BIRCHWOOD Golf Club is celebrating its 40th anniversary year – and several special events have been set up to mark the occasion.

Construction was completed on the venue back in 1979, and the club has since become a huge part of the community.

And to mark the special occasion, the club was presented with the first captain’s blazer, which was worn by Fred Gore.

The blazer was then inherited by Ken Mellor, the club’s second captain and 2002/03 President, who presented the framed item to this year’s captain, Ken Booth.

Both Ken and his wife Sue took over the Birchwood captaincy at the end of January and officially began their tenancy with a traditional drive-in ceremony.

The couple said: “Birchwood celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and to be captains together makes it extra special for us.”

The golf course was constructed in 1979 as part of the Warrington New Town development and the members bought the freehold in 1993.

TJA McAuley was commissioned to design the course and he named each hole after a passage from John Bunyan’s ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’.

This was to compare a round of golf to the pilgrim’s difficult and frustrating journey, from ‘The Slough of Despond’ at the first hole to ‘Deliverance’ at the 18th.

The titles of the holes remain to this day, however the course has seen many changes over the years on its way to becoming the beautiful parkland course that it is today.

To celebrate this special year, Birchwood Golf Club are planning a variety of golf and social events which will be open to members and non-members alike.

These are to be confirmed in due course on the Birchwood Golf Club website.