Our society the MTGS is one of the oldest in the country, is now set to enjoy its 82^nd year.

Geoff has been fortunate to have access to original articles celebrating the first 50 years of MTGS from 1937 to 1987 and has rewritten them for the website.

Some of our members will see names and experiences that they love to remember, can’t remember and do not wish to remember and it also gives an insight into how golf- and teaching has changed over the years.

Also included are two original covers for the newsletters that were posted out to members during the latter years up to 1987 and a few pics.

The Early Years – 1937-1970

Much of the early history of MTGS is based on folk lore and legend as very few, if any of the original members are still alive and no accurate record of members and events were kept until the mid 1960’s.

We have had to rely on the faultless memory of Alan Dale, our longest-serving MTGS member for furnishing us with the sketchy early details of MTGS.

In the 1930’s golf clubs were the exclusive domain of the true professional classes and few teachers, because of the constant state of poverty in their ranks, could afford either clubs or subscriptions.

Most teacher-golfers probably used the excellent municipal courses at Heaton Park and Altrincham while a few may have joined a club through the good offices of more affluent relatives or friends

Very active in Manchester at the time were the PEA (now sadly in decline) and MEC FC  (now defunct) and it was often said that the passport to promotion lay in playing an active part in these associations.

I am not sure what dubious activities we are supposed to indulge in these days to please our current paymasters in Manchester.

However these two admirable organisations did bring together a group of athletically inclined individuals who were probably fortunate enough to own or have access to a set of golf clubs.

So MTGS began, as with most societies, with a group of similarly inclined people who got themselves organised.

How many played or how often they played is open to conjecture though it was probably about 5-10 people once or twice a year (we are referring to golf here!)

Names which have been mentioned include George Grimshaw, Ted Stevenson and Ted Iball – of whom we will hear much of later.

The War years and subsequent post war problems saw a temporary cessation of MTGS activities probably until the mid 1950’s when again sporadic meetings took place between small numbers of members on a disorganised basis.

Taking over the organisation at this time  and on into the 1960’s was one Bernard Cronin, a teacher who was a member at Heaton Moor GC.

The number of teacher golfers was growing slowly and several more were now club members.

Names like Bert Fox, Len Green, Alan Dale, the Nixon brothers and Don Dillon began to swell the ranks as they joined clubs and became competent players.

It was around 1965 that a number of suspicious characters from Old Moat Secondary School became involved and soon the society was to make substantial changes – a revolution was afoot and MTGS was never to be the same again.

Also joining around this time were Ron Carroll, Frank Baker, Joe Cunningham, Ted Davies, George Moores and the bad lot from Old Moat – Ted Penketh, Gerry Walker, Jim Harris, Andy Wood, Geoff Garnett and Derek Greenlees.

MTGS meetings were confined to two or three a year playing at courses such as Gatley, Withington and Heaton Moor with a very pleasant match against M/c City Police.

The limited programme did not satisfy the rapacious hunger of the 24 handicappers with their rag bag collection of golf equipment.

As some members joined clubs so the Cheshire Card was discovered and put to good use giving our future power-clique ambitious ideas.

Alan Dale, who never actually bought a Cheshire card, laid the foundations of his Liar Dice skills as he fully explored the Cheshire circuit without paying for a Cheshire card.

In 1966 Bernard Cronin gained a headship and pressures of work (for explanation of work see Brian Tetlow or Des Murphy) restricted his MTGS organisation severely.

 So it was in 1966 at The Railway Inn near Fairfield Golf Club that the Revolutionary Committee met in a bloodless coup to take over MTGS and the following officers were appointed- President Bernard Cronin, Chairman Harry Langworthy, treasurer/secretary Andy Wood, Fixture secretary Jim Harris, match/handicap secretary Gerry Walker and they ruled a membership of about 24.

New events were introduced including a match-play KO and a regular calendar of holiday events with the idea of trophies for competition winners being keenly approved.

In addition there were to be annual matches against M/c Police and Tameside Teachers through the good offices of Alan Dale.

Ted Iball was not involved at this stage as he was otherwise engaged in the on-going throes of the transformation to Comprehensive Education in Manchester with himself given the huge task of setting up the brand new Parrs Wood HS – a task he accomplished in some style

The first KO was competed for with great enthusiasm and modesty, as ever, won by Geoff Garnett from Alan Dale.

