Roger Southam

Roger's Longest Golf Day Challenge

Fundraising for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity
£5,977
raised of £50,000 target
by 88 supporters
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We help the hospital to transform the lives of children

Story

Thank you for coming and looking at the page and donating.

Sparks undertakes amazing work in researching cures to save the lives of our young ones.  It doesn't take long to think whether to undertake a personal challenge for them.

Well as certifiable as I might be, I managed to complete the challenge of 4 golf courses in 4 countries in 1 day.  All for Sparks which funds medical research for children and new born 

Starting at Lough Erne in Northern Ireland at 4am I completed the 18 holes in 2 hours 40 minutes then we found the helicopter couldn’t take off because the cloud was too low.  We sat and waited in the splendid surroundings of Lough Erne Resort and well looked after.  At 10am we could take off and headed to Gleneagles.  With some skilful piloting we traversed the weather fronts and made it to Gleneagles at noon.  At a sprint with caddy beside we set off round the course.  Joined for the first two holes buy Gordon Tait from the Sun.  We blitzed round the course in 1 hour 15 minutes and I will always be eternally grateful to the Marshalls for clearing everyone aside as I reached each tee and green.  From there we set off to Celtic Manor, realising that we had caught up a bit on our weather delay but not enough to be able to get to the London Club for my last round.  Emergency action was needed and very kindly Manor House Castle Coombe stepped in and offered their course.  We landed at Celtic Manor at 4.30pm and I headed off to the Roman Road course.  Again the Marshalls were fantastic in getting people to let me through without a stop and we got round in 1 hour 30 minutes.  Feasibly we could have just made it to London club however we now had plans in place for Castle Coombe and had stood down arrangements at London Club so we took our plan B and hoped the 15 minute journey to Manor House.  I managed to get round in 2hours 3o minutes and finished the challenge at 9.26pm.  The course was stunning but huge distances between green and tee and very hilly.  At the end a sank a most welcome pint and slept all the way hone.  I am eternally grateful to all those who made it possible.  Andrew McGivern and Darren Wring for their safe piloting in the helicopter.  Darren Chidley and Royal & Awesome for all their support, guidance, advice, coordination, attention and outfits.  SSP for the Golf bars that were my food source for the day.  All the golfers who I encountered for letting me through and good wishes as I passed.  Finally to you for all your sponsorship support and encouragement.  Total shots 376 against par of 281, with my current handicap of 23 that is 3 over par net! 

A wonderful day and a great cause and please dig deep if you haven’t already – any donation however small is much needed to help cure the diseases and illnesses faced every day by the little ones.

Thank you

Roger



About the charity

Sparks raises money to fund pioneering child health research across the UK, helping to find new treatments and cures for children and families who desperately need them.

Donation summary

Total raised
£5,976.20
+ £1,250.30 Gift Aid
Online donations
£5,476.20
Offline donations
£500.00

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