NEW captains are at the helm of a Cumbrian golf club’s squads ahead of the new season.

New Cockermouth Golf Club captains, who take the reigns for 2021, David Skilbeck, Elaine Wilson and Matthew Casson completed their drive-in on Friday April 2.

The driving-in ceremony marks the start of Skilbeck’s season as club captain, Wilson’s as ladies captain and Casson’s as juniors captain.

Although Covid-19 restrictions meant that people could not attend in person, the club streamed the Good Friday event live on Facebook.

The captains hope to drive the club forward now that the third Coronavirus lockdown has been lifted and play can return soon.

Skilbeck said: “It’s a bit of a strange one with Covid but we’re looking forward to being able to get out and play golf again. It’s been a very strange 12 months.”

An experienced player is taking the helm from previous captain Ian Carruthers.

Skilbeck said: “I’ve been playing golf probably since my mid 30s. I’ve been up at Cockermouth for about 15 years.

“It’s an honour to take it on. I’ve just got to do my best to move us forward, move us on again.”

It is an exciting time to do so.

“We’ve got a full weekend of competitions coming up. We refurbished the clubhouse mainly with volunteers.

“We’ve had sponsors who have helped us out with competitions. Last year we had great golfers through our competitions. It’s going to be busy, we’re going to have lots of people playing.”

The Embleton based club hosted Easter competitions for their ladies and juniors players and Saturday April 17 will see the club hold its Mayor’s Charity Event.

It will be an open competition under Stableford rules. For more fixtures and to enter the club’s competitions, visit the Cockermouth Golf Club website.

Full fixtures are available at: https://cockermouthgolf.co.uk/competitions