Devastated golf club partially reopens after fire

A golf club which was devastated by last week's fires has partially reopened, but it could cost more than £1m to fully restore it.

Simon Markey, the chairman of Stourbridge Golf Club, said it has received a huge amount of offers of support and help, and six holes should be open to members again on Saturday.

But he confirmed that the remaining holes were "devastated" by the fire, along with hundreds of trees, 600m of hedgerow and a storage building.

Markey also lives nearby and said seeing the flames reach within 50ft of his gates was "one of the scariest things that I've ever witnessed".

The fire on Racecourse Lane broke out last Thursday and destroyed 19 homes and damaged 18 others.

More than 100 firefighters fought to tackle the flames as they spread over more than 500 acres.

One week on, Markey has been assessing the damage with the help of his insurers, who he says have been "incredibly supportive".

He added: "We've now got a sense of what we need to do to try to rebuild the golf club and we've got a renewed sense of optimism."

That had been fuelled by the support from the emergency services, neighbours, members, the council and other golf clubs.

The clubhouse was able to reopen yesterday and Markey said they had a "super night" with about 120 members, where there was "a general sense of optimism".

Bringing the course back to life will take more work though.

He has spoken to tree surgeons and said: "It's shocking to understand that we're probably going to lose somewhere between 800 and 1,000 trees."

Markey said his family was one of those to be evacuated during the fire, but had not been damaged.

He said he had "very little time actually and, in some respects, that's a good thing".

At the same time he said he had sympathy for those who had lost their homes and the families who were still displaced because of the fire.

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