Despite all the myths surrounding Friday the 13th, last Friday turned out to be a very lucky day for Captain Stu Piper's Captains Day Trophy. 

The weather was warm with a cool breeze and 50 plus members of SICG played the course at Silves in ideal conditions for the honour of winning the Captain's Trophy.

Yvonne Nevin braved the early start to offer all players swigs of Irish Jameson whiskey, sips of Baileys Cream or Port and passed out water and bananas on the 1st tee.

Each four ball stood on the 1st tee box at the allotted time to get their photograph taken behind the SICG Captain’s Day banner and then each player in turn stood at the white tee to drive their ball down the first fairway to the delight of those who managed to keep their ball in play.

During the course of the day Captain Stu and his wife Christine drove around the course meeting with the various groupings chatting, encouraging and plying them with bottles of beer, water and soft drinks. There was great competition amongst the players and it was all done in true golfing spirit. 

The Captain did manage to miss out several members on the back nine with refreshments of beer and soft drinks for which he offered his apologies.  He had already consumed several beers at that point and hopes he is forgiven.

The halfway house at hole nine was very popular and in particular the egg and onion sandwiches which ran out quickly. The Captain would like to thank and acknowledge the support of Yvonne, Margot and Christine for providing the refreshments which were so well received.

Prizes were awarded for the overall winner of the day to Barbara Briggs with a score of 37 points. Second place with a score of 36 points was Katriina Iho who also received the Captain's Trophy Cup.

There were also prizes for Men’s nearest the pin which went to Julian Lyons and the Ladies nearest the pin was won by Janice Langham. 

Best front nine was won by Jukka Iho and best back nine  was won by Markku Hakala.

The following evening we had the Captain's Day Dinner at the Garden restaurant Carvoeiro with 51 people in attendance. From the positive feedback from the vast majority in attendance, the evening was a resounding success. The beer and wine flowed freely and the live music from the fabulous group The BUZZ was great entertainment and enjoyed by everyone.

Thank you to everyone who made both days so pleasant and memorable for me.

Stu Piper - Captain SICG

Dear friends - something old and something new

This year we Finns were responsible for organising the Nordic Day. During the summer holidays in Finland we gathered prizes and tried to invent something new, something different to delight our international friends. 

We wanted to stick to tradition by choosing the Restaurant Recanto dos Mouros in Silves, because we trusted their capacity to prepare the good old menu, provide a friendly service and a nice space for 60 guests. 

Traditionally we served some Finnish drinks on the first tee. Also the halfway service was quite traditional. Karelian pies and “Tiger cake or Marbel cake” with drinks. As usual, nearest to the line -competition was held at the 9th hole. The winners were Max and Jules.

The real surprise was waiting on the 10th fairway where we had the “Closest to the Bottle and Flag -competition”. The lucky winner of five litres of red wine, was Markku Hakala.

Unfortunately the weather was a bit rainy and cold, but all that was forgotten as we entered the restaurant, which was beautifully decorated with white and blue balloons and of course with Finnish flags. The prizes were handed out with big laughter and in a cheerful spirit.
The winners of the main competition were Jukka and Katriina, the second ones were Philip and Sue and the third place went to Åsa and Thomas. 

With these words I would like to extend my gratitude to all members whose friendly help helped us to organise a memorable day for our club members and for our guests. Also I would like to say a big thank you to our Finnish team whose seamless co-operation made this Nordic Day possible. 

A big KIITOS to everybody

This year, on a beautiful Algarvian Spring day, the St Patrick's Day Trophy competition was held on the 18th March.  This meant that there was a double celebration for the Irish as the actual St Patrick's Day was the previous day (17th March) and the birthday of one of our members, Rikki Huddleston. 

Yvonne Nevin was at the first tee to pour shots of whiskey or Irish cream liquer and hand out goody bags along with a little girly shamrock brooch to players.  Despite protests from some of the alpha males they were ordered to wear the brooch.  The good news for everyone is that they can keep it for next year and wear it again .