CRAFT Club competitions are open to pairs made up of both men and women in any combination.
The CRAFT Club Golf Days 2026
| Tuesday 5th May | Rye Golf Club, East Sussex | Foursomes: 5 clubs, including putter. Lunch followed by golf. £40 Members, excluding lunch, £80 Visitors, including 2 course lunch | Please click for the application form and send to: Jonathan Strong [email protected] |
| Monday 1st June | Wildernesse Golf Club, Kent | Greensomes: 5 clubs, including putter. Golf followed by lunch. £45 Members, excluding lunch. £80 Visitors, including 2 course lunch and coffee on arrival. | Carol Saving [email protected] Robbie Midgeley [email protected]. uk |
| Monday 6th July | Thorndon Park Golf Club, Essex | 4 Ball Better Ball with full set of clubs. 2 course lunch from 12 noon, followed by golf. £45 Members, including lunch £80 Visitors, including 2 course lunch. | Tom Carne [email protected] |
| Friday 21st August | Piltdown Golf Club, East Sussex. | Greensomes Team Event with full set of clubs. Golf followed by lunch. £47 Members £82 Visitors, including lunch. | Steve Roberts Snd.roberts1@gmail. com |
| Monday 21st September | Littlestone Golf Club, Kent | Foursomes: 5 clubs, including putter. Lunch followed by golf £40 Members, excluding lunch £80 Visitors, including lunch. | Simon Sanderson shp.sanderson@gmail. com |
Rye Golf Day: 5th May 2026
74 people including 16 new members descended on Rye GC for lunch and suitable refreshment, splendidly provisioned by the Rye’s Club House Team and an afternoon of golf on the Old Course. Rye GC was well represented and players came from our sister Craft Club courses although sadly Royal Ashdown had to withdraw at the last minute. Other clubs represented included Dale Hill, Sheringham, Chart Hills. Seddlescombe, Cooden Beach, Knole Park, Lydd and Effingham.
For lunch we were fortunate to have Sir Tim Lawrence – our President – with us. In a brief talk, he explained the importance of the Craft Club in raising funds for SSAFA, Save the Children and RNLI – the latter being very dear to him as a result of childhood holidays close to Dungeness Station. Which of us will forget his joke about Catriona – the Cattery owner? Martin Stringer, a retired pilot representing SSAFA, was a guest and gave an insightful glimpse of the essential work of that charity in helping existing and veteran military personnel and their families.
The course was in excellent condition thanks to the Green Staff and the siren sounded at 13.45 for the shotgun start in glorious sunshine. Eight players took the opportunity of “Beating the Pro” on 5th – our thanks to Louis – and new competitions were introduced for both men and ladies with Longest Drives 4th and 15th and Nearest the Pins on 7th and 14th.
Annette and Bill Shelford (Piltdown) won the Stableford Competition. Runners up were Jack Fletcher Price & Ian Poysden and Nina Barker & Simon Legge. Prizes were presented by the Club’s Chairman – Jeremy Carey.
Total takings for the Craft Club for the day – entries, new members, the raffle, competitions, merchandise and “players’ aids” – amounted to a wonderful £6,746. Our sincere thanks to Rye Golf Club and to everyone involved in the day and to Joe Brunt for preparing the starting sheet, score cards and checking results.
Jonathan Strong, Match Manager
Wildernesse Golf Day: 1st June 2026
We would like to thank all those participants who supported our Craft Club event this year. We had moved the date to the 1st June and hosted 11 home and 14 visitor teams. After a round of golf in near perfect conditions we enjoyed a well deserved buffet lunch.
Keith Mewes, a representative from one of our charities (SSAFA), gave a very informative talk about his organisation. This was followed by the prize giving. The prizes were presented by Felicity Boyden, a long standing member of the Craft Club for over 30 years.
The results were as follows:
Nearest the pin – 10th Alison Hailwood (Piltdown)
Nearest the pin- 13th David Golding-Wood (Wildernesse)
Longest Drive Ladies – 6th Fiona Crozier (Wildernesse)
Longest Drive Men – 6th Dave Hughes. (Littlestone Warren)
Craft Club Winners
Lucy Bull & Hilary Thomas (Wildernesse) 41 points
2nd Place
Carol & Trevor Saving (Wildernesse) 40 points
3rd Place
Alison Hailwood & Robert Rodrigo (Piltdown) 39 points
The total sum collected on the day was £1,493.45 which will be divided between the 3 charities, Save the Children. SSAFA and the RNLI.
Thank you all again for your support and we hope to see you again in 2027.
Match Manager, Carol Saving
Thorndon Golf Day: 6th July 2026
It was a sweltering day, and everyone should be congratulated for playing in those conditions. There were fifty players, who between them bought raffle tickets etc, and, thanks to them and our helpers, we raised £3,125.
Our thanks to the staff for the excellent lunch and to the greenskeepers for the condition of the course which helped the high standard of golf.
We had visitors from Craft sister Clubs Rye, Wilderness and Piltdown, together with Sherringham, Upminster and The Bursted. Additionally, this was the first year ladies from Thorndon joined us, which means we have seven new members.
The winners of nearest the pins were
David Ivins on the 2nd
John Bradley on the 5th
Jonathan Strong on the 12th and
Mike Wood on the 15th
Congratulations to the leaders who all had remarkably high scores.
