It’s 21 September and I am sitting in the study typing my long overdue blog entry. Nothing unusual in that you might think other than the fact I should be in Berlin by now as I enter the last 10 days of my presidency. To cut a long story short, having left home at 5am to get the 7.45am from Luton to Berlin, I stood in the easijet queue only to discover to my horror that although I had a passport with me, wasn’t mine. As a result, I have had to delay my journey to one of my final events of my year which is attending the IPTI conference being held at the Canadian Embassy until tomorrow.
So having taken in the final day of the Ryder Cup, I will drive myself this time (J had to come back to fetch me this morning) at 3am (or in 13 hours time to be more precise) back to Luton to try again. Thankfully no tv cameras were following the crew so I will not be needing to relive this unfortunate but embarrassing gaffe which I cannot blame anyone but myself for !!!!
Oh well, having confessed all I shall pen my penultimate entry in my blog in what has been an incredibly busy but great last month
Monday 19 August 2008 – Sunday 24 August 2008
I drive with J up to Manchester where we have a meeting about the Performance Awards night and iron out hopefully the last remaining issues. The venue is great and hopefully it will live up to what has become one of the most looked forward to night in the Institute’s calendar. I am sure no one will be disappointed and as at yesterday numbers stood at just under 900. Back by 4pm, I nip into work to do an early evening shift picking up Louis from his weekly rock band session on the way home
I have a full week of meetings at work over the week including a partnership one in Coventry on the Friday, and it is my last real working week of any great substance before I finish in the first week of October so it is plenty of early starts and late finishes which works out well as I come home each day to see the progress the decorators who started this week are making on painting the whole house from top to bottom.
However, its not all work and no play and on the Wednesday along with a few of the guys from the facilities department at work, we knock off at 5 and have a round of golf at the local club. I will definitely be joining next year when hopefully I will have more free time than I know what to do with and my handicap will hopefully improve !!! With my partner, we win the match (and the drinks) on the 18th in torrential weather (hardly a balmy summer's evening) as promised
Saturday is spent sorting out a few things for the wedding, and making a few visits to the family to prove I am still alive and we take everyone out for a meal in the evening to celebrate Julie’s mums birthday. Having earned sufficient brownie points, I go into work all day on the Sunday determined to get on top of everything before taking Louis and his mate out for a meal to celebrate his forthcoming birthday that we will miss as we are out of the country.
Monday 25 August 2008 – Thursday 28 August 2008
Monday is spent sorting out a few things in readiness for the charity event I start at the end of the week and sorting out my tax return and talk I am giving at the Scottish Conference the following week in Crieff. Whilst the Council is closed on the Tuesday, I go in for the day as J is in work and to get out of the way of the decorators.
Spend Wednesday and Thursday in a variety of meetings, one with a rep from the Tell Us Once project, some in pulling together ICT strategies going forward and others with members leaving fairly late and my out of office messages updated as I am not around for the next two and a half weeks (albeit I do nip on the Friday after playing the first round of four on my charity tour of Ryder Cup venues at 4pm as I failed to get everything done as I needed).
So to my second Charity Event of the Year which proved to be absolutely brilliant and will raise another £3000 or more for the air ambulance.
Friday 29 August 2008 – Monday 1 September 2008
Played over 4 days and courtesy of the the very kind support of sponsors, Equita, Paul Sharpe and I led our rival teams which changed each day around the country playing past and forthcoming Ryder Cup venues over 4 days in 3 different countries starting on Friday 29th August 2008 at the Belfry situated in Bob's own North Warwickshire area, on Saturday 30th August 2008 at the Celtic Manor near Newport, on Sunday 31st August 2008, at West Lancashire on the North West coast and concluding on Monday 1st September 2008 on the Kings Course at Gleneagles.
Although not part of the event, I also played on Tuesday 2nd September at the Crieff Golf Club at the Institute’s Scottish Conference Golf Event which takes place on the day before its 2 day Scottish conference.
