Kingsbarns Sponsors - Thank You Evening

Tue, May 15th 2018 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm



What busy night!

President John Spittal opened the proceedings with a welcome to Irene Walker and formally inducting her into the club as a new member.

Finding new members, said John, is always a challenge and the addition of Irene was a tribute to the club’s current record in attracting those who were keen to support community charities and organisations with active contributions.

John went on to welcome a number of guests, all of whom were significant sponsors of and contributors to the club’s most enduring and popular event of each year, the International Charity Golf Day at Kingsbarns Golf Links.

The guests were Blair Thomson, representing The Northwood Charitable Trust; Jamie Gardiner, proprietor of Adventures In Golf; Stephen Simpson, Manager of Westport Print and Design; Pam Smith, Captain of Crail Golf Club; Graham Dalton, Adamsons Restaurant, St Andrews; Chris Pritchard, Gentle Dental Care, St Andrews; Barry Grant, Lynn Cunningham Chartered Accountants.

The President noted that sponsors of the Kingsbarns event were promoted to and had exposure to 35,000 clubs and 1.2 million Rotary members worldwide – including the two local clubsKilrymont and the St Andrews Rotary Club.

Their contributions allowed participation in many charitable works, including Rotary’s ongoing campaign to eradicate polio globally, which since 1985 has raised 1.7 billion dollars – each dollar matched by 2 dollars from the Bill Gates Foundation.

It is worth noting thatas a result of Rotary’s continuing efforts, in 1985 there were 350,000 recorded cases of polio but in 2017 that number had been reduced to 22 and this year up to March, that number was 3.

Member Brian Gray took the floor to present the invited sponsor guests with a number of illuminating facts on the Club’s 16-year involvement with the Kingsbarns Charity Golf Day.

Its initial objective was to increase the funds available to donate to mostly local charities, and this has remained the case. So far from this one event, in excess of £83,000 has been raised and distributed.

Brian identified some of the many beneficiaries, which included CHAS (Childrens’ Hospices Across Scotland) who were the first-ever organisation to benefit; Disability Sports Fife; Kidneys For Life; St Andrews Community Hospital; Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance; St Andrews Cosmos Club new minibus.

All this cash is raised from a number of sources – the 1600 Rotarians who over the years have paid up their playing fees, raffle entries and other costs; the “Beat the Pro” challenge at the par 3 8th hole which raises at least a fiver from every one of the 112 players; lottery ticket sales leading up to the event assisted by many local people and both the New and St Andrews Golf Clubs; and, of course, the variety of ways in which the many generous owners and managers of local businesses become main sponsors or sponsors of signature holes, long driving holes and suchlike.

Prizes for leading individuals, leading lady, and the team prize fought out by teams from all over the UK are, apparently, almost as popular as the 1600 portions of Mrs McQueen’s clootie dumpling which have been served during the event’s history!

Funds raised have increased year by year and are now averaging £7300 annually, all of which finds its way rather swiftly to local charities.

President John Spittal concluded the evening with a heartfelt thank you to all the sponsors, without whom the Charity Golf Day would not be such a great success – and by twisting their arms to again dig into their pockets and contribute to this year’s event on Monday, October 29th.

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