At this time communication of activities to members was a bit hairy relying on the M/c Education Bulletin to schools and word of mouth.

Within the next two years the membership soared to 50 or 60, the majority of whom were keen beginners.

Some of the older MTGS members took exception to this apparently not having the patience to play with and encourage newcomers to the game.

Their eventual loss to the society was not noticed and one of the cornerstones of MTGS success has been the constant help and friendly welcome to newcomers no matter what their standard of golf.

During this time there were some adjustments to committee- the post of chairman disappeared, Ted Iball became President and donated the President’s Trophy which was first played for in 1968, Andy Wood became secretary and Geoff Garnett fixture (FIXER) and match secretary with John Hainey as treasure. Non teaching friends were allowed introduction with the Iball emphasis on involving all levels of Education employees and handicaps moving up to 36 as an encouragement to our rank beginners.

Green fees ranged from 2/6 to 10/- at this time with a good meal for about 5/-.

Our ambitious programme of competitions was achieved with few problems and in the years 1967-70 playing numbers averaged 15-20 per competition.

Our ambitious venture at this time was the inaugural President’s Day on July 30 1968 played at North Wales GC in Llandudno by nine competitors with Roger Jackson, soon to make his mark in MTGS, becoming the first holder of the Iball Trophy.

Other notable names at this time included Tony Flevill and Tom Moore who became unknown TV stars when Hugh Lewis in a TV Golf Clinic related the fight between Tony and Tom which involved them throwing each other’s entire set of clubs at the short hole at Altrincham near to the clubhouse with one of the clubs going straight into the hole for a unique ace.

Tony was an eccentric PE teacher who one day took all of his lessons in a dinner jacket and bow tie after sleeping in a gym box following an overnight revel.

Tony left teaching to become a jam salesman and concluded his golf career by throwing his bag of clubs into the River Mersey during the course of a disastrous round at Didsbury!

Another member making an indelible mark on his debut in 1968 was Ted Armes-Reardon, still an MTGS member, albeit non-playing, at the age of 78.

His debut round was at Gatley in torrential rain (Ron Carroll was not playing) with Ted spending most of his time on the Styal railway line.

Before retiring from the course soaked Ted scored 97 – for the first nine holes!

Also making his debut at this time was our Mid Welsh Git Ced Jones inspired by his ambidextrous introduction to golf – 134 left handed and 134 right handed in his first ever rounds of golf at Heaton Park.

Ced failed to return a card but the Mid Cheshire’s connection was made to MTGS it was also the debut meeting for Roger Jackson.

Another newcomer in 1968 was Ron Welsh in our first of many enjoyable visits to Congleton GC.

After removing most of the first tee he settled down and parred the  final hole and thus another golf addict was hooked.

The following year on the treacherous terrain of Manchester Hopwood Ron became detached from his group in dense fog, got lost and ended walking along a railway line in a vain search for the clubhouse – which goes to prove that people don’t change much.

Making his debut at Congleton on the same day as Ron was Jeff Musker who went on to become our first joint Captain our third President and eventually a life member and whose influence played a substantial role in the subsequent boom years of MTGS.

President’s Day went to the superb setting of Hawkstone Park in 1968 (green fee 12/6). Once more torrential rain marred the event and caused the  President and a willing Joe Cunningham to finish after nine holes to thoroughly wet themselves on the inside.

Both had to return on the following day to collect various items they had forgotten – a trait not unknown to numerous MTGS addicts.

Gerry Walker proved his ability to triumph in adversity to take the Iball Trophy while the highly competent Ron Roscoe won the KO Trophy in 68 and 69.

Another event was established which has continued every year – the AGM Greensome, played initially at Northenden where Ted Iball was club Captain and subsequently President.

In those days we had the sublime followed by the ridiculous. Following the glamour of Hawkstone Park our next competition was at Pike Fold. Barry Rees made a winning debut here and this sowed the seeds for many happy and occasionally controversial MTGS years for Barry.

So the final competition of 1969 saw us visit Congleton again with Gerry Walker partnering John Platts (lost 13 balls in the first nine holes) to victory with another MTGS stalwart-to-be In Graham Howarth making his MTGS bow.

