Golfers tell of lucky escape during gale force winds
Newbury golf course has re-opened after tree crashed down on Tuesday during 50mph winds
WHILE gale force winds wreaked havoc across West Berkshire, causing hundreds of homes to lose power and water, and disrupting train services, this group of golfers in Newbury had a very lucky escape.
The lucky seven were on the first tee at Donnington Valley Golf Club when the 50mph winds brought the huge tree (pictured above) crashing down at 8.30am just yards from them and the nearby golf shop.
One member of the group, Dennis Deery, aged 66, of Curridge, said: “If it had fallen to the right we would have been goners.
“We just had our photo taken before teeing off and the next thing we knew this huge tree starting coming down.
“It did some damage to the practice nets and to the first tee but luckily no one was hurt.”
The retired sales director had been with friends Gerald Finch, Peter Metcalfe, Richard Sellwood, Bernard Weatherill, Simon Sayers and Graham Gittens.
Mr Sellwood, of Westmead Drive, Newbury, said: “I was standing right next to the tree at the time. I heard the roots snapping and then it went down sideways.
“We were very lucky. Had someone been in the way they would have been seriously injured at the least.”
The golf course was immediately closed. Golf club director, Peter Smith, said: “My view was initially obscured from where I was stood, so I ran up to where it happened. When I got there, [the golfers] were all laughing about it. We always thought the tree was sturdy; it was an act of God.”
Mr Smith said the golf course re-opened yesterday (Wednesday) morning and that the club now just had to worry about the cost of getting the tree removed.