After the last 18 months, the team were incredibly happy to be able to go ahead with our charity golf day, which made it possible for us to raise money for our charity of the year, Re-engage.
Re-engage is a charity committed to ensuring older people are being heard, valued and engaged. All to often, loneliness is the reality for older people and nearly half of older people say that the TV is their main source of company. Social isolation has become even worse during the last 18 months due to the COVID pandemic. The charity came to light when a member of the AJW team signed up as a volunteer during lock-down 1 to connect with a gentleman for a weekly call help with the isolation of COVID.
We chose to move the event to another course in Cambridge, so this year we decided to hold the event at ‘Wyboston Lakes’ in St Neots. The course was in perfect condition and after a cloudy morning the sun started to shine which was just perfect for the golfers. We had a total of 17 golf teams attend so we kicked the day of with a shotgun start, playing Stableford. We made sure our teams were fed and watered through-out the day which they kindly donated monies to our charity for. Everyone was so generous with their donations so thank you.
To ensure we raised a great amount of money we gave our key suppliers the opportunity to sponsor a hole which we received huge support for so a special thank you to Kingspan, Sandtoft, Etex, , Milhouse Leasing, Flex-R, Filon, Rutters, CUPA PIZARRAS, Brett Martin, Sahtas, Cambridge Juice Company, Seven Asset, Carlisle, IKO, Marley, FreeFoam, Trimform and Impact Signs.
Alongside these suppliers we received a number of raffle and auction donations from a number of local suppliers; including Saffron Walden Golf Course, Gog Magog’s Golf Course, Signed Cambridge United Football shirt, Cambridge City match tickets and a signed football, plus a very generous donation of a ‘Fortnum and Mason Hamper’ from Cambridge Roof Exchange. With such fantastic prizes we managed to raise over £5,465 from the Auction and raffle alone, this was also down to the way our compere ‘Jezo’ ran the auction. He did an incredible job, he really knows how to read the crowd and can push the bids up higher with his compere skills.
Charlotte Woods who arranged commented, ‘We are extremely proud that we can run an event which can raise such a huge amount of money for our charity of the year. We have a network of support from suppliers, customers and local business who are keen to see us succeed and raise as much as possible. We are highly grateful to everyone who supports the AJW team in raising these funds.
Alongside the raffle and auction we held a number of competitions through-out the day so it gave those playing the chance to win a number of prizes. As well the usual games we also ran a putting game once everyone had finished the golf which was a great success.
Congratulations to all of the winners from the day, especially to the winning team and the best individual scores.
- Best individual score – James Cowen – 46 points
- 2nd Place : Paul Owers – 44 points
- 3rd Place : Martin Chadwick – 41 points
- Best team score – Paul Owers Team – 134 points
Sarah Newel from Re-engage attended the event and commented;
“We were delighted to be chosen by AJW Distribution as their charity of the year and to be invited to speak at their annual golf day. The team organised a fantastic event and we were touched by how many AJW staff and clients gave generously to support our work. The funds raised will help us to change the lives of lonely older people for the better.”
Andy from AJW who put forward Reengage as the company’s charity of the year, commented…
“The AJW Charity golf day was a fantastic experience to be part of. There is lots of work on the build-up to the event and throughout the day, but it is entirely worth it was run so well. It was great to get to spend the day with so many of our customers from across our five branches, having fun and raising money for a great cause!
Reengage is a charity that is special to me as I am an active volunteer. Because of this, I am very grateful to Alan and Charlotte Woods and the other directors at AJW Distribution for supporting Reengage and doing everything they could to make fundraising a success.
I would also like to thank our generous customers for being so supportive throughout the day and digging deep in their pockets during the raffle and auction.”
We are extremely proud to be able to confirm that from the golf day alone we have raised an amazing £8,402.00!!! This money was raised from suppliers sponsoring the holes, from the raffle and from the extremely generous donations from those who attended the event through-out the day including donations for drinks, bidding on our selection of auction prizes and also from yearly tradition of the simple but fun ‘Heads & Tails’ game which saw the winner WIN half of the donations from those who played.
We are overwhelmed from the support we have had so far from our amazing customers and suppliers but we are positive we can still raise more as the year goes on. Please dig deep and help us hit our target of £10,000 before the end of the year. You can donate when you visit your local AJW or via our just giving page.
To find out more about our charity of the year, visit our ‘Giving Back‘ page.