The Club

Here at Rishton Golf Club we used to have a lovely little nine hole golf course until 1982 when Motorway Construction decided that they would take the shortest route from Blackburn to Burnley, Nelson & Colne. They decided that they would use our 8th fairway as a guide and cut right through the middle of it leaving our 7th green and ninth tee a motorway width apart – not good for the members or the business in the clubhouse. Along came the Alliss Thomas partnership and created us a couple of new holes which at first were like playing to a concrete green and it your ball landed on the green would finish about 30 metres past. Eventually over all those years the greens have been lovingly treated by our greens staff and are now some of the best greens in Lancashire.

Clubhouse

In the clubhouse we have Maggie together with Joan who helps with the cooking. Maggie puts on some good food ranging from a sandwich to catering for a wedding reception and lots of Christenings and she always tries to tailor the presentation to suit the occasion. She does some good wholesome meals for the Seniors Section on their home matches and her dumplings are to die for. We have several private social functions ranging from Christenings, birthday parties, wedding receptions, evening wedding parties, wedding anniversaries and funeral receptions.

The Course

Out on the course we have Kevin who is our Head Greenkeeper and his part time assistant Tim together with Alan who is a full time voluntary assistant (some say he must be mad but we love him) who we appreciate very much. The course is always kept in tip top condition and all the three above take a lot of pride in their work out on the course and with all the other jobs that they do around the place.

Club and Captains

In charge of things at the club we have our Hon. Secretary Chris Woolfenden. Our Captain, Terry Whalley and President Jim Plumbley also do a good job heading the club. Jim Loynd runs the competitions & handicaps very well and if Jim says lt’s Saturday it’s Saturday and you don’t argue.

The Social section is run by Robert Hutchinson who organises some brilliant artistes and disco to put on a very enjoyable night for everyone attending whether members or visitors.

The Greens Committee is headed by Paul Murphy who gets deeply involved in the running of the course – the only thing is he keeps asking for money for things like grass cutting machinery etc. He asks for these at our annual greens meetings. Tony Duckett runs the bar for this year and keeps tabs on everything that goes on in an effort to make sure that things run smoothly. Tony also organises the bar rota for the directors to man the bar in the evenings.

Gary Love is our Junior Organiser assisted by Paul Smith and Tim Grimshaw who all try to keep the juniors in hand by organising competitions and other events to keep them out of trouble.

The new members are the responsibility of Tim Grimshaw and Jim Hargreaves. Finally the finance is run by Colin Yates assisted by Andy Broad & Ian Barlow.

We have a good Seniors section headed by Peter Ryan and helped by his seniors treasurer John Starkie. The Ladies section whilst being only small is run by our Lady Vice Captain Mrs Margaret Syme and Ladies Secretary, Elsie Blackburn and Lady President Marion Rae. We are always looking to recruit new lady members to enter all the competitions both home and away at other clubs.