Pearson Report. The Centenary Celebrations.
Day one.
We arrived at Hartsbourne a good 90 minutes too early; we had allowed plenty of time, just in case the M25 traffic was at its worst.
Never mind, we were able to acclimatize ourselves and prepare for the afternoons play against our counter parts.
I was expecting the Surrey manager to win the spoils, oh yes you guessed it she did.
This year we had poor weather and so were unable to play the whole course, we did get to play 7 holes in the afternoon, in between showers, the odd thunder storm and sunshine, nothing new there then. I suppose we deserved it, after all everyone else has had to play in appalling weather, since the competition start way back in November. After the golf, we travelled a few miles to our hotel, now a few months ago, Philip and I went on the net to fine a hotel in the Bushey area, we found a great offer, £29 a room at a De Vere hotel and it was only six miles away from the course, oh what luck! I booked two rooms one for Elaine and one for yours truly. That was the good news, the bad news was the blurb had the wrong postcode, so the dreaded Sat Nav, took us all around the country side, a full 11 miles away from Hartsbourne and with the locals assurances that the traffic will be dire in the morning.
We eventually arrived at the Hotel, just a little hot and bothered.
A warm welcome and a hot bath worked wonders.
Then we needed to get back to Bushey for our evening meal with the girls, now just what would the Sat Nav have us do?
Well actually it worked wonders and we had no technical hitches and we arrived on time for once.
We joined the other County Managers for their usual day before celebrations, no not drinking copious amounts of wine or hooch.
We always enjoy getting together, to chat over the last eight months of competition and about our families and how things have developed over the last six months, since we last saw each other.
We had a faultless journey back to the hotel and we were looking forward to a good nights sleep.
Day two- Finals day.
The morning started very early, with some of us not sleeping at all or so it seemed.
We checked that the teams had arrived and that all was well with them, of course it was and then went to the dining room for breakfast. When we had had our fill, we donned our golf shoes and went down to the start, to cheer the players off.
The weather was good although we had been warned about it being changeable, we just kept our fingers crossed that it would stay dry.
Surrey and Hertfordshire lead the field, after a hard fort match Surrey found themselves in the final for the second time in three years. Hertfordshire in the end found Surrey too hot to handle.
In the other semi Kent took on Middlesex, Kent took and early lead on the front nine, but succumbed to Middlesex pressure on the back nine, Middlesex won through to the final.
Ammmmm Surrey v Middlesex, Middlesex played valiantly against the experienced Surrey side, but in the end Surrey won the 101th playing of the Pearson Trophy.
Well done to them, commiserations to the other three Counties.
Time then to hear the speeches and present the trophy, then home to Fish and Chips and a nice warm bed with plenty of Sleeppppppppppppppppppp.
Another Pearson Trophy has drawn to a close, just in time to send out next year's entry forms.
