There isn't a single word in the dictionary to describe our season. It was frustrating, demoralising, disappointing on the one hand but successful, encouraging and exciting on the other. 2005 has been strange!

11 ladies and 4 juniors have made the team sheets this year and with just one newcomer to the scene we had possibly our strongest and most cohesive team ever. Sue Short returned to Warwickshire after a brief spell with Worcestershire and having received her 2nd team colours back in 1998 she is an experienced hand at this level. Although the squad has remained quite large it continues to become stronger with the majority of players having a handicap of 7 and below and this statistic just seems to get better and better.

Friendly Matches

The season began, uncharacteristically, with two comprehensive wins in our friendly matches.

v Warwickshire Veterans @ Kenilworth GC 22.04.05

Team: - Paula Bargewell, Kath Ashley, Emma Stodart, Sue Pearse, Sue Jones, Bobbie Waugh,

Abbey Gittings, Charlotte Dalton, Lauren Wayte, Jane Dennick, Di McCormick, Karen Hearn

A 5 - 1 victory against the Vets was a great first result, although the match was perhaps closer that the score reflects.

v Shropshire @ Worfield GC 01.07.05

Team:- Hannah Coles, Emma Stodart, Sue Pearse, Bobbie Waugh, Abbey Gittings, Sue Shortt,

Lyn Habens, Jane Dennick

Having lost to Shropshire in 2003, drawn in 2004 we endeavoured to maintain the upward momentum. In okay conditions and 3 - 1 up after the morning foursomes four further points were required to secure a win. Fortunately we didn't have to wait long for Abbey, Lyn and Sue S to record 5/4, 6/4, and 4/2 wins respectively. A further 1/2 point was required and with the remaining matches proving quite close it was unclear as to where this would come from. In the end Hannah, Bobbie and Jane all sneaked halves, Sue P was defeated on the 18th and Emma completed the afternoon with a 4/3 win. The overall result was therefore a very encouraging 8.5/3.5 win to Warwickshire.

League Match 1 v Staffordshire @ Swindon GC 11.07.05

Team:- Paula Bargewell, Kath Ashley, Emma Stodart, Abbey Gittings, Sue Jones, Sue Pearse,

Bobbie Waugh, Lauren Wayte

We were looking forward to opening this year's league competition in a steady and quietly confident manner. A gloriously hot day (perhaps a bit too hot for 36 holes of golf) and very tight course greeted us. However when we learnt on the first tee that Staffordshire had played all their other matches and only needed to beat us to win the trophy, all of a sudden the importance of the day became clear and local knowledge was obviously going to be an advantage to the home team.

2 ? 1 up after the foursomes the Warwickshire girls gave everything in the singles matches. Abbey had a fantastic 8/7 win but it soon became apparent that Staffordshire were on the ascendancy. Little things just weren?t going our way. Emma and Sue P went down 5/3 to bring the score level. With 3 matches left on the course Kath, Paula and Lauren stuck to their tasks but in the end only Lauren managed a point by winning on the 18th. Kath was beaten by a huge putt on 17 and Paula succumbed on the same hole.

Our team were drained, both physically and mentally, for the challenge had been huge. It was a really strange feeling for us all - unbelievable that we had lost out on retaining the trophy at the first hurdle, going down 4-5 to Staffordshire. All credit to Staffordshire; their girls had played some amazing golf and perhaps deserved that top spot. For us, however, how were we going to pick ourselves up for the remaining two matches?

We set a target not only to come second in the league but also to gain as many individual match points as possible. Perhaps the psychological boost of winning more than Staffordshire would give us not only a degree of satisfaction but also serve warning that we will be back next year.

League Match 2 v Worcestershire @ Stratford Oaks 25.07.05

Team: - Paula Bargewell, Kath Ashley, Bev Belcher, Sue Jones, Bobbie Waugh, Di McCormick,

Sue Shortt.

Unfortunately no juniors were available, for either side, due to a clash with the English Girls' Championships. It was left to the more mature squad members to come up with the goods!

Again 2 - 1 up after the foursomes we were keen to rid the demons of the previous match. We knuckled down hard and Bev and Sue S soon came in with 6/4 wins. Kath and Paula followed with 2 more points to ensure the match had gone Warwickshire's way. Sue J lost on the 17th but Bobbie managed a further half point and we were delighted with our 6.5 / 2.5 win. It was great to have support from committee members and indeed some individual ladies from Warwickshire.

League Match 3 v Derbyshire @ Buxton & High Peak GC 04.08.05

Team: - Hannah Coles, Emma Stodart, Kath Ashley, Bev Belcher, Sue Jones, Stacey Edwards,

Sue Pearse.

For the first time, due to the distance involved, the County 2nd team decided to travel the day before and take up residency in a local B&B. The pre-match evening meal / team meeting went well and we awoke reasonably refreshed for match day. The weather was not brilliant; Buxton is renowned for it's low cloud and rain. That is what we were expecting and that is what we got!

Good scores in the morning from Hannah and Stacey, and Sue J and Emma, together with a somewhat disappointing half from Kath and Bev, gave us a 2.5 / 0.5 lead into the singles. We were keen to stick to our task of gaining as many match points as possible. Sue Pearse joined us at lunchtime and did well to secure her afternoon win. Some excellent golf was played and slowly but surely those points started coming our way. Another 6 - 0 sweep of the singles (a repeat of last year) was beyond our wildest dreams but we did it and to record an 8.5 / 0.5 win against Derbyshire, away, was a fantastic result.

In overall scoring terms we had lost the title to Staffordshire but battled on to come a very close second. In individual match points Warwickshire were top winning 19 and only conceding 8, so we had achieved the next best thing.

Perhaps we were a little unlucky this year but we are certainly in the frame, for a few years to come, at least. Our juniors are improving steadily and gaining that valuable experience in senior County golf. Both Abbey Gittings and Charlotte Dalton could well be on the verge of 1st team status - so watch this space.

My thanks go to Sue Timberlake (WLCGA President), Pat Hale (WLCGA Captain) and committee for their support and encouragement, to Andy Dunbar, as always, for his input, to Robin Hood Golf Centre for providing our match balls, but most importantly to my team for their hard work and commitment over the past 3 years. They have been absolutely wonderful.

County 2nd team colours have been awarded to: -

Emma Stodart, Hannah Coles, Stacey Edwards