The members of Royal Eastbourne Golf Club have made a “fantastic” donation in presenting a £1,150 cheque to the Golf Foundation, the leading golf charity that makes the game more accessible for young people from different backgrounds and circumstances.
Royal Eastbourne Golf Club is a traditional private members club which is working hard to welcome new young golfers. The membership encourages boys and girls to experience the club and its excellent facilities while its team of PGA Professionals works with schools in the area with support from the Golf Foundation’s Regional Development Officer Andy Wright.
Club Secretary David Lockyer said: “There is great goodwill towards new players from our members who recognise the importance of encouraging the next generation. Our membership raised this money by agreeing to add a £2 donation to their annual subscription fees. This is a very simple way to support a great cause in golf.”
The club announced that its membership had pledged to help in this way earlier in the summer and recently presented a cheque to the Foundation in winter sunshine at the south coast venue.
The support from all at Royal Eastbourne Golf Club has helped to forge a strong relationship with the Golf Foundation which, through its national HSBC Golf Roots programme, introduces boys and girls to golf in schools and communities and then creates positive links with golf clubs through its new Junior Golf Passport scheme.
Royal Eastbourne has been one of the early adopters of the Junior Golf Passport, which apart from helping children to become ready for regular play after coaching from a PGA Professional, is encouraging more family interest in the game at club level.
The Golf Foundation’s Andy Wright said: “Royal Eastbourne’s members should be very proud of the commitment they have shown to junior golf. Head Professional Alan Harrison understands the importance of encouraging youngsters and families to enjoy the game. Laurence Collier, one of Alan’s PGA Professional team, has really embraced our work in the school network and then relished the opportunity to invite schools back to the club for golf festivals and coaching, where he excels as a coach of young golfers using the new Junior Golf Passport.
Working closely with the area’s School Games Organiser Elizabeth Price, Laurence has been able to further increase the club’s links to schools by recruiting a team of 16 students from SussexDownsCollege to act as Young Leaders (volunteers) in school coaching sessions, enabling Laurence to involve greater class sizes in golf activity.
Laurence said: “Our volunteer students deserve great credit for helping us to reach so many children in school and then to stage a series of golf festivals during the summer, so a big thank you to Mark Watts, the co-ordinator at SussexDownsCollege, and also to Liz Price who has been great.”
Mike Round, Chief Executive of the Golf Foundation, said: “The whole team at the Golf Foundation would like to thank the members at Royal Eastbourne for their fantastic donation. At any club, such generosity and goodwill can be translated into a major act of fundraising if the membership and club secretary can agree on this simple £2 donation on top of subscriptions. David Lockyer and team should be commended on this good communication within the club and we would be delighted to see more golf clubs follow this path and help us to increase our HSBC Golf Roots activity.”
Royal Eastbourne is an England Golf GolfMark facility. GolfMark is a national scheme that identifies and recognises junior and beginner friendly golf facilities.
Golf Foundation www.golf-foundation.org