Golf Teams raise £10,000 for good causes
26 Teams joined together to raise money for the chosen RLB/TESCO charities of Martin House & St Helena Hospice. Martin House provides respite care for parents with young children who have life limiting conditions, many without any curative treatment.
Martins House provides accommodation to allow parents to take a break from the pressure of daily care and seek advice, friendship and support during difficult times, based in Yorkshire it operates 365 days of the year caring for over 550 children and young persons as well as bereavement support for over 200 members annually.
St Helena Hospice provides specialist palliative and end of life care to local people facing incurable illness in the North East Essex supporting them, their families, friends and carers. St Helena was chosen as it held a close association with Tom Burham whose uncle recently passed away at the Hospice. Following his death Tom wanted to repay their kindness and support them and so on the 27th April ran the London Marathon raising much needed funds and had already chosen St Helena as a beneficiary of the charity golf day.
The hospice cares for more than 4200 local people facing incurable illness & bereavement as well as their advice line that handles over 42,000 calls per year.
The day was held at Hellidon Lakes near Daventry where teams of 4 tried to tackle what was a rather demanding course in more ways than one.
“The clue is in the name, water mixed with a spattering of hills, then more hills and a few more for good measure with fairways that slope and greens to match.”
Willy McCrimmon Makers Regional Construction Manager
The day was engineered to raise as much money for the two causes, with players able to purchase mulligans, raffle tickets and lottery tickets for 4 balls on iconic courses throughout the UK donated by supporters of the day.
A shot gun start meant several teams had some hard yards to cover before they reached their respective starting points and by the end of the round it appeared that most players had covered over 20,000 steps and elevation over 2500ft. As well as team prizes there were the usual nearest the pin and longest drive in which Joe Marler Makers Commercial Manager managed to collect a nearest the pin prize for his shot to the Par 3 13th hole, a bottle of Prosecco and a small Trophy!
The conditions meant that the 10th hole couldn’t come quick enough, we abandoned golf for at least 15 minutes preferring to partake in ice cold beverages in the shape of pints of Peroni which had a rather uplifting effect. The Maker’s team was caught in the act by the secret photographer of the day, who with little resistance gladly joined in and it was touch and go whether we should continue given the meagre score we had amassed, but feeling revived and with the promise of a drinks buggy; soldiered on to complete the back 9!
The evening event consisted of a buffet BBQ followed by a prize raffle in which numerous tickets of varying colours had been purchased in the wild hope of winning some of the amazing prizes donated by competing teams, covering all manner of golf attire, equipment and bottles of spirit. Two particular items that sparked interest was a framed shirt signed by the late great legend Pele, and a framed dedication to the famous Manchester United player the late Sir Bobby Charlton.
This held particular interest for a member of Makers team Ross Bromley as he is an avid Manchester United fan and indeed purchased a significant 
number of tickets hoping to win the article. One by one the prizes were allocated leaving the two remaining star offerings, the framed Pele shirt and ode to Sir Bobby Charlton. Tickets were avidly displayed as all participants had gambled on spreading their risk purchasing tickets from a number of vendors offering different coloured tickets.
Disappointment and jubilation came and went through the awaiting audience and Ross was devastated that despite his investment “the Charlton” was won but then reprieve offered up by the winning ticket holder to be auctioned, however despite desperate calls from Ross to auction the item it was redrawn and yet again disappointment occurred as another winning ticket collected the prize. It was won by an Arsenal fan and a crestfallen Ross offered his congratulations explaining he was a Manchester United fan.
Perhaps out of pity or just an aversion to United the Arsenal fan without hesitation gladly parted with the item presenting it to Ross who was speechless, elated with his good fortune he made a donation to the cause before hurrying to his room with his trophy before the generous Arsenal fan changed his mind.
“My golf was awful today but the guys from Makers were really patient and understanding, but I’ve had a great day and ending up with Bobby’s dedication is the icing on the cake…”
Ross Bumby
“It was a tough course today but great to participate to the two very worthy causes, although we tried our best, we came up short with 78 points, but we offer our congratulations to team SEE who with 90 points smashed the competition.”
Simon Lamb Managing Director Makers
The combination of ticket sales, mulligan purchases and lottery tickets together with entry fees managed to raise £10,000 for both of the charitable causes.
The team didn’t come away completely empty handed, despite the copious numbers of raffle tickets which came up empty handed, fortunes changed with the lottery where by choosing his ticket in reference to his door house number Willy McCrimmon came up trumps winning one of the iconic course 4 ball prizes a round of golf for 4 people on the Kings Course at Gleneagles. Willy doesn’t know it yet but we decided to pool any winnings so we are planning a trip next year to Scotland, and Willy can come if he wants!!!
Makers would like to thank the organisers & RLB for a great day and wish those closely associated with the causes all the very best for the future and their fund raising. As with all causes any financial support is greatly welcomed and donations can be given at any time via their individual websites listed below.
Donate to Martin House Hospice