Pyrford’s Record-Breaking Year Raises £13k For Local Charity

Generous golfers at Pyrford Golf Club, near Woking, have raised a record-breaking amount, in the club’s most successful charity fundraising year in memory.

Last week the club donated a cheque for £13,000 to Mike Hey at Shooting Star Chase, the club’s official charity for 2014.

The club’s Men’s, Ladies’ and Seniors’ Captains joined forces this year to urge all Pyrford GC members and visitors to raise money for the hospice charity, which cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families.

The funds were raised in a variety of imaginative ways during the golf season. An auction during June’s Captains’ Day event raised over £3,000 in a single day, the Seniors’ Section alone donated over £2,000 from its members, and over £1,200 was raised when the new club Captains performed their ceremonial ‘drive-ins’ at the start of their year of office.

Some of the more unusual initiatives included auctioning off a prime car parking space near the club’s main entrance,  and the selling of £5 ‘season tickets’ to the charity bunker beside the 10th green – which normally draws a voluntary penalty donation of 50p each time a golfer lands in it.

“We owe huge thanks to Pyrford Golf Club, its team of Captains, and most of all to its members and visitors” said Mike Hey, Head Of Community and Challenge Events Fundraising at the Shooting Star Chase charity.

“With our vital service now costing £9.5 million a year to operate, every penny really does matter. Pyrford Golf Club’s donation would allow us to fund two hugely important teenage weekends for groups of bereaved siblings, where they can bond and share the experience they have been through with their peers. Plus, there would also be enough left over to equip Christopher’s, our local Children’s Hospice in Guildford. with 3 months’ worth of medical supplies”.

Pyrford GC Men’s Captain John Gilkes was one of the key figures in the club’s charity efforts this year, along with Ladies’ Captain Tuula Kaminarides and Seniors’ Captain Paul Miles. “This amazing effort shows what a team can do when it pulls together” said Gilkes. “When choosing our club charity for 2014, we decided that it had to be local, and it had to benefit children. We agreed that Shooting Star Chase not only fit the bill exactly, but that it also performs an immensely powerful and important role in the community.

“The entire club got behind the fundraising campaign, including staff, and I think it reflects great credit on Pyrford Golf Club that we smashed the club’s charity fundraising record in such an emphatic manner”.

Nick Hughes, General Manager at Pyrford Golf Club, said: “What a terrific story – I am so proud of everybody at the club, and especially our fantastic Captains. Our new team of Captains start their year of office this very week: Tuula, John and Paul have raised the bar to a whole new level, and we are looking forward to seeing what our 2015 team can come up with to top this extraordinary effort.”

Pyrford Golf Club www.pyrfordgolf.co.uk