The foundations had been laid and MTGS was about to explode into the 1970’s.

No Digital photos in these times  (Garnett, Smith, Tierney and Rawling) 

MTGS 1937-1987 Part Two

MTGS Takes Off

We left you in the first part at the Congleton meeting in 1969 with a growing membership, an enthusiastic and ambitious committee.

We will now take the story on through the next decade in as chronological order as possible mentioning highlights, outstanding new recruits and the evolvement of MTGS into a respected and desirable commodity for golf clubs to be host to.

For research we have accurate records of competitions throughout the period and newsletters dating back to 1971.

The opening meeting of 1970 produced one of many close finishes throughout the decade (a tribute to the skill of the match and handicap secretary!).

The first nine-hole cpo (then peculiar to Cheshire golf) was used on many occasions and on Jan 2 at Flixton it gave the pairing of Jim Harris and Tony Flevill (rememberhim) the edge over Geoff Garnett and Ron Welsh. Attendances had risen to the twenties and these were to climb significantly in the not-too-distant future.

We never had to advertise for MTGS recruits relying on the good sense of members to introduce the right type of person.

As the decade progressed there were several rich areas of recruitment – South West M/c CC, MSFA, Parrs Wood HS, Mid Cheshire College and Gerry Walker.

We had also established a beginners course at Didsbury GC on an annual basis – 10 lessons for £1.50!

Our subs were 25p per year with match fees of 25p.

Green fees ranged from 50p to £1 with meals available for a similar amount.

Oth

er fixtures in 1970 were at Manchester and Flixton where George Bamford, on his debut, partnered Frank Baker to victory, Pike Fold and President’s Day  held again at Hawkstone Park this time on a perfect day with Parrs Wood triumphing as Gerry Walker won division one and Bill Ryecroft division two and there was a new record attendance of 33 for this fixture.

Roger Jackson beat Jeff Musker in the KO final with some incredible putting.

Handicaps of various members at this time are worth reflecting on eg - Gerry Walker 18, Jim Harris 22, Ken Sutton 28, P Thickbroom 20, Geoff Garnett 17, Ced Jones 23, Alan Dale 16, Ron Welsh 30, Graham Howarth 26 and Derek Greenlees 28 (some things never change) and Frank Baker 24

The year finished on Dec 30 at Didsbury with the Teds Iball and Armes Reardon beating off another record field of 37 entrants.

So into 1971, again at Flixton where the main highlight was the President sending his PE man to hospital with Graham Howarth being accidentally? struck by a loose Iball 5 iron

A new club was visited in February – Ellesmere- where Ron Welsh caused havoc on the East Lancs Road with his prodigious slice.

A formidable test was provided in July at Reddish Vale while a new attendance record of 43 was set on President’s Day at Hawkstone Park with Ron Welsh noisily holing in one on his way to victory in division B.

Gwyn Williams (handicap 20!) had a cpo win over George Moores to take the Iball Trophy.

Another society record of 48 points was set at Congleton by Graham Howarth and a powerful young man off 16 called Mike Ruddy.

A fine golfer, a friend of Alan Dale, Alan Stott playing off four won the KO.

Into 1972 with Roger Jackson taking over from John Hainey as treasurer our average entry per comp was now well into the 30’s and with colour television helping along the golf boom MTGS was buoyant with new members clamouring to join.

Among the new recruits was one who became a significant weapon in the secretary’s armour – our first real contract man – Mike Heale.

He made a quiet debut at Flixton in February fully justifying his 36 handicap.

His prowess was matched in the next outing at a very wet Ellesmere course by the pairing of Bill Parnaby and Ron Burrows – Ron playing in a plastic mac went round in 183 shots which was believed to be less than Bill’s unrecorded score in a BB of seven points.

George Bamford also scored well – on a passing bus causing havoc on the top deck.

A new competition had been devised this year – the Non Winners Aggregate which became a popular feature of our programme.

Justice was done when the architect of the Aggregate rules (GG) was the inaugural winner.

By now Jeff Musker had introduced a little Arthur to our ranks and Mr Grundy soon went into Liar Dice legends.

