Golfers have holed a £900 winning shot for our Hospice 2000 Appeal.

Jasmine Strickson (left) and Anna Ives with some of the bags filled with £1 coins to help the Hospice 2000 Appeal

Picture: Nigel Holland..

When St Leonard's fundraising organiser Janet Morley went to receive a donation from members of the Oaks Golf Club at Aughton near Bubwith she was expecting a cheque for £250.

But the golfers had a very pleasant surprise for her - they had an additional cheque for £400 for the appeal, and the £250 had been matched with an equal amount.

The £400 was first prize in a competition organised by the York Union of Golf Clubs. Kelvin Millett, men's captain at the Oaks club, was allowed to choose which charity should benefit from the prize and decided it should go to the Millennium Appeal.

The £250 donation was part of the club's own Millennium plans. Its executive committee decided last year that they would like to invest in mementoes around the course for future generations of golfers.

They set themselves a target of £2,500 to cover all the costs, and earmarked ten per cent of the total to go to a chosen charity.

The committee organised two fundraising raffles - the first at the captain's drive-in last month and the second at the club's Millennium "Am-Am" competition in July.

But thanks to the generosity of their sponsors, the club is already on target for the full amount.

Judith Curry, who took over as ladies captain in January, was given the responsibility with Kelvin Millett of choosing which charity should benefit and they decided on the Hospice Appeal.

Judith, who works for Lloyds TSB, was able to have the £250 donation matched by the Lloyds TSB Foundation, so the final total for the hospice is £900.

She said: "Both Kelvin and I decided that the money should go to the Hospice 2000 Appeal. They have a huge amount of money to raise and the club has been delighted to help.

"We are very grateful to all the sponsors for their super prizes and to the 20 raffle ticket sellers who worked so hard to help us meet our first target."

Tickets for the second raffle will go on sale next month.

Janet Morley said: "The executive committee and members at the Oaks Golf Club have done really well in supporting the appeal. We still have a 'fairway' to go to reach our target but this was a wonderful surprise."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.