20th North Sails Golf Day raises £6,610 for the John Merricks Sailing Trust
by Suzy Hamel 3 Nov 2016 18:40 GMT
28 October 2016
Sailors were out in force on the golf course on Friday 28th October, when 80 golfers turned out for the 20th North Sails Golf Day at Cams Hall Golf Club, Fareham. John 'Jonny' Merricks worked at North Sails and the first Golf Day, organised as it is today with the help of the Seahorse Golf Society, was set up to raise money for a Trust to be started in John's name. Since its inception 19 years ago the Golf Day has raised over £180,000 for the John Merricks Sailing Trust (JMST).
It was perfect golfing weather, with hardly any breeze and pretty warm for late October, with the sun making an appearance every now and again, as former colleagues and friends of John's, as well as top sailors; marine industry figures and Olympic sailors, turned out to play a round of golf whilst also remembering John and supporting the charity in his name.
Winner – Colin Richardson - 44 Stableford points
2nd - Neil Wilkinson – 40 Stableford points
3rd - Lloyd Fitzgerald – 39 Stableford points – won on countback
Craftinsure Best Team: Matthew Roberts, Glen Kessels, Alastair Shove and Colin Richardson.
Bandit Trophy: was awarded to Colin Richardson by unanimous vote in the room at the prize giving.
The Contender Longest Drive was won by Pete Redmond for the second year running.
The Peters & May Nearest the Pin was won by Darren Frost.
Ian Walker, JMST Trustee, gave a speech outlining the work that the JMST accomplish with all the funds raised by events such as this, as well as highlighting the success that has been achieved by many of the individuals supported by the Trust.
Olympic Sailors, Stuart Bithell, Luke Patience, Dylan Fletcher and Olympic Rowing Gold Medallist, Matt Gotrel were amongst the 80 golfers who came to play and support the JMST. Both Stuart and Dylan were awarded grants by the JMST in 2003 and 2005 respectively.
Dylan Fletcher spoke about how the funding that he received from the JMST in 2005 helped him achieve his long term goal of securing a place in the Team GBR Sailing Team. Dylan and team mate Alain Sign reached the final medal race in the 49'er class in Rio.
Neil Mackley from North Sails thanked all the many companies who generously sponsored the event or donated prizes and, as well as the players, many of whom have attended year after year, for their support.
Richard Langdon and Kelvin Trautman from Ocean Images generously gave up their time to photograph the event - a selection of images is available on the JMST Facebook page: www.facebook.com/jmst.uk
Huge thanks go to North Sails for managing the event and to all the Hole Sponsors: Dimension Polyant; Peters & May; Future Fibres; Grapefruit Graphics Ltd; Contender UK; Soluxion Ltd; Osmotech; Craftinsure; Toolkit Websites; TT Rigging; R F Composites & Ocean Images, as well as all the companies who donated raffle prizes and auction items.
And, of course, all of the golfers who turn out to support the day, enjoy a round of golf with friends and remember Jonny.
www.jmst.org.uk