A brief history of our society

The Wearside Wanderers Golf society was formed in 2002 by four lads as an excuse to get away from their respective families, play some golf and have a few beers (and a few more and more etc). That year we went to Scotland for a four day jaunt, playing six courses, having an excellent time in the process.

The next year the word spread and we were joined by another two like minded individuals who wanted to join the fun. We also increased the number of rounds from six to seven, played over five days. This change worked well and once again much fun was had by all (and once again, much ale was supped by all).

In 2004 we expanded our range, instead of only going away for a week we played as a group at various local courses throughout the year including two trips to the Borders and a weekend trip over to the Lake District. Sadly the Lake District lived up to its name but the weekend wasn't a total washout (or a was it a "brainwash" out, John & Dennis?) as that weekend was the catalyst to forming the Wearside Wanderers golf society we have today.

2005 was our first full season as a proper society with a membership comprising of fifteen golfers from widely different backgrounds. The season comprised of thirteen rounds including five in the Borders harking back to our very first year. The whole season was a great success, bringing together players of varying ability who started the season as total strangers and finished it as firm friends.

By 2006, the society had expanded to twenty one full members and a few occasional players who are always made most welcome. The seasons golf consisted of sixteen rounds at courses throughout the North East (still including the obligatory borders trip). The final round this year was at Wearside Golf Club and was sponsored by a local design and consultancy company DESCO, many thanks to them for their generosity. 2006 saw the tightest championship in our history with six points covering the top three after sixteen rounds of the championship.

During 2007 we continued to develop and extend the society with twenty four full members. This year our Championship consisted of fifteen rounds including a few courses new to the society. This seasons Borders Championship was contested over eight rounds on five courses in the Dumfries & Galloway region of south west Scotland and was a resounding success. As last season our society benefited from some corporate sponsorship by the generous support of five of our members companies, thanks to them we were able to provide some excellent prizes and trophies at the season Finals day in October. As in 2006 the Championship proved to be extremely tight with four points covering the top three places.

The 2008 season produced the most exciting and trying season yet. After six months, playing 288 holes of golf at sixteen different courses, with an estimated combined total of 21,606 shots It all went down to the last shot on the last hole of the last course to produce our new Champion. The 2008 season was dominated by the weather. We started in a blizzard at Ramside, endured gale force winds at Bellingham, monsoon conditions at Seaton Carew and to cap it all for the first time in our society history we had to cancel a match, but even with all of this the competition was as fierce as ever.

2009 brought with it a major financial recession and we as a society had to take this into account. We tried to limit the cost of each round to a maximum of £30 and on the whole we achieved this goal. Secondly we decided to cancel our Borders Championship week away and replace it with two weekend trips. The first in May was to one of our old stomping ground, The Hirsel at Coldstream followed the next day with a visit to Eyemouth, this trip was well received with ten players for both days. The second trip to North Yorkshire was less successful with only a few players for both days at Catterick and Bedale in August. The 2009 Championship was as hotly contested as ever with no less than four players going in to the final game at Wearside with a chance of winning, in the end Jim Rooks came out on top with a new record total of 370 points.

2010 - Champion, Paul Marshall

2011 - Champion, Paul Baker

2012 was our tenth season as a society, it's hard to believe that it was10 years since we first took the short trip up to the Scottish Borders to play some golf and socialise. Of the original four players who made that trip, three are still active members of our society, John Ford, Paul Marshall and myself. The Nearest the Pin category was a hard fought affair, two players (Tim & Rico) took three round wins each and it all came down to who had the nearest measurement, in the end Rico took the category with 2m, Tim had 2.03m so Rico won by 3mm. The Longest Drive category caused us a few problems. Tim was in the lead going in to the final round with four wins, Jim was close behind with three wins. We had anticipated this may cause a problem if Jim won (as he did) and arranged it so we had the chance for a drive off later in the round. But the best laid plans often turn round and bite your bum as NEITHER player managed to hit the fairway on the play off hole. In the end both Tim and Jim decided to share the prize and the honour. As has become the norm the Championship was a very close run affair, the top four players were separated by THREE points. In fourth place came Jim Rooks with 356 points, third position went to Paul Marshall (also on 356 but with one round win). Taking the runner up spot was the 2011 Champion Paul Baker with 358 points. The winner and new Society Champion, at the tenth attempt, was Ian Gunn with a total of 359 points.

