The Gerbils Golf Society Presents
7th Annual
Charity Golf Day 2025
In aid of
The Gerbils Golf Society Presents
We were sent letters of authorisation from Breast Cancer UK and Beams for our 2024 event.
£ 8,500
Funds raised
141
Players entered
36
Teams entered
I am writing to thank you and all of the 141 golfers that supported the Gerbils Golf Society's 6th Annual Charity Golf Day on Saturday 20th July 2024 at Poult Wood Golf Centre. The turnout was a record for the day and we hope that you had (in fantastic weather this year) a fantastic days golf and, above all, had fun. We have, with your help, managed to raise a record amount for our chosen charities - Prostate and Breast Cancer UK and ‘We are Beams’.
Whilst we are still finalising the accounts it looks like our donations will be in excess of £8,500. Well done everyone.
Here are the results and congratulations to all the winners. In line with previous years where most of the winners donated something back to our Charities, I sincerely hope that this may be the case once again this year.
It would not be right if we did not mention the wonderful support that we are given in order to stage our day. To our sponsors, Stanmore Contractors, Modebest Builders, Prolifting UK, KRA Brown Electrical Services Ltd, Baker Scaffolding UK Ltd, Thompson Glazing, D Brayford and Darenth Print we offer our sincere thanks. Our sincere thanks also go to the staff at Darenth Print who supplied all of our polo shirts, pull up and pop up banners, flag, breakfast cards and handouts, the many helpers in planning the event and for their help on the day. To Poult Wood Golf Centre and the catering and ground staff, to all those that made personal donations (cash and raffle prizes) or donations on behalf of groups, the organising committee's wives and any other individual or company that supported us, many many thanks.
To conclude, the Gerbils Golf Society was formed in 1996 by a group of friends and since then members have come and gone but a nucleus remain. Over the years we have had great fun from the game of golf and so, six years ago we decided it was time we should use the fun we have playing the game to put something back to the benefit of others - hence our Charity day was born. We enjoy organising this event and we hope you enjoyed playing. We get a great deal of joy and satisfaction from giving something back to Charities and as a participant, you too, have used the fun of a days golf to do your bit in giving back. Well done to all of you.
We all hope to see you next year for an even bigger event and please let all your fellow golfers know about our Charity Day in order that they can join us to make next year a bumper year.
Kind regards and best wishes,
Trevor Blain - on behalf of the co-organisers John Thompson, Tom Merrills, Adam Woodruff, Alan Cornell, Mike Hughes, Matt Unger and Rob Holland. Also thanks to Dan Baylis who helped with the putting competition and banner on the day.
The birth of Gerbils Golf Society was on the 9th March 1996, when four people started a 'Saturday Pairs' match play tournament.
By 1999 the numbers had increased and included Charlie Prior (who subsequently became the Society’s President) and we still play for the 'Charlie Prior Shield' in his honour. We called ourselves the 'Wayne Kerr’s Golf Society' (we loved a laugh and joke), that year we started trips to France until it became too expensive.
By 2002 our numbers had increased further and in addition to our normal Stableford matches at Poult Wood we continued the twice yearly “Society Days” at local courses.
In 2010 we moved to Lullingstone Park Golf Club, Orpington and played there for the next nine years and our numbers continued to swell.
In 2013 we looked for a new name. Some of our members played against a Police Golf Society who called themselves 'The Rats'. They called us Gerbils, which is how our current name came to be. Our numbers declined drastically mid-2019 and we moved to Corinthian Golf Club. To give something back to society, we started a Charity Golf Day which produced a profit of over £1650 for Prostate Cancer UK.
The Covid pandemic affected us badly. In 2021, we started a Saturday swindle (fondly named the Gwindle by Trevor Blain the only original Gerbil and also a member at Corinthian GC) and it is still flourishing to date.
The Charity Golf Days, with the invaluable help from our sponsors, have gone from strength to strength. In 2020, £3,500 was raised for Prostate Cancer, in 2021 over £4,000, in 2022 £6,000 and in 2023 £10,000 was raised. To be more inclusive and to encourage more ladies to play, it was decided to split what had been raised between Prostate Cancer UK and Breast Cancer UK. To date the Gerbils Golf Society Charity Day's have raised a total of £20,350 for Prostate Cancer UK.
To enquire about our 2024 charity golf event or sponsorship opportunities please get in touch by using our secure form below.
