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BILL COOK
1939 -2003
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| Bill did so much for us at the Cambridge Meridian Golf Club from 1995 to 2001. He was a true founder member of the Venerables and a wonderful man who did so much to weld us into a unique group. A pictorial reminder of some of his many and varied contributions to the Venerables follows. |
| THE ORGANISATION MAN - backed by his strong schoolmaster background, he gave us handicaps (the ultimate scissor-hands), competitions and superb away days. His arrangements for the away days were surprisingly effective. Despite all the hassle, not least from his fellow Venerables, he managed to organise channel tunnel, hotel and course bookings with apparent ease. He was also responsible for producing our much treasured Venerable T-shirts and ties. |
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| Course inspection in the early days .(with l - r: Sir Donald Tebbit and Phil Young the first manager of the Cambridge Meridian) | Sorting us out at le Manoir (with l - r: Martin Thomson, Bob Pryor, Mervyn Cooke and Chas Bennett in characteristic mode) |
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| Presiding over the prize giving ceremony at Lingfield Park - after Hever Castle. With Captain Wiktor Bakiewicz and winner Peter Howarth. | |
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| Sorting out winners, slashing handicaps, and selecting pink ball holders - were all part of his on-tour activities; at Le Manoir, with the shadowy figure of Captain Peter Howarth. | |
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| More than just a face in the background - but the man who gave us such splendid away days. l - r: Barnham Broome 1998, Le Touquet 1998, Wensum Valley 2000, Lingfield Park 2001. | |
| 2001 FRENCH TOUR - sadly the last of Bill's away days. These photos remind us of his tremendous presence. |
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| IN LIGHTER VEIN - Bill's off-course activities were sometimes legendary but always entertaining. Here are some of his more outrageous interludes. |
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| 1999 Vicars and Tarts match (Meridian Ladies vs Vens) -left with Morris Muir, right with l-r: with Mike Jeffels, Wiktor Bakiewicz, John Owen, Donald Tebbit, Chas Bennett, Jim Dempster. |
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| 2000 Another Ladies vs Vens match - the theme was naughty schoolboys and schoolgirls | |
 With his
great mate Chas |
 Always the ladies man - with Ann Penny |
| FINALLY BILL THE GOLFER | ||
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We must not forget that Bill was a natural sportsman. He made everything he did so seem easy and effortless. His golf swing was superb - he probably never had a serious golf lesson in his life. Had he taken a bit more care with his putting, he would certainly have had a single figure handicap. |
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Footnote - one of the last times we saw Bill, written two months before he died.
As most of us know, Bill, the real founder and spirit of the Venerables, is terminally ill. Sometime ago, Madge and Bill had made the decision to retire to France and when Bill's condition became known they agreed to go ahead with their plans regardless. They are now well established with their cat from UK in a lovely house in the south of France between Perpignan and the Spanish border. From the front they look over to the sea and from the back they look up to the foothills of the Pyrenees. On 20th May Wiktor Bakiewicz, Peter Pirie and Jim Dempster dropped in to see Bill and Madge and to convey the best wishes of all the Venerables. We flew into Gerona, hired a car and reached Tesserre, their village, in just over an hour. But it took about half an hour to find the house. It's a small village but obviously we asked directions from the wrong people. Eventually we found the village's one and only shop. We had the the Cook's phone number, so the shopkeeper phoned him - but to no effect - Bill was about to hang up on hearing the word 'magasin' thinking that it was a promotion. We took over the phone and told him that we were in Tressere. He was dumfounded - "What are you doing in France?" - "Who is the Frenchwoman with you?". Anyway he gave us the directions and within a few minutes we were knocking at the door. This tall and somewhat gaunt apparition greeted us with all his old charm. Madge was out so he showed us around the house, sat us down and we chatted - mainly about the Venerables' doings. He is sadly very thin and has to live on pain-killing drugs, but he is mentally very alert. However Bill is still Bill - he kept on hopping up from his chair looking for this or that, in particular a bottle opener. Madge came in after half an hour and was equally surprised to see us. The bottle opener found (we think by Bill in the end), we quaffed wine and nuts. It was great seeing Bill really tucking into the pistachio nuts and partaking with the wine. Madge expanded on their goings-on in la belle France - despite the difficult circumstance, they are coping admirably. They have superb neighbours, they have made friends with some UK expats in the area - and most importantly they have an excellent doctor for Bill who lives in the locality. They keep in touch with home affairs through Sky TV - but they say they have slackened off on the learning-French bit, but without a doubt their French is improving significantly through practice. We stayed for about two hours, it was lovely seeing them and very well worth the diversion. Bill and Madge send their best wishes to all the Venerables |