At the beginning of 2013 we said goodbye to our Glorious Leader Brian Sykes, one of the stalwards of our little band. Brian was involved with our Society from the early days but was unable to play as much as he would wish due to moving away from the area, hence he retired from his his post of Hon President. Over the winter we, the society committee, looked into a ways of increasing player numbers and came up with a couple of ideas. due to Firstly we reduced the season end prize fund and used the savings to subsidise the green fees to £20 and also tried to limit the traveling time and distance to 30 minutes or 20 miles maximum from Sunderland. The changes appear to have worked as the first round of the 2013 at South Shields we had an excellent turnout of 16 members. Overall last season we had an average of just under 12 members per round, this year despite having two less members we averaged almost 14 members per round. We lost 6 members from the 2012 season but welcomed 4 new members who have enthusiastically supported the Society over the season. 2013 was an excellent year with fine weather (mostly) and some very nice new courses visited. Our annual Borders Championship trip this year visited north Northumberland in June, the weather could have been kinder but overall the weekend was a great success with Dave Sanders becoming the new recipient of "The Claw". The previous week saw another annual event on the Wanderers calendar the Team Challenge day, held at Wearside this season, Paul Marshall's "Chairman's" team came out victors by 8 - 7 after a hard fought day's golf. The Presidents Cup was this year organised and ran by John Ford, many thanks to him for his efforts. We did intend (and on the best part, managed) to ensure all games were played away from the main Championship rounds but due to outside problems the 2013 final had to be played at Finals day. The final was between Paul Baker and Steve Grant with Steve coming out the victor at Wearside. As last season the Longest Drive category was a tie between Tim Aberdeen and Jim Rooks with three round wins each, as last year they agreed to share the honour. The Nearest the Pin was another hard fought category, no less than four players had two round wins but in the end the Championship went to Eddie Harrison with the closest distance of the four in contention. Now some of you may have noticed "Twos" are not our strong point so it is no surprise that the Twos Pot was shared between six players. Dave Sanders takes the trophy by virtue of him managing both of his two's at the same course (High Throston). Historically the Wearside Wanderers Championship has always been a close run thing usually being won by the odd point or two, this season however, just like the Formula One world championship, has been pretty much a one horse race since mid season. Five points cover numbers 2 to 5, in fifth place with 341 points came Tim Aberdeen, in fourth on 342 came Jim Rooks. Third position went to the outgoing Champion Ian Gunn with 343 points. The Championship runner up spot went to the new Presidents Cup winner Steve Grant with 346 points. The worthy winner and 2013 Champion Golfer is Rico Liverani with a total of 363 points. At the end of the 2013 season we had the sad news that Tim Aberdeen, a loyal and enthusiastic member of the Society sadly passed away after a long battle with cancer. His passing will be a great loss to everyone but his spirit and larger than life personality will never be forgotten. R.I.P. Tim.

As 2014 started we had an early but unwelcome gathering at Durham Crematorium to say goodbye to our good friend and stalwart of our Society, Tim Aberdeen, who sadly lost his battle against cancer just after Christmas 2013. Tim's memory has been a major factor throughout the season from the Weekend Away trip to scattering his ashes on a very emotional day at Houghton in July. As a tribute we renamed our knockout competition the Tim Aberdeen Shield (formerly the Presidents Cup) and we have a new trophy kindly donated by Tim's family, more on that below. Tim may be have been taken from us but I am sure his spirit and enthusiasm for the game and life in general will live on. This season saw our Society expand to 24 full members as we welcomed Peter Anderson, Dave Coates, Tom McDonald, Alan Welch and Mark Wilson to our band of happy hackers, plus the occasional guest players, this meant we had the highest match turnout's we have ever had. The season started at a cool and misty Tyneside way back in March and came to a climax at our home course Wearside in October, Along the way we took in six new courses, visited North Yorkshire for our weekend away for the first time and returned to a few old friends we have missed for a few years. The first of our annual competitions this year was the popular Team Challenge day in June played at Wearside, after a hard fought battle between two teams of 12 players, the winner was Paul Marshall's Chairman's Team by 10 points to 8. Hot on the heals of the Team Challenge day came our weekend away trip to fight for the Borders Championship, following a great weekend at two beautiful courses the winner and recipient of "The Claw" for 2014 was Gordon Grant. The Longest Drive Championship was won by Paul Baker though he required a "play-off" hole against Jim Rooks to take the category. The Nearest the Pin Championship was won by Ian Gunn with 2 round wins and the closest distance. In the past the Two's Pot was "administered" (more like demanding money with menaces!) by Tim but with his passing the Grant brothers stepped up to the plate to provide this service (with similar gusto I might add). With the increased membership the "pot" was in the region of £130 and was shared between Jim Rooks and Mark Wilson who both carded 4 two's through the season. The inaugural Tim Aberdeen Shield final was a very tight match on a wet and windy October morning at Houghton Golf Club between Jim Rooks and Paul Baker. In a match where neither player took more than a two hole lead paul Baker came out victorious on the 18th hole and was presented with the Tim Aberdeen Shield by Tim's family at Finals day. Now for the race to the Claret Jug, in third place with 349 points came Alan Welch. Second place went to Derek Griffiths with 352 points. The winner and Society Champion Golfer for 2014 scoring 359 points was Dave Sanders, congratulations and well done to all the above.