Members of the Slaley Hall Golf Club have just topped £250,000 in charitable donations to children’s charities across the North East of England. This staggering sum is the cumulative amount that has been raised through their annual golf club in event since 1997.
The catalyst behind the charity movement at the Golf Club was Arthur Turnbull, a founder member of Slaley Hall Golf Club which was founded in the 1980s. When Arthur became Captain of the club in 1997, the then manager asked if there was anything that he wanted to do; it was from this conversation that the Slaley Hall Charity Golf Day was born. Arthur said that he wanted to host a Charity Golf day in aid of North East Children’s Charities. The course was donated free of charge, and this the inaugural event raised in the region of £10,000.
The charity day has gone from strength to strength, and is now one of the highlights of the year for the golf club members. Arthur together with past captain John Duffy has been involved in organising many of these charity golf days over the years.
Arthur has been involved in organising many of these Charity Golf Days over the years and commenting on reaching this hugely impressive milestone he said:
“All those years ago, the intention was to host a golf day and at the same time raise some money, however we had absolutely no idea that it would become such an important event and raise quite so much money for charity. I know I can speak on behalf of every member who has been involved over the years, that £¼m could not have been raised without the support of the players, the sponsors The Benfield Motor Group and Mattioli ( pensions consultants) and of course to The De Vere Group, in particular Slaley Hall itself. We would like to thank them all and say how proud we are of the contribution that this golf club has made to North East children’s charities.”
In the region of 30 teams attend each year to take on each other and of course the renowned world class Hunting Course. The day includes lunch for all the teams, the support of the golf team at Slaley Hall throughout the day and a dinner in the hotel in the evening.
Over the years one of the main beneficiaries has been the North of England Children’s Cancer Research Fund (NECCR) who have received £94,000. The funds they have received over the years has helped to support the research centre, which is now recognised as one of the top five in Europe, and attracts researchers from across the globe.
Other charities that have benefitted have been Adolescents Cancer Unit £10,700, the RVI, Children’s Cancer Unit & Tiny Lives £12, 600, the Bubble Foundation, £13,600, Freemans Children’s Heart Unit £17, 100 in addition £38,600 has been raised to purchase two sunshine coaches for the Variety Club.
Doug Ellison was the captain during the time the club broke the £¼m barrier. Speaking on behalf of the club, current captain Mark Redpath said: “The support from our local residents and businesses always amazes me, a great example of this is St James Place Wealth Management who have donated £9,000 this year!”
Grant McKenzie, General Manager at Slaley Hall said: “Slaley Hall is very proud of the amount of funds raised for charity by our golfing members. This is a huge achievement and one which is only possible with the hard work and dedication of so many people and so many sponsors. We are looking forward in the years to come to continue to support such worthwhile causes.”
De Vere Golf www.deveregolf.co.uk