In third place with 46 points were Sabrina Burk and Corrine Dissen.
Second were David Ivins and Taleb Jeddy with 47 points.
In first place with 48 points were David Madan and Simon East
Thanks to everyone for their support and we hope to see you all next year on Monday 28th June.
Piltdown Golf Day: 21st August 2026
Under blue skies Piltdown welcomed 19 teams to play in the Craft Club Day.
Three of the teams and three individuals were new to the day, which is a positive for the day and The Craft Club. In terms of new members, 12 were signed up on the day and we hope that these individuals will also support the other days.
The course was in excellent condition and the heather was in full bloom, ready to consume any errant shots; suffice to say that mulligan sales were strong! A testament to the hard work of all the greenkeepers.
Everyone was smiling upon their return to the clubhouse, where 80 of us all enjoyed an excellent buffet lunch and the sharing of many stories about individual experiences. Thank you to the catering and bar staff for all their hard work and support.
The day was all about enjoyment and having a fun experience, whilst not forgetting why we were there. We are proud to have increased our return to the three charities by 45% over the previous year. Many thanks to all those who purchased the merchandise, raffle tickets, and the score-saving mulligans.
At this point we must thank Siobhan, Fiona and the two Janes for all their help on the day.
Piltdown also offers a big thank you to Siobhan for all her help with the organization of the day over the years and we look forward to working with Fiona.
This year there were four prizes:
First prize went to Peter McIntosh, Fred Reynolds, Nick Martin and Ben Coleman;
Second prize went to Harold Torkington, Bozena Torkington, Neil Hart and Simon Lapthorn;
Third Prize went to Steve Roberts, David Watson, David Robinson, and Dean Barry.
Prize for the highest ranked team containing no Piltdown Members went to
Tom Poynder, Alex Carr, Jake Poulter and James Edwards.
A great day and we look forward to welcoming everybody back in 2027.
Steve
Littlestone Golf Day: 21st September 2026
For the second successive year we had blue skies, dry weather and summer-like temperatures with minimal wind, which meant the course was rather defenceless except for the bunkers! There was an exceptional turnout of 44 golfers from an eclectic mix of clubs, including Richmond, Foxhills, Sandy Lodge, Cooden Beach, Tandridge, Royal Ashdown Forest and of course Thornden Park, Rye, Wildernesse and Littlestone. The multi-tee start greensomes competition was preceded by an excellent cold buffet comprising cold meats, salmon and prawns, followed by strawberries and cream.
Last year’s outrageous winning score of 43 points was obliterated by Peter Matthews and Peter Midwinter from Cooden Beach with a score of 48 points!! Second with 43 points were Nicky and David McGuckin from Royal Ashdown Forest and third with 41 points were Tom Carne and Mark Camp from Thornden Park and Littlestone respectively. The ladies nearest the pin was won by Mohak Ogilive from Wildernesse and the mens by Jonathan Gale from Rye.
It was a good Craft Club day, which everyone enjoyed, and over £2,500 was raised for our charities.
Craft Club Newsletter 2025
I have much enjoyed my first year as chairman of The Craft Club, ably assisted by the Committee and particularly by our excellent Secretary, Siobhan Highwood, to all of whom the Club members are, I am sure, most grateful. It has been another happy and successful year for the Craft Club. Our President, Sir Timothy Laurence, attended the Rye day on 6th May and although a leg injury prevented him from playing he spent most of the day at the Club meeting and encouraging Craft Club players and staff for which we thank him.
Why The Craft Club? I believe there are two main reasons for our continued existence: we raise an appreciable sum annually for our three important charities – again this year we will be donating £5000 to each of them. Secondly, as members we have a lot of golfing fun. We run five successful golf days annually at five fine golf clubs. Thanks to the generosity of those clubs we offer summer golf and lunch to Craft Club members at substantially reduced rates. Members in turn are generous with their contributions on those days so that, for example, at Rye GC this year the Craft Club raised over £8,500.
What Can You Do? When you joined the Craft Club you agreed to get four new members to join. Do please try to do this if you have not done so already. Life membership costs a mere £25 and enables the member to play in the golf days and to sport the Club attire in all its splendour! Please note that a golfer may not play in any Craft Club golf day without first enrolling as a life member. You can also help by playing in one or more of the golf days – see 2026 dates below.
Does the Craft Club have a website? Yes. Go to thecraftclub.org.uk and you will find all the information you need in order to sign up for the golf days next year at Rye, Thorndon Park, Littlestone, Piltdown and Wildernesse. The website will be updated early next year to show the prices for Rye, Wildernesse and Littlestone.
Rye GC – Tuesday 5th May 2026
Wildernesse GC – Monday 1st June 2026
Thorndon Park GC – Monday 6th July 2026
Piltdown GC Friday 21st August 2026
Littlestone GC Monday 21st September 2026
Do please put these dates in your ‘diaries’ and I look forward to seeing you.
Does the Craft Club have merchandise in addition to the tie? Yes it does. Again, do please look at the website. Some of the items make handy Christmas presents. You will also see the link to the Glenmuir website from which the Craft Club also receives a worthwhile financial benefit.It only remains for me to wish you a very happy Christmas and a happy, healthy and enjoyable golfing New Year.
Jeremy Carey