There were four Regional Meetings held across the week, featuring expert speakers and plenty of input from members.
A series of Regional Meetings took place across March 18th and 19th, providing valuable expert insights and a platform for our members to exchanges best practices with fellow professionals.
The well-attended meetings took place in the Wessex, South East, Midlands and East Midlands regions, with a variety of speakers on hand at each.
Tidworth Golf Club hosted the Wessex meeting, where members enjoyed an in-depth Employment Law session from Golf HR’s Carolyne Wahlen, followed by insights on Finance & Accounts from Tee to Green Accountancy’s Craig Billington, with Simon Barratt of Golf Genius providing his expertise on club software.
GCMA Members Chris Huggins and Chloe Boissel-Marshall shared some interesting takeaways from the GCMA Advanced Management Certificates that they have recently attended, backed up by Professional Development Manager Gareth Morgan, who provided an overview of how well the programme as a whole thus far has been received.
GCMA Partners Tee to Green, Golf Genius, Tickbox Sports and Rijo 42 well all in attendance on what was an engaging and informative day, with special thanks to Tidworth and Regional Manager Ken Dooks.
The Midlands meeting was held at Leamington County Golf Club, where Mike Gardner, the Captain for 2024/25, passed the Chain of Office to Bryan Frazer, the incoming Captain for 2025/26. Bryan is the General Manager at Leamington and has been a member of the GCMA since 2014.
During the meeting, Bryan announced that the 2026/27 captain would be Richard Beech, who is the General Manager at Newcastle-under-Lyme Golf Club.
A total of 30 members attended the meeting. After the Annual General Meeting (AGM), three three guest speakers had the opportunity to introduce themselves to the membership:
– Mark Stancer from Golf Management Group
– Russell Smith from GET Services
– Steve Robinson from Rijo 42
Regional Manager Tony Moon asked the members to split into four teams, with each team attending a different session.
Table 1: Mark Stancer discussed various aspects of the new waste management legislation that became effective on April 1st.
Table 2: Russell Smith from GET Services provided advice regarding solar power installations and the potential financial savings for members at this time.
Table 3: The third group joined Steve Robinson from Rijo Coffee, where they talked about the profitability of offering quality coffee.
Table 4: The final group met with Tony Moon to discuss various aspects of GCMA membership, including educational opportunities such as the new advanced management courses and accreditation.
Each seminar lasted no more than 20 minutes, after which the groups rotated to the next table. The membership commented positively on the meeting’s format, describing it as a valuable experience.
The meeting concluded at 12:30 PM, followed by a light lunch. After lunch, some members took the opportunity to play at Leamington County Golf Club.
