The 30th anniversary staging of Brean Leisure Park’s popular Sports Celebrity Am golf tournament has had to be postponed due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown.
The House family, who own the Leisure Park, have hosted the long running fundraising event which has raised thousands of pounds over the years for The Injured Jockeys Fund and St Margaret’s Hospice.
It was due to go ahead on June 9th this year, however with the uncertainty of how and when the country might exit the current restrictions, it has been decided against trying to rearrange the event later in 2020. Instead, they will start planning towards the 2021 event.
Richard House, Brean Leisure Park managing director, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This event is always a highlight in our golfing calendar at Brean and over the years we have been lucky enough to see many top celebrities grace our fairways.”
“In these unprecedented times, rearranging it for a date later in 2020 would be difficult so we made the decision to cancel it for 2020 and start the hard work to ensure the 2021 event is one to remember for everyone.”
Despite the course currently being closed for play, Course Manager Robin Williams and his team have kept the grounds in good shape during the period of inactivity and course conditions wouldn’t have been an issue if the event had gone ahead in early June.
However, Brean’s PGA Professional and Director of Golf Andrew March explained: “With many other sporting schedules currently suspended it could have led to availability issues of many of the sporting stars who often take part had we tried to play it later in the year. We felt putting the event on ice for the year was the best move for all and I am already looking forward to a successful event in 2021.”
Former multiple National Hunt Champion Jockey and Vice President of the Injured Jockeys Fund John Francome, a regular competitor in recent years at Brean, said: “The House family are one of the Injured Jockeys Fund’s longest running supporters and we are extremely grateful for their amazing support. I plan to try to play in this event whenever it is staged but on balance in the current situation I feel it is probably best to wait until next year.”
