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Published:
February 13, 2006
Brean
Golf Club's fundraising drive nets huge £9,000 for hovercraft
Delighted
crewmembers at Burnham-On-Sea's rescue hovercraft are celebrating
this week after receiving one of their biggest-ever cash donations
- more than £9,000 from Brean Golf Club.
 The
major cash injection comes after a major 12-month fundraising
drive by players and staff at Brean Golf Club, who picked the
Spirit Of Lelaina craft as their charity of the year.
A
series of golf days, race nights, raffles, quiz evenings and other
fundraising activities has been held during the year - all of
which have been firmly backed by the 400 members.
And at a presentation at Brean Leisure Park over the weekend,
club captains Bob Masterman and Deirde Wheadon handed over a huge
cheque for £9,352.19 to Simon Triggol, a hovercraft pilot
at BARB, the charity that runs the life-saving service.
"We're delighted to have raised such a large sum for the
hovercraft and hope that this really makes a difference and helps
you save more lives along this strip of coast," said Mr Masterman.
"The hovercraft has a very special place in our hearts locally
and we wanted to raise as much as possible. BARB does such a fantastic
job."
 Delighted
Mr Triggol said: "Words cannot describe how grateful we are
for this donation - all of which will go straight into keeping
the hovercraft running, training our team of volunteers and funding
the second craft coming later this year."
Alan Miller, chairman of BARB, added: "We're gob-smacked
that such a huge amount has been raised over just a year. A big
thank you goes to Bob and Pat Masterman and ladies captain Deirdre
Wheadon for all their hard work over the last year. A big cash
injection like this is a fantastic way to start the year."
The
major donation comes just days after a big £4,500 donation
from Bristol City Football Club and continuing generous support
from readers of the Western Daily Press newspaper.
The
hovercraft group has annual running costs of £20,000 and
is in the process of buying a second hovercraft to expand its
life-saving operation along the Somerset coastline.
During its first 18 months of operation, the Spirit of Lelaina
has helped and rescued more than 85 people along the Somerset
coastline.
The
hovercraft was launched in 2004 after a successful fundraising
appeal by the Western Daily Press following the tragic
death of five-year-old Lelaina Hall who became trapped in treacherous
mud at Berrow beach in 2002.
RELATED
LINKS:
Burnham
Hovercraft Web site
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