Macmillan Golf Day

On Sunday 26th August the 10th Macmillan Golf Day was held at the Bull Bay Golf Club. It has become a regular event on Bank Holiday Sunday and is supported by many golfers keen to play golf and, at the same time, support this worthy cause. The first event was the result of a challenge to Richard Butler, a local hair stylist, to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Since then Richard has continued to organise this popular event very effectively.

This year the summer has been very bad for weather and we worried what sort of day it would be as we made our plans. As the day dawned we realised that we were in for a great day with blue sky all the way through. During the period leading up to the day Richard was active selling many raffle tickets to his customers and friends at the golf club. He and his partner, Annwen Williams, approached a number of business people to sponsor the event and they were well supported. The members of the Anglesey Macmillan Committee all volunteered to help on the day. We had people staffing the hospitality tent on the 10th green and Pentraeth Caravans kindly loaned a caravan for catering purposes. The tent was supplied and erected by the local Scouts in Amlwch and a classic Bedford Dormobile was sited there to provide cover in case any further catering needs were identified. The Dormobile is owned and driven by Richard Southgate, one of Richard Butler's golf team on the day. Most of the food was freshly prepared by committee members and there was plenty left at the end of the day.

As the golf teams teed off on the first hole they were photographed by Annwen Williams and I acted as official starter. The photos were processed during the day by Richard Southgate's 11 year old daughter and then presented to the teams as they left the 18th hole. Barclays Bank are our sponsors too and they sent a team of people to staff the raffle ticket table as golfers arrived at the clubhouse. The whole day rolled on like clockwork with everyone knowing what was required of them and we had a great time.

Once the last team had gone off I went home and collected Pauline who came back with me to enjoy a meal in the clubhouse with Richard and Annwen before the presentations were made. This year we had a short entertainment by two excellent belly dancers who showed how technically difficult their hobby is. One of the dancers had done it for 11 years and did a display showing fantastic balance and poise. She works as a nurse at Ysbyty Gwynedd in the Accident and Emergecy Department. The other dancer told me she had been a dancer for 6 years and admitted that without her spectacles she could not see far. I had felt the wind of the stick she was twirling as she danced and now I knew how much danger I had been in!

The presentations went ahead and a good time was had by all. Richard thanked the people who had supported the day and Eleri Brady, Macmillan Fundraising Manager for North Wales and Powys added her thanks to Richard for his hard work. We are already looking forward to our plans for 2008!

The photo shows the winning mixed team with Richard Butler, the organiser, second from the right.