Golf club owners pledge major investment THE new owners of North Weald Golf Club have promised members and staff a brighter future with an emphasis on investment and top-notch facilities.

Business partners Andrew Lloyd-Skinner and Joe Collinwood have given up all their other commercial interests, including three businesses, to take on the club full-time after buying it from the receivers last December.

Previous owner Activepoint went into administrative receivership on December 23 enabling the golf-mad duo to set up Homes Counties Golf and Leisure and swoop to buy the Rayley Lane club.

The pair had been considering the move into golf for about a year and Mr Lloyd-Skinner says they will work to invest and improve the club and hope to begin building up the current 300-strong membership, under half the capacity.

Mr Lloyd-Skinner hopes to shed golf's cliquey image and appeal to a wider variety of members, from regular golfers to occasional players.

Mr Lloyd-Skinner said the club had been suffering from a lack of investment over the past two years and had been losing money during the winter period.

However he says immediate and effective investment will stop the rot and plans so far include the two bars being used more extensively and the 120-seat function room being advertised for a variety of events.

The duo have already spent £75,000 on what Mr Lloyd-Skinner said were immediate improvements including better maintenance equipment for the course, a new tree planting regime and new security systems.

A new computer system is also on the way as well as kitchen improvements, more aesthetic improvements to the site and plans for an upstairs toilet.

More staff have already been hired with two new green keepers and another chef taken on so far.

The club also hopes to improve its working relationship with the North Weald Health and Fitness Club, which leases its building on the site from the club. A joint charity event at the club raised £1,100 for St Clare Hospice.

Mr Lloyd-Skinner, 49, from Much Hadham, said: "The main drive will be investment in the course. Our aim is to deliver on our promises of course improvement and clubhouse improvement, to satisfy the loyal members who have stuck by the club through some fairly hard times through the last couple of years.

"We have working capital in hundreds of thousands of pounds that we can invest."