Bellingham Golf Club is back to its best following a flash flood which saw 4.5ins of rain fall in just 90 minutes – wrecking roads and damaging schools and homes in the village, and causing damage to the golf course and vehicles.
The club, one of Northumberland’s smallest with a membership of under 200 and two full-time greenkeepers, drew on its small team and a group of volunteers to get the course back into shape after the flood water receded.
Thankfully, following previous floods, no major damage was caused to the club’s infrastructure – including its recently laid entrance road – though greenkeeping equipment and several buggies were damaged.
Club steward Alec Jones, who was part of the team which got the golf course back open and ready to welcome 160 players to its first open of the year just over two weeks after the flood, said: “The amount of rain in such a short period of time was incredible. I got here shortly after the heaviest rain, thankfully the new road was intact, but we were concerned about a few of the bridges and the amount of water in places which don’t normally flood. The clear up has been a big job. The small team has done a fantastic amount of work in a short time. We’ve got our equipment repaired and back on the course, so now we’re just catching up. Given where we were in early May, the course is just a couple of weeks from being at its best and we’re looking forward to a good summer of opens and visiting parties, which are so important to the club’s future success.”
Following the flood, the Northumberland Strokeplay Championship was moved to Dunstanburgh Castle on July 29-30, with Bellingham set to host a county seniors’ match in July.