Incidentally Jeff, in his wisdom, allowed his son to play in rugger boots at Ellesmere which did wonders for the green keeper’s blood pressure.

Once more President’s Day was held at Hawkstone Park with the Mid Welsh Git putting his first notch on the IBall and Alan Stott beat Frank Baker in the KO final.

Another one off was the Festival of Sport competition held at Heaton Park with Ced Jones and Ron Welsh claiming the prizes

At the end of 1972 we were able to improve the reprographics for the newsletter and this enabled the unique member-insulting style to be developed and brought the first of many editions of – ‘There is no truth in the rumour that  --- eg 1 Ron Carroll attended a rain-free MTGS meeting

2 Andy Wood once completed a round in under four hours.

It was also decided that our MTGS year should follow academic lines – Sept to Sept with the Greensome AGM and presentation on the same date.

We were now approaching our most affluent times – Houghton was on the way unfortunately soon to be swallowed by galloping inflation – it was nice while it lasted!

In 1972 we visited Crewe for the first time and Ron Welsh caused numerous cattle stampedes as his slice was at its peak.

The year closed at Didsbury, a meeting highlighted by the sudden onset of dense fog.

Only Gerry Walker completed the 18 holes and much to his disgust lost out as an average shots per hole were computed to decide the winners and his 2.611 per hole was not good enough.

New members included Peter Hilditch and Geoff Smith while Harry Langworthy made a return after a few years absence.

Another tremendous MTGS personality making his debut on 30 handicap and reluctantly partnered by Barry Rees was Lionel Hilton whose eccentric feats figured frequently over the next ten years.

At Pike Fold in April Gerry Walker was not impressed by a Home Presidents 11 ball which overtook his group and the best compliments exchanged were – ‘You are a f---- cowboy’.

We had trouble in securing Pike Fold again!

Another venture tried at this time was an annual disco social at Didsbury GC.

These were enjoyable and great potential fund raisers but unfortunately did not receive full support from members.

We managed to get 70-100 people out and they were dazzled by Derek Greenlees kicking in the DJ’s lights.

Other innovations included the MTGS golf balls (1/6 repaints) and the first edition of MTGS ties while May 1974 saw an Aggregate Stableford won easily and celebrated in style by Peter Hilditch and Derek Tierney.

Peter followed this by winning the Iball at Helsby and the KO with Barry Rees claiming the Aggregate Trophy.

Another record was created in 1974 as Peter Thickbroom put eight consecutive shots into the pond on the short 17^th while Mike Heale scored 20 individual points on President’s Day beating his combined career total before and since out of sight.

Thickers gained some consolation in the final meet of 1974 partnering Arthur Seddon to victory at Congleton where Jeff Musker had the mortification of seeing his carefully selected partner do 10 consecutive air shots on the first tee.

Into 1975 and Les Nattan’s debut at Pike Fold was marked by victory- partnering George Barton home over Ced Jones and another promising debutant Alan Burgess in a record-breaking field of 46 which was surpassed when 51 turned out at Chorlton in April and Stuart ‘Net 0’ Holder claimed a rare but deserved win.

Another new course in July at Davenport saw a raw recruit in Sid Rawling while we recorded our eighth successive victory over M/c Police at Chorlton.

Vince McBride, having passed the MTGS initiative test of partnering Mike Heale, won President’s Day at Disley with Lionel Hilton winning division two. KO winner was Derek Chadwick, a very competent Reddish Vale lecturer with SB1 claiming the Aggregate.

Our field moving into 1976 averaged over 40 while green fees had moved up to £2 or £3.

After Didsbury had been snowed off we tried out Blackley in February where the evergreen Eddie McLoughlin showed the way home.

The popularity of the society was reflected by the number of lady golfers wishing to join.

We managed to deflect their requests by reference to the entry requirements of satisfying each member of MTGS with their potential starting with the President and finishing with Mike Heale.

Whit saw us try Rossendale GC with an easy win for Special Agent Barton.

Another new name on the Aggregate was Eamon Burke while ‘young’ Alan Burgess won division two.

A highly popular win for Geoff Garnett in the KO and Dave Mantle from Parrs Wood won the Aggregate.

A good year for Parrs Wood included a disputed match win at Northenden over the cream of MTGS.

