Sports celebrities from a variety of sporting backgrounds graced the greens of Brean Golf Club this week to take part in its annual Sports Celebrity Am Charity Tournament.
This was the 26th staging of the popular event which saw 25 teams of four compete for the Tom Childs Memorial Trophy.
This year, the players were raising money for two good causes with The Wooden Spoon Charity being added to the events’ long standing beneficiary, The Injured Jockeys Fund.
Former England and British Lion hooker Mark Regan MBE led the celebrities taking part in the day and he was joined by Somerset Cricketers Pete Trego and Max Waller.
Radio Bristol’s ex footballer Geoff Twentyman and his former Bristol Rovers team mate Tony Pounder represented football whilst Speedway’s Grand Prix Race Director Phil Morris was joined by referee Ronnie Allan.
A sprinkling of PGA Golf professionals and National Hunt jockeys also joined up with teams for an enjoyable afternoon on the superbly prepared 18 hole, par 69 golf course.
At the end of the day, The Injured Jockeys Fund took away more than just the money raised for them as the team they entered scooped the winning prize.
Led by the Charities Vice Chairman Jonathan Powell, his team comprising of ex jockey and now racehorse trainer Anthony Honeyball, Roy Wilfort and Francesco Gregorace, carded a very impressive 91 points for a one point winning margin.
Runners Up were the Brean Golf Club quartet led by 2016 Club Captain Andy Thomas along with Roger Vaughan, John Mardon and Aaron Puddy.
No other team reached the 90 point mark with 87 being good enough for the PKF Francis Clark team led by Max Waller to secure third spot.
Waller played superbly and he was ably backed up by his team of Martin Rogers, Colin Knight and Richard Hussey.
A countback was required to decide the final two prizes with three teams ending on a score of 84. 4th place was awarded to the team led by National Hunt Jockey Tom O’Brien from Phillip Hobbs Sandhill Stables including Tim Dennis, Saul Woods and Richard White.
They had the better back nine to relegate Tony Pounder’s AA Flooring team of Brian Read, Jeff Read and Paul Tomlinson into 5th place with The Sport Associates team led by Mark Regan just missing out on the prizes.
Many other spot prizes were up for grabs for the players during the day with the celebrities showing up well for these as the names Trego and Twentyman were amongst those called out by Brean’s PGA Professional and Director of Golf Andrew March as he made the presentations at the end of the successful day in The Tavern at Brean Leisure Park.
Once all the monies had been collected, organiser Julie Brown was delighted to announce that £4,747.90 was raised for the two charities.
Julie told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves on the day and we had so much positive feedback from the people who took part.”
“A big thank you goes out to the celebrities, all the teams who participated and the companies who kindly supported the event and helped make it the success it was. We are already looking forward to next year’s event with many people asking already when it is as they want to be part of it again!”
Event sponsors and supporters were ABI UK, Thatchers, Heineken, CBS, NFU Mutual, AA Flooring, Three Cherries, St Austell, Spider Group, Towens, Town & Country Flooring, Gould & Swayne Solicitors, Novel Toy, Giftworks, Ruth Badger Consultancy, Coast Insurance, Bespoke Signs, Open Vision Finance, Marshfield Ice Cream, Molston Coors, CID, Calor Gas, Hunts Food Service, BWS Standfast, Stuart Line Cruises, Grand Pier Weston, Brean Splash, Brean Gym, Bay of India, Princess Theatre and Arena Racing.
