Smiffy
Grand Slam Winner
To answer G1BBO first, from recollection there were 5 or 6 players, maybe 7, who weren't members of the forum. Norman and his son Ewan, Ray Taylor (who came to Woodhall last year and also went to Castle Stuart), Greg Lindley and Alan Bannister together with Mike Hudson (Vig's mate who came to Woburn) and Calvin (TXL's son). Jeremy Cave is a friend of Richarts and helped out at the very last minute.
In response to Murph...it would be great to have all forumers at these events. But the "outsiders" were drafted in to replace people who initially said they were going to come but then bombed out. I know from experience that whenever I post up about a meet like this, initial interest is very high and then when it gets nearer the time people drop out. You only have to look at the current Woburn thread to get an idea. At the moment we have 56 people (or more) saying they want to play with others asking to go on the reserve list. I can guarantee that once I start requesting monies to be paid people will drop out. And the numbers will dwindle to 40 or so if we are lucky. If I have made a commitment to a club for one of these events, I have to try to keep to that commitment. In the case of Woodhall Spa, 3 or 4 people dropped out even though they had paid their full amount. When that happens, I am in a bit of a spot as not only do I have to find replacements, but I also have the guys that have dropped out requesting their deposits back.
Calvin came in towards the end and only a week before the event I was still trying to find two guys to replace RichardC and Charlie who had to drop out for personal reasons. Richard said that he was prepared to lose his money by the way but the two replacements (Mike Hudson and Hooper) repaid them.
No "outsiders" were invited to this years Woburn meet (apart from guys that Vig brought with him but this was already agreed as they wanted to make it part of a road trip) because we were over subscribed with people that wanted to come.
People like Norman, Alan and Greg bailed me out at Forest Pines a couple of years ago by making the numbers up. They didn't get the trip any cheaper, but without their help that meet most probably wouldn't have taken place!
If I get the required amount to make next years meet a success without involving non forum members great. But I'd rather have 5 or 6 mates that confirm they are coming and don't let me down than 10 or 11 forum member who express an interest and say they are up for it than let me down at the last minute or when they are asked to come up with some cash.
We can always write in the proviso that yourself (and anyone else that feels the same way) only get to play with forum members???
Sorry mate.
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