The Friday as is always the case in North Warwickshire was balmy and warm, and the Mayor and management of the Belfry came to see us off at 9.30am resplendent in our team colours for the day of white and green. See the pictures. The course played very long and tough being set up for a forthcoming professional tournament which made the going tough for some and impossible for most. In some parts the rough was so high we weren’t just searching for balls but also Paul’s and my playing partners, Barry Powell and David Magor !. The other four ball of Steve Glaze and last year's President Allan Traynor for Team IRRV and Rob Andrews and Paul Ellicott faired little better looking at the result of the game
In true Ryder Cup style we were playing for the honour of winning a point (and a drink) across two games and after a hard fought first day, honours were even at 1 point each with the results as follows with Mr Sharpe taking the bottle of champagne for the best stableford score of the day
Day One - The Belfry
Sharpe/Powell(B) v Trahern/Magor : Lost 3 & 1 : 1
So having taken in the final day of the Ryder Cup, I will drive myself this time (J had to come back to fetch me this morning) at 3am (or in 13 hours time to be more precise) back to Luton to try again. Thankfully no tv cameras were following the crew so I will not be needing to relive this unfortunate but embarrassing gaffe which I cannot blame anyone but myself for !!!!
Oh well, having confessed all I shall pen my penultimate entry in my blog in what has been an incredibly busy but great last month
Monday 19 August 2008 – Sunday 24 August 2008
I drive with J up to Manchester where we have a meeting about the Performance Awards night and iron out hopefully the last remaining issues. The venue is great and hopefully it will live up to what has become one of the most looked forward to night in the Institute’s calendar. I am sure no one will be disappointed and as at yesterday numbers stood at just under 900. Back by 4pm, I nip into work to do an early evening shift picking up Louis from his weekly rock band session on the way home
I have a full week of meetings at work over the week including a partnership one in Coventry on the Friday, and it is my last real working week of any great substance before I finish in the first week of October so it is plenty of early starts and late finishes which works out well as I come home each day to see the progress the decorators who started this week are making on painting the whole house from top to bottom.
However, its not all work and no play and on the Wednesday along with a few of the guys from the facilities department at work, we knock off at 5 and have a round of golf at the local club. I will definitely be joining next year when hopefully I will have more free time than I know what to do with and my handicap will hopefully improve !!! With my partner, we win the match (and the drinks) on the 18th in torrential weather (hardly a balmy summer's evening) as promised
Saturday is spent sorting out a few things for the wedding, and making a few visits to the family to prove I am still alive and we take everyone out for a meal in the evening to celebrate Julie’s mums birthday. Having earned sufficient brownie points, I go into work all day on the Sunday determined to get on top of everything before taking Louis and his mate out for a meal to celebrate his forthcoming birthday that we will miss as we are out of the country.
Monday 25 August 2008 – Thursday 28 August 2008
Monday is spent sorting out a few things in readiness for the charity event I start at the end of the week and sorting out my tax return and talk I am giving at the Scottish Conference the following week in Crieff. Whilst the Council is closed on the Tuesday, I go in for the day as J is in work and to get out of the way of the decorators.
Spend Wednesday and Thursday in a variety of meetings, one with a rep from the Tell Us Once project, some in pulling together ICT strategies going forward and others with members leaving fairly late and my out of office messages updated as I am not around for the next two and a half weeks (albeit I do nip on the Friday after playing the first round of four on my charity tour of Ryder Cup venues at 4pm as I failed to get everything done as I needed).
So to my second Charity Event of the Year which proved to be absolutely brilliant and will raise another £3000 or more for the air ambulance.
Friday 29 August 2008 – Monday 1 September 2008
Played over 4 days and courtesy of the the very kind support of sponsors, Equita, Paul Sharpe and I led our rival teams which changed each day around the country playing past and forthcoming Ryder Cup venues over 4 days in 3 different countries starting on Friday 29th August 2008 at the Belfry situated in Bob's own North Warwickshire area, on Saturday 30th August 2008 at the Celtic Manor near Newport, on Sunday 31st August 2008, at West Lancashire on the North West coast and concluding on Monday 1st September 2008 on the Kings Course at Gleneagles.
Although not part of the event, I also played on Tuesday 2nd September at the Crieff Golf Club at the Institute’s Scottish Conference Golf Event which takes place on the day before its 2 day Scottish conference.