Into 1977 and it was decided to introduce the office of joint Captains and the first two deserving clients were Jeff Musker and Joe Cunningham whose Captains’ Day Pairs were held at Rossendale in June.

Pete Harrison and Mike Newton predictably won division one but a quiet newcomer called Brendan Treanor (24 handicap) recorded 48 points on his own partnering Bob Lomas who actually equalled Brendan on one hole via a council house roof.

Brendan took an eight-shot handicap reduction but still won next time out partnering Ron Pottage at Davenport taking his handicap down to 10.

1977 also saw the last of the SB articles so here is a summary given for the SB’s.

SB1 Gerry Walker also known as Bald Eagle, Mr 10%,
Habitat then – Timperley Allotments, Colwyn Bay and now emigrated to Spain.

Strengths – Ability to talk opponents off their game, generous handicap, competitive streak

Weaknesses – 3 pints of bitter, cold sausages, bar stewards

   ****

SB2 Cedwyn T Jones also known as Mid Welsh Git, Captain Hook, Alpine Rover

Habitat South and Mid Cheshire, occasional forays into M/c carrying his home on his back for many weeks of the year

Strengths – Brother  in law as partner and fixer

SB3 – Geoff Garnett also known as Gobbler, Dr Grot, Gannett, Fixer

Habitat – Most often observed walking splay-footed in the rough at Didsbury ball searching,  SouthWest M/c CC

 Strengths – speed about the course, facility to pick own partners

SB4 – Jeff Musker also known as Purple Flash, Grandad, Rigor Mortis, Senile decay

Habitat – then M63, Sharston Pig Farm  now Ellesmere GC origins are impossible to ascertain as he has lived so long.

Strengths  - Cast Iron Jock Strap

SB5 Peter Hilditch also known as Betterware, Mr 12%

Habitat- Banks, building societies, Stock Exchange

Strengths – A superb golfer, ace con man

Weaknesses- memory, Geoff Smith, driving, snooker

Concluding 1977 were President’s Day wins for Geoff Garnett and Colin Hughes with Ken Sutton winning the KO after getting the President disqualified in an early-round misunderstanding over handicaps with the Aggregate going to Lionel Hilton

The year concluded at Congleton with the debut of Geoff Hallsworth who saw Lionel Hilton and Dave Pierce take the honours.

Two years left in the decade and the mixture pretty well as before with a few subtle refinements.

Dave Pierce opened the year with an ace at Didsbury while Brendan Treanor with Sid Corry won at Hill Valley.

Ted Iball retired to Anglesey after memorable celebrations and Jeff Musker took over as President.

The Captains for 1978 were Ian Hamilton and Frank Baker and George Barton won the KO and Geoff Hallsworth the Aggregate.

In late 1977 Des Murphy joined MTGS and made many a future round a pleasant and hazy memory for his playing partners as he shared his Holy Water.

Des, Ron Carroll and Geoff Garnett missed the Whit fixture at Rossendale in 1978 being on MSFA duty in Florida but still managed to scrounge some memorable golf over there (two club lengths free drop from a basking alligator!).

Captains for 1979 were SB1 and Ron Carroll who provided MTGS with a fine starter board and had a superb Captain’s Day at Davenport.

At Heaton Moor Golden B-------ks Malc Smith made his debut and the Three division (Tigers, Rabbits and Slugs) championship took place at Crewe with Phil Roberts confirmng his early promise in the Rabbit division.

It was also our first visit to Dukinfield where Geoff Smith partnered the mysterious Charles X and won easily.

Geoff Garnett won the Iball and Joe Cunningham won the new Musker Trophy as division B champion. Mike Newton won the KO with the luckless Jeff Musker as runner-up for the third time.

By this time balls for birdies were a regular feature, average green fees were £3 and our annual subs were £3.

Hopefully we have provided a taste of ten years of golf in a rapidly expanding and successful society. At the end of the decade the majority of our members were club golfers with rapidly diminishing handicaps.

We have mentioned a few of the many characters who have graced, and occasional disgraced our ranks and I can only apologise for any obvious omissions.

The newsletters, match and individual reports are well preserved and available for viewing and hopefully reflect just a little of the happy and sometimes traumatic hours spent in setting MTGS on its way into the present decade.

