Dear Hero Golfers and Glamorous Lunchers!

With the summer holidays now behind us all it is time to shake off those blues and look forward to this year's instalment of the Down's South London annual golf day! Huge thanks to all of you who have replied and booked your places; for the rest of you, please do not hesitate to confirm your (or your team's) place as numbers are limited.

In now time-honoured fashion and for, amazingly, the 12th time, please see below the joining instructions. Before launching forth on those, however, some “thank yous”
•    To all of you – for such tireless and generous support year in and out, meaning that we have now raised just shy of £400,000 for this special little charity that provides so much help and support. Few things amaze and humble me like your generosity.
•    To the RWGC team – yet again, you are going to find the course in fantastic fettle and will enjoy the wonderful RWGC hospitality. None of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of Robert, Marie, Mehmet, Simon, Jenny and the team.
•    To Merrill Corporation – yet again repeating their hugely generous support of our small charity and the amazing work it does. Of course, it is not too late for others to follow Merrill and stick their hands up to sponsor all or part of the day!

Now, over to the Serious Stuff…

…and what I (these days) confidently predict will be another fun day away from the normal grind; the schedule will have a familiar ring for many of you, I know.

Golf day - £250/head
•    Golf at one of London’s premier courses – directions for those of you not familiar with Royal Wimbledon’s location can be found here: www.rwgc.co.uk/contact/map_directions

0730 – registration: bacon sandwich breakfast and mulligan / Golden Gimme™ sale

do remember to bring cash to buy your way to a winning score in the competition!

also, please note that the A3, Wimbledon and the road leading to RWGC get extremely busy with rush hour and school drop-off, so please aim to be early rather than late as the shotgun start cannot be delayed

0830 – tee off: 18-hole team stableford (we welcome individuals who would like to join a team of interesting co-competitors!)
•    Renowned RWGC Lunch with wine – please remember that lunch is a jacket & tie affair
•    Prizes (see mulligans and Golden Gimme™ sale)
•    Auction
•    The company of Glamorous Lunch Guests

Gala lunch - £60/head
•    Renowned RWGC Lunch with wine
•    The company of the elite DSL-Hero Golfers
•    Auction

All of you are also invited to join me after lunch for the now-traditional Kummel toast to Nick Aylwin, my late father and staunch supporter of the charity and RWGC. With this and the plentiful high-quality wines on the tables, do please take taxis to and particularly from the course.

As usual, we will be paying for the day itself, so you are very definitely within your rights (and are encouraged) to tick the box that claims the Gift Aid – both you and the charity will benefit. Please go to www.justgiving.com/DSL-RWGC-2018 to make your donation. Thank you to all those of you who have already done so. If you would like a receipt from the charity for your donation do please simply let me know.

It would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to remind you again just what it is your generosity goes to support, how much we value your commitment to our cause and how careful we are in managing the Charity’s resources to deliver the best services possible. Your donations go a long way to enabling us to fund the £3,500 per year it takes to provide a free total therapy care package for a local child that is:
•    unavailable anywhere else in the country
•    provided for free to children from the age of three months - starting this young has a real impact on future speech development as does, amazingly, the impact of OT and PT
•    in great demand, as witnessed by DSL's ever-renewing waiting list and approaches from people outside our catchment area
•    accessed in particular by those in society who are less fortunate than all of us and who need such support, perhaps, more than anyone else.

We start this new school year with a solid current reserves position of about £50,000 and this allows our ambitions to continue to aim high:
•    Our continued investment in the independent assessment tool we use to evidence the progress made by the children we support is providing great insights and helping us further to evidence the impact of the charity’s work. I look forward to sharing some of this with you on 12th
•    Our monthly “Stay and Play” meeting for all members and their children continues to prove to be an enormous hit! We provide childcare professionals to hand so that the parents may also benefit from time together sharing experiences and the demand for this regular event has ensured families are even more engaged than ever.
•    Last year's additional family days have continued, with us hiring “Singing Hands” to entertain and the children in a structured way, also allowing siblings to reinforce their signing skills while providing further invaluable support and networking opportunities to parents
•    We have also held social support evenings for parents to continue to build the charity's community and provide an easier setting in which parents older children may continue to contribute to our community, particularly with insights from their own experiences
•    We continue to seek new members, increasing the number children and families to support

As you know, everything is focused on helping the children to accelerate their development so that they can be integrated as easily as possible into their school communities and society as a whole, as proven by those of us whose children are older and are proving just what a difference the therapy makes.

Finally, I have received some superb donations of auction lots already. I will be emailing you shortly before the day to set them out so that you can prepare your bidding strategies. Meanwhile, if any of you have any other items or experiences that you might consider donating to the day, do please let me know.

Thank you all for your support. Your generosity never ceases to humble Louise and me. It also promises to make the day another hugely successful fundraiser for the charity. Thank you and I look forward to seeing you on 12th.

Best regards

Andrew