The Friday as is always the case in North Warwickshire was balmy and warm, and the Mayor and management of the Belfry came to see us off at 9.30am resplendent in our team colours for the day of white and green. See the pictures. The course played very long and tough being set up for a forthcoming professional tournament which made the going tough for some and impossible for most. In some parts the rough was so high we weren’t just searching for balls but also Paul’s and my playing partners, Barry Powell and David Magor !. The other four ball of Steve Glaze and last year's President Allan Traynor for Team IRRV and Rob Andrews and Paul Ellicott faired little better looking at the result of the game
In true Ryder Cup style we were playing for the honour of winning a point (and a drink) across two games and after a hard fought first day, honours were even at 1 point each with the results as follows with Mr Sharpe taking the bottle of champagne for the best stableford score of the day
Day One - The Belfry
Sharpe/Powell(B) v Trahern/Magor : Lost 3 & 1 : 1
Andrews/Ellicott v Glaze/Traynor : Won 7&6 : 1
Day Two, saw us descend on the Celtic Manor, just outside Newport on a gloriously hot day where IRRV donned the green and Equita, the Red to celebrate being in the principality. David Magor was stood down for the day (at his age, 4 days golf is beyond him) and Alaln Traynor and myself were joined by Andy Cummings who bid the highest pledge of £200 for the place at the annual association golf day in Worksop and Paul Ellicott, playing for the IRRV this time who had won his place by donating money via the website. Paul was joined by his colleague Paul Walker, and Roy Jones, who won his place via the raffle at the Equita golf day and John Hewitson, Chairman of the Association reps and a fellow West Midlander who won his place in the raffle at Worskop.
Day Two, saw us descend on the Celtic Manor, just outside Newport on a gloriously hot day where IRRV donned the green and Equita, the Red to celebrate being in the principality. David Magor was stood down for the day (at his age, 4 days golf is beyond him) and Alaln Traynor and myself were joined by Andy Cummings who bid the highest pledge of £200 for the place at the annual association golf day in Worksop and Paul Ellicott, playing for the IRRV this time who had won his place by donating money via the website. Paul was joined by his colleague Paul Walker, and Roy Jones, who won his place via the raffle at the Equita golf day and John Hewitson, Chairman of the Association reps and a fellow West Midlander who won his place in the raffle at Worskop.
As is always the case, no two days are the same in golf and I gained revenge for the previous days defeat by partnering Allan to victory over Paul and John. The other game with my big hitters (who had tucked into two monumental fry ups before the start) Andy and Paul failed to turn weight and carbohydrate advantage into success
Day Two - The Celtic Manor
Sharpe/Hewitson v Trahern/Traynor : Won 3&2 : 1
Walker/Jones v Cummings/Ellicott : Lost 2&1 : 1
I found the fresh air of Wales to my liking and walked off with the best score of the day and with the game poised at 2 points each, it was all to play for a the mid point stage. Back home by 9pm, a long soak in the bath and it was up early to pack up the car for the last two courses and everything needed for the Scottish Conference.
Day Three and Sunday brought rain and a lot of it although skies cleared a little as we drove up the M6 to Liverpool and West Lancs golf club which we had been threatened would be a challenge as the winds blew in off the Irish sea. Call it luck of the Irish but half an hour before our lunchtime tee off time the skies cleared, the rain stopped and the winds were bought a mild breeze, as benign as you could hope for.
Sunday saw me partnered by fellow Council Member, Dave Chapman who was a rock on the day and Paul by Graham Sayers, from the Lancs and Cheshire Association. The second fourball saw the dreamteam of Magor and Traynor take on Richard Mason, from the Lancs and Cheshire Association and Dave Powell, Barry’s brother, who won the opportunity to play at the Worksop raffle.
In what was a nip and tuck game, Team Equita in Blue got the better of Team IRRV in red, by winning the day one and a half to a half with there never being more than one hole either way between Paul and Graham and Dave and myself and after 18 holes we shared the spoils. Richard Mason produced the form in the second game bringing Team Equita home 3&2 meaning that Monday still meant the trophy could go either way. Graham Sayers walked off with the bottle of champagne for good measure.
Day Three - West Lancs
Sharpe/Sayers v Trahern/Chapman : All Square : 0.5 : 0.5
Mason/Powell (D) : Lost 3&2 : 1
Leaving the club at 8pm, and having completed the 5 hour drive up to Crieff via Burger King and Edinburgh airport to drop Allan off to pick up his car, I’m afraid the early mist didn’t give way to the sunshine the course deserved and we teed it off in torrential rain, with IRRV wearing the blue of Scotland and Equita, the white of the St Andrew's Cross.
