It is truly an honour and privilege to be nominated as Captain again for the Eastern Cape Nomads. Thank you to John Nell for the work he did leading the club in 2020 – it was great to take over with everything running smoothly. We have a small but great club with a lot of camaraderie

The months following March 2020 until now will undoubtedly never be forgotten by anyone with the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. I don’t think anyone in their wildest dreams could have made up a story like this thinking people would believe it. The effects it has had on business and personal lives has been astronomical. We have all been under financial pressure that not many of us have experienced before, and which has caused stress in our family lives

This being my 2nd term as captain, I’ve found this year to be incredibly frustrating keeping the club running and motivated during these Covid times. Trying to marry up the safety of the older members versus the eagerness to play and have prize giving’s from the younger ones has been a challenge.

We have adjusted our lifestyle to cope with this, from Virtual AGM’s to Virtual Prize Givings. Even having to get used to Virtual Committee Meetings – I certainly hope for all of us the vaccines that are being released will lead us to some sort of normality again soon.

We are very proud in the Eastern Cape to have Stuart McIver as our National Chairman this year. Along with Greg Clack, our National Secretary, the two of them do us very proud. Keep up the great work guys!

The Eastern Cape has always been a cash-strapped province but our members do the best they can with the resources available. We can’t thank our National and monthly sponsors enough! We support them where best we can and appreciate the fact that these generous groups keep our great club running.

Obituary

We have sadly lost three Nomads in the last few months who will be terribly missed. Between them, 134 years of Nomads experience and 1 158 monthly games played. The Bell Tolls for Neale Kunhardt, Burke Williams and Roy Newman.

50^th Anniversary

We celebrate (well, we hope to) our 50^th Anniversary next year and we are sure Howard Lipman, our coordinator, will do a sterling job. Please watch this space.

Committee

Fortunately, I’ve had a great committee to work with, a great combination of enthusiasm and experience in their various fields. We continually try to innovate and make the experience a better one – I hope they continue in this vain in the months and years to come!

Finance

Nothing escapes the watchful eye of Ken Russell. Ken has done a stunning job for a number of years and our thanks go out to him. The last few months have been exceptionally difficult for Ken as he has been caring for Steph who has been ill for some time. With all that going on, he continues with this thankless job. Well done on a great effort Ken.

Membership

Membership has been run by Cobus van Biljon for some time, but now with him temporarily relocating to Gauteng with his promotion, Rob Rustenberg has taken over this portfolio. Thanks Cobus for all the efforts you put in in your years as membership officer. Rob, we hope you keep up the good standards set by Cobus.

Our numbers although small, remain around the 100 mark. We continue to bring in guests to brag about our brand and a number of these are joining our ranks. So the future is looking promising.

Golforama

We are starved of Golforama duties in the Eastern Cape and have only had one event during this period, held at Fancourt. It took a bit of getting used to having to check in daily with a health report and to have to wear masks all day at the tournament but at least we were able to have one tournament and enjoy some great golf. Well done to Christell van Biljon, our Golforama Coordinator on a great job done!

We hear there is a good chance of some additional events in our area in the near future, so we hold our thumbs in hope!

Furtherance of Golf

Jurgens van Onslen has run with this portfolio and, apart from giving out some funds to the Nicholas Bakker Academy, activities in this arena have been very scarce due to Covid.

Away Tours

It has been so sad not to be able to travel, with our last trip being to Nationals in East London in March 2020. We have been counting the days to this Nationals trip to Champagne Sports Resort. A big thank you to Robbie Frank and his team for all the efforts they have put in to make this all happen. Surely the most difficult Nationals to coordinate in all the years of Nationals. Our heartfelt thanks to you and your amazing team!

Thank you Kobus Delport our Away Tours Coordinator on your efforts in a very difficult travelling year. 

In closing

I would truly like to thank and praise the Eastern Cape Nomads for supporting the Club during a difficult, if not impossible, year of golf. We have been tested in ways we never thought possible. Limited prize givings, limited get togethers and away tours have all had an impact, yet our Nomads camaraderie will continue despite Covid.

Yours in Nomads

Ian Gooden

Captain: Eastern Cape Nomads