Local estate agency Matthews Benjamin and Fine & Country, which has offices in Lancaster, Garstang, Windermere and Ambleside, has pitched in to safeguard the foreseeable future of the popular Morecambe Golf Club Rosemere Cancer Foundation Celeb-Am Golf Day.
The company has signed a five-year, £5,000 contract that will guarantee the annual June event will be played up until and including at least 2024.
Staff from Matthews Benjamin and Fine & Country have played in and been the winners of the four-ball tournament for the last two years and will again take part in this year’s competition on Monday, 3 June, which will be the 12th in succession.
Up until last year, the golf day was organised by Morecambe Golf Club member and stalwart Rosemere Cancer Foundation supporter Mike Kemplay with help from his wife Heather. They founded the event and present the Neil Kemplay Trophy to the winning team in memory of their late son, who shared their passion for the sport and who died of cancer.
Following the Kemplays’ retirement, the day is now organised by a trio of former golf club men’s team captains – Trevor Bentley, Chris Gartside and John Gillow.
Chris Gartside said: “It’s fantastic to have the support of Matthews Benjamin and Fine & Country. It brings a wonderful sense of security to us as organisers to know that we have help with the staging costs, which in turn enables us to maximise the fundraising potential of the event and continue to grow it.”
Last year’s Morecambe Golf Club Rosemere Cancer Foundation Golf Day was played by 23 local teams and achieved a record donation of almost £4,000 to Rosemere Cancer Foundation, which works to fund cutting edge equipment, research and other services that are beyond limited NHS resources to ensure local cancer patients have access to world class treatment.
Matthews Benjamin and Fine & Country is no stranger to the charity’s work, having already raised almost £40,000 to help it. It did this through a “Charity Begins at Home” scheme whereby for more than a year, it made a donation to Rosemere Cancer Foundation for every completed house sale. It also sponsored a 60-strong team in 2016’s Lake Windermere Great North Swim to celebrate the life of its Morecambe-born former founding director David Benjamin, who died of skin cancer aged just 53 in 2015.
Company director and member of the Matthews Benjamin and Fine & Country golf team Andrew Kneale said: “We are delighted to support this fantastic event and help it raise funds for such a worthy cause that is very close to our hearts.”
