We had about 75 people enjoy the Races on Saturday, 28 September including players and spouses from the Men's and Ladies sections, parents of Junior players and even some Junior players (hopefully none who had early morning matches on the Sunday!). Thanks to all of you for making it a great atmosphere.
The races came with their usual, last-horse-out-of-the-blocks-takes-the-flag kind of excitement. And as Jenno warned us at the beginning, the louder we shouted at the screen, the faster our horses ran! (Might have had something to do with the fact that the bar sales were very good.)
Dave Hall served up his famous chicken curry dishes about half-way through and so there was time for a good catch-up with friends and to meet new people over dinner.
There were many ways to win including horses that were purchased in advance as well as betting for a cash payout on the evening. The horse owners who won the races were treated to prizes donated from:
Coca Cola
The Bel & Dragon
Mercian Hockey
Ashuka Tandoori
The Dog & Pheasant
Bar Des Arts
Thank you to all of the above and a double mention for Mercian Hockey who donated a fantastic new 001 stick not only once but twice. Having won the race that had the stick as a prize (and not needing any more hockey sticks at home), it was put up for auction to bring in even more funds for the Club. Thank you, Simon and Jackie! And to Isobel (or rather her dad) who went home with the stick.
A raffle including some Ferrari gear recently imported from the Singapore Grand Prix and some nice bottles also created winners and brought in more cash. Thank you to all who donated prizes and bought raffle tickets.
In the 8th and final race, horses were auctioned on the evening for grand sums and the race was designed to give half of the funds to the winner and half to GHC. Jenno swears that he didn't spend the whole week watching the race DVD to see which horse to pick - a big thank you to him for donating a large part of his winnings back to the Club.
Just about everyone seemed to win something, even if it was just doubling a £1 bet - does it count as a win if you lose your ticket and then can't claim your £2, Gary? Not to worry, GHC won big on the night, too, which means we all win and we have £1621 to continue sprucing up our Clubhouse.
 And in the final news of the evening, this season's Men's 1st XI title sponsor was drawn from a hat (actually a big lime green bowl).
Pam Hall works very hard every year to organise the sponsorship programme and this year is no exception. She has, with the help of the Men's 1s players, procured sponsorship from more than thirty sponsors. THANK YOU, PAM!
We will be updating our Sponsors page on the website to reflect any changes. Please do have a look and support our sponsors throughout the season (under THE CLUB on the website).
So, the name of each sponsor was written on a card and the cards were put into the bowl. The lucky sponsor whose name was drawn from the bowl gets their brand on the Men's 1st XI shirts for this season. This year's winner was lucky enough to have been lucky two years in a row! And the title sponsor for our Men's 1st XI team this season is (once again) The Star Inn in Bentley!! Have a look at the Sponsor page or check their website to learn more about The Star Inn.
Thank you to Jenno for organising and animating the evening. And many, many thanks to the Dave, Pam and Tony Hall for catering and helping in many ways before during and after the evening.
Next stop...Quiz Night...Saturday 19 October...
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