The Jamboree at Dunbar 25th -27th June 2018

Some people ask what the Jamboree is all about so here goes.

The Jamboree or the East Division Inter County Championships to give the event its full title involves ladies teams from East Lothian, Midlothian, Stirling & Clackmannan and Fife. There are 8 players in each team and with each captain selecting 6 to play in 3 foursomes matches in the morning and 6 singles in the afternoon. Ryder Cup style the captains meet at the registration desk prior to each set of matches to compare their team/pairings playing order for the matches. The matches are all played off scratch. The winners over the 3 days will go on to represent the East Division in the Scottish Finals at Kilmacolm in September.

There will be some great golf and hopefully the weather will be kind to us. Many of the players know each other and enjoy renewing old friendships and making new ones. All the players however are very proud to be selected to play for their County and there is great team spirit and a desire to play well for themselves and for the team.

ELLCGA was originally formed in 1924 with the principal aim of entering a team in the Inter County Championships and the rest of the events, which have varied over the years, were and still are intended as fund raisers to support the team. The Championships were originally home and away fixtures and Forfarshire was at that time part of East Division. In the first year of East Lothian’s participation the teams played on amongst others Carnoustie and Muirfield.

The current format affectionately known as “The Jamboree” was introduced in 1974. There was a recognition that it made sense in terms of time and costs for the matches to be condensed into a single three day period. The first East Division Jamboree was held at North Berwick.

While East Lothian had qualified for the Scottish County Finals in the past the first successful run in qualifying for the County Finals was 1978 -87 when we qualified 7 times in 10 years.  Winning the finals was rather more elusive with a win only at Stranraer in 1978.

It was the period 1990-9 when East Lothian were the team to beat. Not only did they reach the finals 8 times they won the Shield 6 times including in 1999 at Gullane in their 75th year. We last made County Finals 4 years ago when the Jamboree was at North Berwick and we hope to make use of the home advantage to make it again this year.