Thornbury Baptist Church’s third annual Golf Day took place recently at Thornbury Golf Centre. This year was particularly special as the winning individual was presented with the Paul Mitchell Memorial Trophy. Paul Mitchell of Alveston was a member of Thornbury Baptist Church and was keenly involved in its sports ministry. Paul played football for Cadbury Heath F.C. and played cricket for Alveston before his untimely death in January 2003. To honour Paul, a trophy bearing his name was presented by Paul’s wife Tina and son John to the winning individual, Phillip Tellwright.

A ‘texas scramble’-style stableford competition took place, with 12 teams entering. Phillip Tellwright won the Individual competition, narrowly edging out Matthew Stringer on a countback of scores. Angela Wells won the Ladies’ Individual competition, pipping Jo Smedley by one point. Phillip Tellwright also won the Best Gross Score competition with a 73, and led his team to win the Team Prize, with team mates Neil Higginson, Kay Campbell and Brian Davies. Pete Rosser won the Longest Drive competition and David Baker-Falkner won the Nearest The Pin competition.

Following the golf, dinner was served at Thornbury Golf Centre and Tina Mitchell spoke briefly on ‘Hammer Out’, the charity she set up to raise funds and provide support for families affected by brain tumours. A putting competition, which was won by Nathaniel Payne, had been held earlier in the day with all proceeds going to Hammer Out. Following Tina, the guest speaker, Bryan Mason of the national organisation Christians In Sport spoke and paid tribute to Paul.