The King's Course at Gleneagles of all the courses we played exceeded even our highest expectations and I was joined in my team by David McLaughlin, partner at Scott and Co who kindly donated the two tee off times and went into battle against Paul who was joined by Richard Mather from Birmingham CC who won the opportunity to play by winning the raffle at the Equita golf day.
The second fourball that went off half an hour before we did had the rain for the first 7 holes which saw Allan Traynor joined by Colin Naylor who won the opportunity in Worksop and Mike Corless form Equita by Richards wife, Denise
By hole 4, the sun had peeped through giving way to some unbelievable scenery making the halfway house refreshments taste all the better. In another unbelievably tight game, the game between Paul and Richard and David and I was halved on the last in a game that once gain never saw more than a couple of holes between the two teams and a well fought for half point meaning it was down to Team IRRV to bring the spoils home in the other game to square the match.
However, it proved a step to far and Mike and Denise proved too good on the day (and there is no truth in the rumor that Mike Corless insisted in playing off the reds to keep his partner company). We did have the consolation of David McLaughlin winning the individual prize on a countback from Richard Mather.
Day Four – Gleneagles
Sharpe/Mather.R. v Trahern/McLoughlan : All Square : 0.5 : 0.5
Corless/Mather.D. v Traynor/Naylor : Lost 4&2 : 1
Final Score
Team IRRV 3 points
Team Equita 5 points
What an experience and we shared many tales over a glass or wine or two long into the night.
My thanks to Equita for their sponsorship of what was a great event (Paul can we do it again next year please even though I am not President!) and it is still not too late to get involved. You can still donate money and may win yourself the opportunity to win a fabulous stay at the Forest of Arden Golf Club
How can you donate money?
I would ask that you donate a minimum of £3 (more if you can spare it) by pledging the amount via the website www.justgiving.com/bobtrahern.
Alternatively, if you do not like to enter debit card details online, you can send me a cheque payable to R Trahern at 7 Walnut Drive, Mancetter, Atherstone and I will raise one cheque at the end of my presidential year to my chosen charity, the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance which is a fantastic course (oops I mean cause !)
By supporting me and the air ambulance, as a special bonus you could win yourself a night for two at the luxurious Forest of Arden Hotel in the heart of North Warwickshire by guessing the total number of stableford points that will be scored by the 2 teams over the 4 days (i.e.) 32 players will on average score anything between 15 and 36 points each, therefore achieving a minimum of 320 points and a maximum of 1152 points. Just make a guess at a number between these two figures and who knows, you could be lucky!
For a £5 pledge, you can have 2 guesses and for £10, five guesses. Whoever guesses the nearest or is spot on (in the event of a tie we will select one person out of a hat) will win. Guesses should be sent to me at bobtrahern@northwarks.gov.uk and will be announced at the IRRV conference on 2 October.
Many thanks in anticipation of any support you can give.
Tuesday 2 September 2008 – Friday 5 September 2008
Up early on Tuesday to put the finishing touches to my paper for Wednesday and do some work in terms of answering e mails, the weather was dry for the pre conference golf competition sponsored by IBS held at Crieff. Well into the groove, my game held together and although blowing up on the last few holes (the 86th to 90th fairways were obviously a step too far), my 32 points saw me take home 3rd prize to cap off a great 5 days for me
As is traditional the stories of putts missed and made were discussed long into the night at the local curry house before rising bright and early the next day to open up the conference with a paper majoring on the current issues facing Scotland which are dominated by the Local Income Tax debate.
The conference as always is very well attended and I take in the performance awards village where all Scottish entrants are sharing their good practice and have the very enjoyable task of presenting successful students with their level 3 certificates. See picture of all candidates below.
The evening is spent in traditional Scottish style with Scottish dancing after a great meal before retiring to the bar and going to bed much too late as I need to be on the road by mid morning in order to drive the 380 miles or so home as I need to repack bags as J and I are attending the IAAO conference being held in Amercia which traditionally is one of the last events in any Presidential year.
