By her own admission, silverware has been a little scarce for proud grandmother Jan Harries in her 18 years as a member of Leighton Buzzard Golf Club – so she colourfully described winning two competitions in the space of weeks as a “purple patch.”

Last month, Jan was on the Buzzard Birdies annual three-day tournament, returning as champion after three high scoring rounds, beating 34 colleagues on the East Sussex National course.

And last week, she carded 39 points in Leighton Ladies Chris Gretton Trophy competition, collecting the coveted silverware from Captain Carmen White-Lawes after beating club colleagues Judy Ammon and Norma Stevens-Hack on countback.  Only a split-hair separated the trio, with Jan’s 20 points on the last nine holes pipping Judy and Norma.

“I’ve been enjoying a bit of a purple patch and just hope I can keep it going” says Jan, grandmother to Tom and Molly, and who was a member at Aylesbury Vale before joining Leighton. Her only previous significant win was in the Ladies Club championship four years ago when she won the Handicap Cup for the best nett score. And as a result of winning the Chris Gretton Cup, she has had her current handicap trimmed by a shot to 28.

Jackie Stimpson won Leighton Ladies Medal competition with a nett 73, beating Vicki Pratt on countback. Patti Marriott took third place with a nett 76, a shot clear of Norma Stevens-Hack.

Leighton’s new Faulkner Family Foursomes champions are Lee and Niki Clark, beating Alex and Mike Smith on countback after both pairs finished with 68.5. Angela and Richard Samuels finished third a shot behind on 69.5.

An eagle on the first hole got golfers John Latimer, Steve Leng, Ada Stephenson and son Ed off to a flying start in Leighton’s John Lally Texas scramble. They holed out in two on the 407-yard opener and didn’t look back as they finished with a nett score of 54.1…just one tenth of a shot ahead of runners-up Russell Rowles and son Joshua, and Philip and Claire Whitecross. Stuart Goodwin, Tim Hobday, Andy Tizzard and Jimmy Wren took third place with a nett 54.6, with Danny and Mark Reynolds and Brandon and Lee Sanders fourth.

But Russell got his reward for excellent golf two days later when he won Leighton’s Croxford Cup with a 43 point haul in the stableford event, beating Tony Swain by a shot…and got his 15-handicap clipped by two shots. John Waiting took third place with 40 points, beating Andrew Mcdonald on countback. Joshua Rowles, Nigel Chapman, Ian Kempsell and Steve Gibbs headed a chasing pack with 39 points.

Leighton juniors Henry Wooster and George Stephenson represented Bedfordshire against Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, finishing runners-up to Essex for the Keith Bass Trophy.

Leighton Seniors lost their undefeated home record, despite establishing an early 3-0 lead against Beds & County with wins by skipper Peter Myrants and Keith Oddie, Christopher Figg and David  Sweetnam and Andrew Mcdonald and Graham Pellow, with George Bashford and Robbie John halving. But they lost the last four games and 4-3 overall.

Two days later, the tables were turned when Leighton won away for the first time all year, taking the honours at Stocks 3-2 with one match halved. Wins by Peter Myrants and John Tarbox, David Bishop and Denis Leitch, and Danny Nairne and Ian Rimmer ended the drought with Graham Pellow and Keith Griffiths gaining a vital draw.

After early wins by Peter Myrants and Mike Turnock and Tim Martin and Christopher Figg at South Beds, the Leighton squad had to be content with a 4-4 draw, with Harry Adam and Geoff Allatt winning and David Roberts and Paul Johnson and Danny Nairne and Will Sampson halving their games.  And a 4-2 defeat at Whipsnade followed, with only Ron Burgoyne and George Bashford and Terry Lingham and Martin Broadley carding wins for Leighton.