Charity golf day raises much needed funds for outdoor adventure activities
WESC Foundation - The Specialist Centre for Visual Impairment based in Topsham Road, Exeter, held their annual charity Golf Day at Sidmouth Golf Club. 12 teams of 4-ball Stableford took part from the local business community. The Golf Day raised £3,500 towards the charity’s ‘New activities & New adventures Project”.
A school and college for children, young people and adults with sight loss, WESC Foundation’s ‘New activities & New adventures Project’ will fund a residential week at Calvert Trust Outdoor Activity Centre on Exmoor, for some of their all year-round learners. The Calvert Trust provides outdoor education and fun-packed holidays for disabled people and their friends and families. All equipment and qualified instructors is provided by organisations such as, Riding for the Disabled, The Exe Sailing Club and the Calvert Trust. Additional one to one care and support will be provided by WESC Foundation’s experienced staff.
The cost for this year’s residential course for 14 students and their enablers is £11,000. The monies raised at the Golf Day, together with funds from a sponsored walk at Ugbrooke and Trust donations, brings the charity very close to their target.
Jon Duckham - Fundraising Manager, WESC Foundation said: “The Golf Day was very successful and raised much needed funds for our ‘New activities & New adventures Project’. I want to thank all the local businesses who took part and supported the charity. We raised a wonderful sum, which will go a long way towards funding a week at the Calvert Trust outdoor activity centre”.
He adds: “It is believed that around 80% of what children learn is acquired through their sight; you will therefore, appreciate that learning is very difficult for children with little or no sight. Add in the complex range of additional disabilities that the students have at WESC Foundation and you will start to appreciate the great challenges they have. For a young person who can feel and hear but has no sight it is a real thrill to zoom down a zip wire, or sail a boat at speed when you are normally limited to the speed of your wheelchair. The trepidation and excitement of climbing a stack of wobbly milk crates as high as you can, when your eyesight, hearing and coordination is poor is challenging but exhilarating for our learners.”
The winners of the WESC Foundation Golf Day was the team from Robinson-White and LHC Architects, who narrowly pipped the Thomas Westcott team to first place. In third place was the Freshwater Beach Holiday Park team and Palmer and Howells came fourth.
The next WESC Foundation Golf Day will be on the 12th May 2016 at Exeter Golf and Country Club. To book a team please contact: Jon Duckham jduckham@wescfoundation.ac.uk