Friday 5 September 2008 – 16 September 2008
This year the conference was held in Reno in Nevada and we decided to add a few days onto the end of the event to take in the sights and sounds of Las Vegas. When I booked the flights, I always make sure I get the best deal when not always thinking through some of the logistics. So in order to get the 10am direct flight on Virgin from Gatwick, we are at Coventry bus station by 3am to get the earliest flightlink down to Gatwick, then a 11 hour flight before we had a planned 5 hour wait at the other end before boarding a planned 90 minute flight to Phoenix then changing to fly to a further hour onto Nevada. In the end because of delays having waited at LV airport for 6 hours we ended up going via San Francisco and arriving in the hotel in Reno just gone midnight, or some 32 hours later !!!! Not that you would know it was midnight as the place is packed with people playing the one arm bandits and tables. Straight to bed for the two of us and we spend Saturday afternoon crashed by the pool in nearly 100-degree heat. Alright if you go as tanned as J, less good if you go a initially a shade of pink like me !!
Sunday, I am up at 5.30am and on board a bus with 50 other Americans to play in the pre conference golf match (you can see a theme developing here). We arrive, and my hire clubs are all packed on the buggy and as good as what I carry at home. In England if you rented any left handed clubs, I dread to think what you would get. 10 minutes on the practice range, we head off in the buggy for the shotgun start and even at 8am it is creeping up to the mid 70’s. Played as teams in a better ball format, my American partners have great faith in me as I chip in for a two on the par 3 signature hole located on an island surrounded by a great lake for which a hole in one carries a holiday to Hawaii (somewhat better than we are used too). I never quite reach the dizzy heights of that start again as the weather crept up into the 90’s until the last hole when I put my tee shot to 10ft 6inches on the 187 yard par 3 12th and win the nearest the pin competition. I make it onto the leader board back at the bbq held at the conclusion of the golf (see picture) and win a signed photograph of Shaun Micheel ! (I didn’t know him either but apparently he won a major in the states 3 years ago).
Back by 4pm for a refreshing dip and we meet up with David and Liz who arrived during the day and attend the drinks reception in the evening at a car musuem.
The conference starts on the Monday with the national anthem and opening sessions at 8.00am (perhaps we should introduce that here) and over a 1000 delegates choose from a mind-boggling number of plenary sessions to attend over the following 3 days. I attend a variety stretching from valuation to the imaginatively titled session “How to get the best out of your flip flop staff”.
We are joined by fellow Northern Ireland IAAO and Council member, Alan Bronte and are invited to a number of special events laid on by the IAAO president and for international guests where we are joined with our friends from SUMA in Spain who are also at the event giving a paper.
We leave Reno on the Wednesday afternoon having had a great time and arrive in Las Vegas by night flying in over the views of the millions of lights that line the strip.
Our time in Vegas is short but we cram as much in as possible although gambling is not one of them betting only 3 dollars on the one cent one armed bandits. We visit all the big hotels, take in some shopping and do a day at the Grand Canyon but in truth after such a busy and hectic year, I take the opportunity to relax by the pool and catch some rays. Leaving on the Monday afternoon, we arrive back in Gatwick early on Tuesday morning and on time only for our flightlink bus to be delayed (sods law).
Back home, bags are unpacked and we try and sleep off the effects of any jet lag (unsuccessfully) as we are both back at work on the Wednesday
Wednesday 17 September 2008 – Sunday 21 September 2008
My car is collected for a pre-arranged service first thing and I am in work by 9am as I have to prepare for a meeting of the portfolio group for which I am the lead officer. Thankfully I am bang up to date with my e-mails as I was answering them on my right arm, the blackberry when away. The rest of the day is spent catching up with various managers and staff and my boss in terms of a monthly meeting we have.
Spend most of Thursday in Coventry agreeing actions and milestones as our shared service arrangements are now beginning to bed in before returning to work.
Friday is similarly spent in a series of meetings before I come home to take in the real Ryder Cup which has started today in ernest.
In early on Saturday to get some minutes written and some documents I have promised by deadlines before getting home mid afternoon for another 8 hours in front of the tv, the last match finishing just gone midnight leaving me four hours before getting up again for what was my abortive journey to Luton. Serves me right for packing my bag during commercial breaks but one thing is for sure I won’t do it again and my bag is ready to go in the morning, with the correct passport correctly stowed away.
Oh well better sign off. It’s now 4pm and the singles matches will start shortly. Just time to send in this to Fraser (sorry for any spelling mistakes, I haven’t the will to read the 7 pages I have typed) and a few other e mails into work.
Hopefully see you all in Manchester (and for some of you at the pre conference golf event at Reddish Vale on the Monday !!!!!)
Take Care,
Bob
Above : Scottish Conference in session!
