We have had a great start to the season so far despite some indifferent weather conditions, and thanks to our lovely members we have managed to raise a lot of money already from just the first few events.

We have also managed to present seven Variety Golf Sunshine Coaches from the first five events to seven different Special Needs Schools – and we have only just started!  Wouldn’t it be great if we can beat last year’s number (37 Sunshine Coaches) despite the increase in costs for the vehicles.

All of the upcoming events have been selling really well so please get in touch if you would like to enter any events between now and the end of the season. So far, each event has been full. We amazingly only lost eleven members this year from renewals, but I’m delighted to say we have already taken on eighteen new members and its only April!

We have some great events coming up and, finally, it looks like some warmer and hopefully drier weather is on its way, so please come and support the events as best you can. See you on the fairways soon!

We certainly ‘kicked off’ the season in style with our Captains Lunch at Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly which was an absolutely a superb venue!  After Lunch we had a real fun Q&A with our new Captain, Dave Beasant, and some of his fellow footballers from the Crazy Gang at Wimbledon FC (Lawrie Sanchez, Wally Downes and Dave Bassett).

We even managed to raise a nice few quid in an unexpected auction which hopefully kicks off the year in the fashion we hope to continue! Thanks to all those who supported this special event.

Captain Dave Beasant ‘Drove In’ with a bang for a great start to what was sure to be another successful Captain’s Day at Moor Park GC.

We managed to stay dry and the scoring was really close. Daniel Sims won the Division One competition and Nick Edwards won Division Two.

West Ham Footballer Mark Noble, making his rookie debut with Variety, helped his team to victory, alongside Michael Dick, Ray Andes and John Welham. We managed to present two Sunshine Coaches after golf, kindly sponsored by Paul Boyle and Richard Keel of Keel Toys.

A massive thanks to them both.

We had a great line up of Tour Pros at this year’s event, including Richard Bland from the LIV Tour, Dame Laura Davies from the LET and an array of European Tour and Challenge tour winners also in the field.

The red hot and in form favourite Richard Bland (Right) took the spoils with a 67 (5 under par) by 1 shot from Taylor Carter and by 2 shots with a 69 (3 under par) from ‘The Littles‘ – Jamie & Sam Little, Gabs Cowley and Rob Dinwiddie.

The Winning Team (left) was in ‘Safe Hands’ with Professional Daniel Field, Bob Weston, Steve Blight and former England goalie David Seaman! England Cricketer, Ronnie Irani, did a great job raising more funds in the charity auction and a huge thanks to our two Sunshine Coach sponsors, Bob Weston of Weston Homes and David & Mark Pears of The Pears Foundation.

We started this event last year, as Jamie wanted to choose one course each year which is a little ‘hidden gem’.

Last year was great when we went to Ashridge Golf Club and this year was just as good at Beaconsfield, which was in fantastic condition! The only trouble is he may have the set the bar quite high – so he’s started to think about the next ‘hidden gem’ for next year!

After Golf we presented a Sunshine Coach sponsored by the Kichna Kids Company from the Variety Christmas Lunch. The lunch was superb at Beaconsfield as was the entertainment we afterwards, with the new Comedy Duo of Ian Irving & Adger Brown, followed by our ‘Magic Man’ David Redfearn, who as always, left us all ‘gobsmacked! A great day all round!

Without doubt, this year was the best we have seen Hankley Common, the condition was absolutely incredible!

The real Green Jacket went to a very deserved winner of the Variety Spring Masters, Gary Davis, who won by two points from last year’s Variety Spring Masters Champion, David Harris!  The team event was won by Gary Davis, Michael Reich, Marc Gold and Jamie Little and the top five teams were separated by just two points!

We presented Sunshine Coaches 6 & 7 after golf.  Both were sponsored by Variety Golf members and the funds raised from the Variety Christmas Lunch.  Adger Brown helped us raise more funds in the auction and top comedian, Simon Evans, entertained us in style during Lunch – and another fantastic event.  A big thanks to our Co-Sponsors David Mattey and Lawrence Brown for their continued support of this event.