£600 raised for Vision Africa at the 2010 Millennium Corporate Golf Challenge

A strong warm breeze greeted the competitors arriving at the London Golf Club for the 2010 Millennium Invitational Corporate Golf Challenge in support of Vision Africa. Clear blue skies and temperatures reaching 27 degrees Celsius were to make for a memorable humid day in the beautiful Kent countryside. The course was in pristine condition having played host to the Open Championship pre-qualifiers the previous week and the greens were immaculate and slick, some said it was like putting on glass.  

The Millennium Trophy had been won the previous year by William Hill so teams from many of the UK's leading organisations were determined to compete for the spoils and lay their claim. Returning to defend their title, William Hill were unfortunate to be beaten in to second place by Brett Gosby and Ted Bailey of Informa who achieved a combined score of 78 Stableford points to take the trophy. Phil Jacobs of Unit 4 also performed well and won both the individual Stableford and scratch prizes.

Legendary Sean Fitzpatrick entertains  

The hot, humid conditions meant that post round refreshments in the Club house were particularly welcome and afterwards there was the opportunity to listen to one of the all time greats of world rugby - The All Blacks former captain Sean Fitzpatrick. The term "legend" is liberally applied to many sportsmen these days but in this case it is an appropriate description of someone who holds the record for the  most Test matches as All Black captain (51) and who has played in more Test match victories (74) than any other player.

Sean entertained the audience with tales from down the years about some of the great players he had played with and against during his rugby career. His sporting anecdotes when applied to the goal of winning and achieving business and personal success provided some valuable lessons. His talk culminated with a rendition of the infamous pre match "Hakka" demonstrated with determination and the threatening menace that is the All Blacks hallmark. 

Afterwards a fund raising raffle was held during which over £600 was raised for Vision Africa, the children's charity which works with orphaned and destitute children in Kenya. The fund raiser provided a satisfying end to a memorable day.

Plans are now underway for the 2011 Millennium Corporate Golf Challenge and details will be published soon.