 

.Part 3 – The Geriatric Years

So into the last lap of our Jubilee history lesson.

MTGS moved into the 80’s as a growing, well established and desirable golf society.

Looming was the falling roll problem in our schools which soon brought about the Geriatric Revolution as many comparatively young and fit teachers took the heaven-sent opportunity to escape the noose of political interference which was rapidly beginning to strangle and stifle our regard for our chosen vocation.

Our Whit meeting was at North M/c – green fee £4, where Captain Ced Jones shot a memorable ace on the formidable 18^th 

 The principal meetings saw Captain’s Day at Dukinfield and in a five-hour round Ron Welsh lost count of the number of holes he played and Chip supremo Derek Greenlees, partnered by Four Club Harris scored a rare win. Phil Roberts celebrated his promotion to division one by winning the Iball Trophy on a day when the greens disappeared with the effect of the Disley Monsoon.

The KO was not surprisingly won  by Pete Shaw and the secretary easily took the Aggregate.

1981 saw the installation of Jim Harris and Ron Welsh as Captains with a transformation of the newsletter (tabloid) thanks to a fairly new member Len Mather.

Another less sensible venture by the secretary was to book Saddleworth (then with the highest tee in England) for February.

In the event we got away with it as Peter Harrison (almost a local) partnered Hissing Sid Rawling to an unpopular win.

Captains’ Day was held at Hawkstone Park in three divisions- the format was changed to its present one the following year.

Another new course for us was our Whit meeting at Stamford where several of us were lucky to survive our visit to the Everglades and encounter with Dillon the golf ball eating Alsatian with crocodile jaws.

Ron Welsh lost his trolley then sprained his ankle in the showers.

Our golf was graced with an international flavour at that time thanks to Barry Rees’ whisky-soaked friend Siva Nambiar.

Ron Welsh lived up to his deserved reputation as he forgot that he was captaining our team in a match against Dukinfield for the Hallsworth Trophy.

Our burly, well constructed left hander, after so many years of being a bridesmaid finally won the Iball.

Other major trophy winners were Peter Harrison in the KO and a very popular success for Des Murphy and his ‘slow 4-iron’ in the Aggregate.

Our new Captains Alan Dale and Terry Hall were ready for 1982 but were disappointed by a Didsbury ‘White-Out’ which enabled the secretary to update records and thus let members vote for Bandit and Rabbit of the decade decisively won by Hissing Sid and Carlo Loftus.

The new Captains first competition was our mystery aggregate at Davyhulme Park where Gerry Walker and Lionel Hilton fell foul of the violent geese which guard the course- naturally these birds took an instant dislike to Mr Rawling.

Hawkstone at Easter saw Ced Jones record his customary victory in the Shark division and the Castle Inn at Wem produced its usual crop of alcohol  victims  as Colin Campbell made his MTGS entrance soon to be followed with winning at thundery Saddleworth. Numbers were booming at this time and 51 players took some time in getting off at Davenport on Captains Day where Messrs Hall and Pierce scored a notable division two win.

President’s Day moved to Romiley, an excellent course where 17 greens slope one way and only one the other and it’s not obvious except to engineers and Alan Burgess took the Iball again and club mate fog-proof Kennerley won the Musker.

The KO was not concluded and Hissing Sid was a universally unpopular winner of the Aggregate

Moving into MTGs at this time were the Primary Mafia of Brian Tetlow, John  Rudd etc and they soon proved to be worthy members, with a welcome surprise shower of gifts for the secretary at the AGM – thoroughly deserved and gratefully accepted.

Tom McGinty was getting everyone’s goat as he won the Greensome and the Congleton meeting in successive outings.

In November we were given a week’s holiday by Sol Golf at El Paraiso, near Malaga, gratefully used by President Tierney as a ‘fact-finding’ mission. Whatever he found it made him ill for the next two months.

Two more stalwarts took office in 1983, treasurer for many years and our man from the Poly George Bamford.

John Barnett managed to avoid the attention of dogs and geese at Davyhulme and Roger Jones discovered the recipe for success at The Castle Inn in Wem as he was unable to lift his head next day going on to win the Shetland division at Hawkstone Park where there was a fine attendance of 44 despite the absence of several prominent members on a soccer trip to Frankfurt.

