Pain in the ALS Golf Day 2019 raises £10,000

September 30, 2019

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34 teams of 4 gathered at Brickhampton Golf Complex for the third annual Pain in the ALS Golf Day last Friday. Raising money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND) and for Mike Crisp and his family. Former Worcester and Cheltenham rugby player Crisp, who was diagnosed with the terminal illness in 2016, set up the golf day 3 years ago as a way to raise money for the charity and raise awareness of MND. The event has gone from strength to strength and has a real mix of golfing abilities, from first time golfers to former Ryder Cup players (Peter Baker).

Crisp commented ” It was a dream of mine to run a golf day and when I could no longer play because of my MND diagnosis, things soon fell in to place. It’s a lot of effort with everything else that we have to deal with, but it’s also a welcome distraction. This year was made harder because I can only type with my eyes, so sending emails and invoices took that much more effort.

The support we have had has been incredible. We had no problems finding teams and several local businesses offered sponsorship or donated items for the raffle and auction. We are so grateful to everyone involved. “

Former Bath, England and British Lion Gareth Chilcott was on hand again to compare the evening and hand out the awards, with the eventual winners Midland Communications claiming the main team prize.

Stu Mico, Director of Midland Communications, commented “I’ve known Mike since the age of 13 when we played rugby together. Mike’s diagnosis came as a huge shock so when he set up the golf day we were happy to get involved. We sponsor the half way house so everyone gets a pasty and a pint to keep them going. It’s one of my favourite days out in the year and to win it this year was a bonus. “

The event raised just over £10,000 which will be split equally between the MND Association and Mike’s family. They are trying to get a Wheelchair accessible vehicle so that Mike can get out and about in his new powered wheelchair. This brings the total raised in the last 3 years for MND to £19,000.