Stolen trophies back at the club (From Keighley News)
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Stolen trophies back at the club
10:00am Sunday 9th September 2012 in News By Alistair Shand
Branshaw Golf Club professional Simon Jowitt with some of the recovered silverware, much of which is damaged
Ten trophies stolen from a golf clubhouse last month have been recovered.
The silverware was spotted in a beck by building workers on Monday afternoon.
It has now been returned to Branshaw Golf Club at Oakworth, from where it was taken in a break-in on August 24.
The trophies are damaged but most are repairable, said club professional and secretary, Simon Jowitt.
The haul was discovered in Bridgehouse Beck at Haworth by JN Bentley employees working at a site in Ebor Lane.
They waded in to reach the booty.
Paul Large, a lead hand on the sewer relief scheme, said: “We were looking for an outlet that runs into the beck and one of the lads saw something glistening in the water and what looked like a plaque.
“We couldn’t believe it when it turned out to be all these trophies. When we got them out of the water and washed off the silt we could see the Branshaw Golf Club name and one lad noticed a friend’s name inscribed - he rang him and learned about the theft.”
Mr Jowitt said he was very grateful to the men for finding and returning the haul.
“I would like to say a big thank you to them all,” he said.
“Two of the trophies are very badly damaged and are beyond repair but the others are repairable.”
He added that two of the trophies taken by the thieves, who smashed their way into the clubhouse cabinet where they were kept, were still missing.
A neighbour had seen two men fleeing the scene carrying their haul in green garden waste bags.
Anyone with information about the break-in, which occurred at about 10.50pm on August 24, should phone 101 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555 111.
