They're Giving Money Away!
Last Friday Yeovil Round Table's held their annual Charity Lunch at the Manor Hotel in Yeovil. Current and past members of Yeovil Round Table, a club for local businessmen who have a lot of fun raising money for local and national charities, are joined by over 100 guests from other local businesses for an afternoon of fun, food, entertainment and most important of all, fundraising.
Following another successful year of events including their trip to the top of Mount Snowdon, cheques totalling £30,000 were presented at the start of the afternoon:
- £14,000 to St. Margaret's Hospice
- £4,000 to Fiveways School
- £4,000 to Yeovil Opportunity Group
- £4,000 to Round Table Children's Wish
- £4,000 to the Brain & Spine Foundation
Having pledged to raise £20,000 for the round House in St. Margaret's garden the final £6000 will be met from year's charity lunch.
On receiving the cheque for St. Margaret's Hospice Jon Andrewes reported that due to the donations received from Yeovil Round Table last year they were able to secure additional funding from the government which would otherwise have been unavailable.
Current Yeovil Round Table Chairman, Steve Newman, commented "It gives us a huge amount of satisfaction to raise money for charity. We're a normal bunch of blokes from all different backgrounds. We've got business owners, a solicitors, a window cleaner and one of the guys has a healthy chocolate business!" he carried on (he tends to do that) "our membership is growing so if 16 of us can raise £30,000 imagine what 30 could do."
Lunch then got underway with a three course meal and charity auction with Simon "Minty" Murray (I wonder where he got that name from - Ed) as the ever superb master of ceremonies.
Up for auction were some fantastic lots including: a training session with Yeovil Town Football Club, a football shirt signed by John Terry of Chelsea and England, a days motor-crossing in Mudford, 7-nights in a 3-bedroom villa in Spain and a fantastic opportunity to participate in an a competitive rally stage at Donnington Race Circuit.
Guest speaker was International Yachtsman, Writer and Entrepreneur Tony Bullimore who entertained with his stories of his adventures including the time when he capsized his yacht 1500 off the coast of Southern Australia and survived by sheltering in a tiny air pocket in the upturned hull.
A thoroughly good time was had by all and an estimated £15,000 was raised on the day.
Yeovil Round Table vice-chairman Mike King added "Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of the local community and we would particularly like to thank our table sponsors and the local businesses that have once again been so generous in providing and indeed bidding in a great selection of auction lots, thank you to everyone involved".