bamford.

With temperatures soaring throughout the day, the challenge was made even tougher — making Mike and Jane’s achievement even more remarkable.

Congratulations and well done to both for such a fantastic fundraising effort.

An invitation from a golf club to former Stoke City manager Lou Macari to talk about the work of his homelessness foundation led to a funding grant of £90,000 for the charity.

Leek Golf Club Ladies Captain Gill Damjanovic asked Lou to speak to members about his life in football and the Macari Foundation which for the past decade has provided accommodation for homeless people in Stoke-on-Trent.

Around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days a year, The Macari Centre in Stoke town centre gives safe shelter, food and life changing – in some cases life-saving – support for people who would otherwise be sleeping rough on the streets.

The audience at the golf club event were impressed to hear of the tireless efforts of Lou and his team in delivering the much-needed service over the years. Those listening included member Mick Wallace who had a contact with a national funding body.

Mick’s brother Patrick is a senior Trustee of The Forbes Charitable Foundation which funds good causes throughout the UK. The Foundation has a policy of not accepting unsolicited funding bids but instead invites suitable organisations to make grant applications.

A “chance conversation” between Mick and his brother, convinced Patrick that the Macari Foundation deserved to be added to a “long list” of charities considered for grants.

Competing against strong bids from other organisations, the Macari Foundation made a comprehensive application for funding to finance an innovative education and training programme for its residents.

The programme, which builds on existing support services, puts in place education and training packages of the highest quality to develop residents’ life skills and employment skills. The aim is to prepare residents for a move away from the Macari Centre onto independent living.

The Macari bid was successful and The Forbes Charitable Foundation agreed to finance the project with a £30,000 a year grant for three years, starting this summer.

And the Forbes grant aid was not the only financial boost the Macari Foundation received as a result of Lou’s Leek Golf Club talk. Mrs Damjanovic, Ladies Captain in 2025, presented Lou with a £4,000 cheque with most of the money raised by ticket sales, a prize raffle and an auction on the night of the talk.

She said: “We are delighted to support such a worthy cause as the Macari Foundation. It was a fantastic night and Lou was brilliant. We got a lot of feedback and some of the attendees said it was the best night they had ever had at our club. That it led to the Forbes grant aid is a lovely bonus.”

Lou, who was an acclaimed midfield player for Celtic, Manchester United and Scotland, said: “We always greatly appreciate the support we receive from the North Staffordshire community and Leek Golf Club members have been tremendous.

“The Forbes grant will be very significant in helping us to achieve our ultimate aim of enabling as many homeless people as we can to turn round their lives and move to independent living.”

Patrick Wallace said: “The Macari Foundation and its education and training project are an ideal fit for The Forbes Charitable Foundation and they met all our funding criteria.”

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT MACARI FOUNDATION OPERATIONS MANAGER PAUL MACARI TELEPHONE 01782 845979 OR MOBILE 07899 842270.

We held this year’s Captain’s Quiz on Friday 30th January, and it was a fantastic evening. We enjoyed a magnificent turnout, with 17 teams taking part and standing room only in the clubhouse. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Andrew Baxter for preparing a superb and wide-ranging quiz, ably assisted by Jayne Baxter. The quiz featured 40 questions across eight different subjects, including Sport and Leisure, Geography, History, General Knowledge, The 1% Club, and several catch-phrase rounds — far too many to list in full! If you’d like to find out more, keep an eye out for the next quiz advertisement and enter your team’s name and number of players at the bar. You’re guaranteed a great night.

Congratulations to all who took part, and especially to our winners:

• Tequila Mockingbirds
• Peaks and Troughs
• Booby Prize: The Rogue Heroes

My thanks also go to the bar staff — Jennifer, Maisie, and Ollie — and to Aaron in the kitchen for the beautiful food. Special thanks as well to David Knowles for his support. We also held a raffle, with a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin as the prize, which was won by Lyndsey.

This quiz was my first charity quiz, raising funds for my three chosen charities:
The Peter Alliss Wheelchair Foundation, The Christie, and CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young).
I’m delighted to say we raised a magnificent total of £715.00.

Thank you once again to all quiz players and to everyone who contributed to the raffle or donated so generously. It was a tremendous evening, and I hope you all enjoyed it — let’s do it all again very soon!

Roy Bamford - Club Captain 2026

Lady Captain’s Quiz

On Friday 28th November, Andy Baxter kindly hosted the first quiz of the season on my behalf in my new role as Lady Captain. The aim was to raise funds for my chosen charity, Animal Lifeline at Serendipity Kennels. Pip Nadin, our Lady Vice Captain, introduced the evening and explained the purpose of the fundraising for this very worthy cause.

Delicious meals were available through Baileys, our hospitality team, and many entrants enjoy the occasion. Baileys also donated a generous £50 voucher to be used in one of their fabulous restaurants as one of the evening’s prizes.

Andy, ably supported by Jayne, put the teams through their paces with testing rounds on a wide range of topics. Competition was fierce, and the atmosphere positively buzzed among the 15 teams taking part. The winning team was Tequila Mockingbirds, followed by Stuck in the Bunker as runners-up, the booby prize went to Phil’s Fillies.

There was also a raffle for the Christmas Hamper and some smaller prizes. Tickets drawn on the night will be re-entered into the main draw for the Christmas Hamper on Tuesday 16th December. Tickets are still available for this up until the draw date.

A fantastic total of £504 was raised through team entries and raffle sales for Animal Lifeline.

I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Andy and Jayne for hosting this fantastic first quiz of the season; to David and Baileys Hospitality for the lovely fare and for running the bar so efficiently; to Pip Nadin for standing in for me and doing an admirable job of introducing my charity and selling raffle tickets; and most of all, to all the members and their friends for their continued support and generosity in helping to raise money for such a worthy cause.

Ange Broadhurst

Lady Captain 2026