The annual Turkey Trot, that festive competition played in the lead up to Christmas, took place at the Rolls of Monmouth Golf Club on Sunday 9th December, with both ladies and men's prizes up for grabs.

The event was organised with military precision by social secretary Jeff Hall but despite his best efforts, it was perhaps rather ironic that Alistair Beedie, formerly of the RAF and NATO High Command, arrived 30 minutes after his allotted tee time and therefore missed proceedings.

The last recorded incident of a military commander arriving late for battle was Edmund Black Adder in 'The Foretelling' 1983.

With glory beckoning on the bloody field of Bosworth, Edmund overslept and missed the start of the battle. However, he arrived just in time to run away from the final skirmishes. Beedie arrived in time for lunch.

Luke James, who showed so much promise by comprehensively winning at Machynys in the captain's away day earlier in the year, slipped into the oblivion of an also ran with this year's turkey almost within his grasp.

Long standing member and local celebrity Bill Catling was his usual ebullient and chatty self while negotiating the golf course, which was made all the more tricky by the heavy going under foot. He was heard to whisper on more than one occasion "don't let my conversation interfere with your golf swing".

Despite having played a solid round of golf, local lumberjack and handicap secretary Richard Gable was inconsolable when advised that his raffle tickets from last week's awards dinner had failed to return even the smallest of prizes.

With almost monotonous regularity of late, Byron Light stormed home ahead of the men's field with 40 stableford points, while his wife, Ruth, took the ladies first prize with 33 points.

In second place in the men's competition just two points behind was club captain Dick Bull with David Jones a further point back in third place. Cynthia Powell came in second place for the ladies with Gail Jones completing a family third-placed double.

Byron Light refrained from reminiscing of past glories and, to a full and attentive audience in the sumptuously restored dining room of the mansion house, graciously thanked all involved for organising such a great day's golf followed by a seasonal Christmas feast.

The Perry Mason of the Rolls, Lyndon Richards, added the knockout foursomes title to the singles knockout title he won earlier in the year, when he and playing partner Lloyd Carlton beat Alex Badram and David Jones by two holes in a final delayed until December. 

Richards' August victory over David Spear by a margin of at least 4 and 3 in the singles knockout final, the premier men's competition, went largely unreported, as did his narrow defeat alongside Carlton to Roger Lord and his sidekick Geoff Walsh in the final of the fourball betterball.