Frilford Heath Golf Club donates £23k to charity

Frilford Heath Golf Club in Oxfordshire has donated more than £23,000 to charity – the highest amount ever raised by the club.

£14,772.55 has been donated to The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the chosen charity of 2017 captain, Peter Creasy, and £8,338.42 has gone to The Mulberry Bush School, a specialist school for severely traumatised primary aged children, which was the chosen charity of lady captain Iona Smith.

Peter said: “Iona and I are absolutely delighted that we’ve achieved a record-breaking total. This is the most ever to be raised in a year from both the men’s and ladies’ sections of the club.

“The club and our members have been hugely supportive in helping us to reach this grand total. Members supported us with golfing and social events as well as offering raffle prizes. Local businesses also helped by generously donating prizes.

“One of my favourite fundraisers was my Captain’s Day where we held a ‘nearest the pin’ competition on the 9^th hole of the red course. Members paid to enter the competition to be in with a chance of winning a top of the range Maserati for a long weekend. For my Captain’s Masquerade Summer Ball we also held a fantastic raffle and auction which contributed significantly to the total.

“Iona and I would like to thank all members of the club for their support and generosity during the year. We, and the charities, are immensely grateful.”

The money raised for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust will help the charity make a difference to those living with the condition. For the local school, it means the charity can continue its work transforming troubled lives.

Iona said: “Having been a teacher myself I wanted to find a local charity involved in education. I knew of the school and its excellent work with severely traumatised children and after a visit there I could not help but feel highly impressed by all the excellent work and dedication of the staff.

“In this, its 70^th anniversary year the money raised will help the school fulfil its objective to offer a ’52-week house’ to help staff look after those children who do not have families to go to in the holidays.”

Claire Phillips, community fundraising development manager in the south region for The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, said: “The team at Frilford Heath, and its members, have worked hard to raise such a staggering amount and shown such enthusiasm for our charity in the process.

“The contribution will help us fight to beat cystic fibrosis. On behalf of everyone at the Trust I wanted to say thank you.”

This year new captain Maurice Alphandary and lady captain Maudie Beardall will be supporting Silver Star and Sobell House, respectively.