21st North Sails Golf Day raises over £6,000 for the John Merricks Sailing Trust
by Suzy Hamel, JMST 6 Nov 2017 20:45 GMT
3 November 2017
A fantastic day was had by all at the North Sails Golf Day on 3rd November at Cams Hall Estate Golf Club, with 92 golfers enjoying the glorious autumn sunshine, helping to raise over £6,000 for the John Merricks Sailing Trust.
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 20 years ago the Golf Day has raised almost £200,000 for the John Merricks Sailing Trust (JMST).
Former colleagues and friends of John's, as well as many top professional sailors; marine industry figures and Olympic sailors, all turned out to play a round of golf whilst also remembering John and supporting the charity in his name.
- Winner of Day: Paul Hobson - 42 Stableford points
- 2nd – Oliver Surman - 41 Stableford points
- 3rd – Brad Butterworth - 39 Stableford points
- 1st Lady – Ali Essex
- Contender Longest Drive: Carl Raynes – winning an Alinghi / North Sails sailing jacket – donated by Brad Butterworth
- Peters & May Nearest the Pin: David Boardman – winning a super hamper of gin, rum and plenty of Fever Tree tonic, along with some Peters & May caps and belts.
- The Best Team won the Bainbridge Trophy and 4 x Craftinsure Slam Jackets: Carl Raynes, Paul Roberts, Dan Parry, Mike Henning
- Bandit Trophy – Paul Hobson for his score of 42 from a handicap of 28!
Ian Walker, JMST Trustee, commented, "What a fantastic day! Everything was perfect apart from my golf. It was lovely to see so many of John's old friends and I can't thank everybody enough for their support. It is amazing to think that this was the 21st North Sails JMST Golf Day."
Olympic Sailors, Stuart Bithell and Luke Patience performed a marvelous job as auctioneers; encouraging the audience to bid on items including a photo print on canvas of the Land Rover BAR team racing in Bermuda donated by Grapefruit Graphics and signed by Ben Ainslie.
Neil Mackley from North Sails thanked all the many companies who generously sponsored the event or donated prizes, as well as all the players, who enjoyed a round of golf on a fabulously warm and sunny day.
Richard Langdon and Alistair Hyde-Tetley / Ocean Images generously gave up their time to photograph and video 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: Contender UK; Peters & May; Future Fibres; TT Rigging; R F Composites Dimension Polyant; Soluxion Ltd; Osmotech; Grapefruit Graphics Ltd; Craftinsure; Toolkit Websites; & 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.