A return here for the tremendous Mike Ruddy who partnered George Bamford to victory on his own Alsager course.

Mike Heale made sporadic appearances at this time and notched six points at Davyhulme – almost a career best.

Geoff Smith, gaudily clad in his 1980 Chelsea cup winners outfit, played brilliantly to win the Iball at Romiley and Len Mather the Musker.

During the Greensome at Didsbury Phil Roberts had his famous escapade with most of his clubs and an umbrella stranded up a tree. The final fixture of 1983 saw the introduction of Brian McCluskey adding to the recent acquisition of Terry Bithell and Peter Broadbent.

Brian soon showed his ability as he partnered his sponsor Len Mather to a debut win.

The KO winner Mike Newton became the first proud holder of the new Tierney Trophy while Phil Roberts’ throwing ability saw him win the Aggregate.

The 1984 Captains were Alan Burgess and chip specialist Derek Greenlees who showed that they meant business by coming first and second in their inaugural meet at Didsbury.

We made a return to Heaton Moor in February where Hissing Sid and Ron Welsh won but the ace by Special Agent George Barton was much more memorable.

Another recent recruit  - Tony Mallender the ‘Famous Grouse’ came from Astbury, reluctantly introduced by Mike Craven and he had a spectacular run of success with wins at Saddleworth and Davenport, much to the disgust of his mentor who was delighted when he removed most of the bushes to the left of the first tee at Congleton on his debut.

President’s Day moved again – once only – to Whitefield where the bacon butties certainly worked for Les Nattan who put his first notch on the Iball and Nick Turnbull won the Musker in splendid style.

Hissing Sid had a notable triumph over Mike Ruddy in the KO and the promising Steve Taylor won the Aggregate.

The usual MTGS line of character assassinations continued in the newsletters with the UW (Unknown Warrior) series.

Five members were honoured – Arthur Arnold, Harry Foden, John Barnett, Chas Kennerley and Phil Roberts.

Members were asked to identify the mystery personalities and strangely Des Murphy was identified as all five by many members!

At the AGM Terry Hall took over as treasurer from Roger Jackson who had moved to a posh job on the Wirral.

Earlier in the year old faithful Lionel Hilton moved to Lincolnshire making our golf courses safer to play on.

The next year produced bumper attendances averaging some 45 players per competition presided over by Captains Harry Langworthy and George ‘Mole’ Barton who both incidentally followed Roger Jackson’s example by winning their own prizes on Captain’s Day.

A new phenomenon had infiltrated MTGS – one Peter Yates – a golf fanatic is the politest understatement I can use to describe him but he did steer Brian Tetlow to his first society win at Didsbury.

Ced Jones recorded yet another Easter win at Hawkstone where Roger Jones had a new pre-match recipe of C Screws  that was grossly unsuccessful.

Les Nattan again won the Iball on his own North M/c course and Mal Smith the Musker.

Peter Yates inevitably won the KO and Phil Roberts the Aggregate. 

A new innovation the Accumulator – to celebrate the oft-delayed departure of Gerry Walker to Spain - was won by John Barnett while an entertaining match at Sandiway against the Mid Cheshire’s was highlighted with an ace by Peter McGillivray..

The excellent Worsley course was again well used by Salford Teachers to give us a comprehensive stuffing.

We had a new attractive issue of woven golf ties to take us into 1986 where the Captains were Peter Thickbroom, a genuine division two representative, and Les Nattan.

They saw a new venue in Birchwood GC attract an attendance record of 52 at Easter – no need to tell you the winner of the Diamond division while his Mid Cheshire colleague Arthur Arnold was champ of the Plastics.

A popular new competition was the Team Trios at Saddleworth where the locals from Tameside came out on top.

Other results are too recent to be worth recalling so I will close our account of 50 years of MTGS.

I hope that you have been able to recapture some of the pleasures and pitfalls of some of your companions of the fairways and rough.

If any notables have been missed I can only apologise.

We hope to continue our successful format for many years to come building on our solid base while always trying to add a little variety each year.

Several of us must now be veterans of over 100 MTGS fixtures so any new blood must always be made welcome and given every encouragement.