Sun and fun at Marsden Foundation Golf Day

Thank you so much to everyone who came along and supported the Marsden Foundation Golf Day on Friday 31 March. It was fantastic to get together to play golf, and catch up with Marsden friends and staff on the day! Huge thanks to the team at the Royal Wellington Golf Club for hosting us and turning on the sunshine after days of rain, and to our five corporate sponsors: Field & Hall Ltd, Garry the Gardener, Will Calder & Lucy Clements from Ray White, SilkLiving and The Building Intelligence Group (TBIG) for your support.

Our keen golfers were welcomed by Marsden Principal Paula Wells and the General Manager of the Golf Club, Dylan Lindstrom, as they registered and collected their scorecards. It was fabulous to see some of our teams in matching golf outfits; a special shout out to the team from sponsor Field & Hall Ltd, who looked especially dapper in their pink shirts.



Field &Hall Ltd team



Briefing

Following the briefing, players headed to their tee-off holes with some good-natured team rivalry. The 10 social players who received coaching tips from the Golf Club Pro seemed to be enjoying a lot of laughs as they learnt how to drive and putt.



Waiting to tee-off

Seven people scored a hole-in-one at our putting fundraiser beside the clubhouse - run by Marsden parent Laurian Godwin - who gave away gorgeous prizes from her business SilkLiving. Amazingly, four golfers hit the pontoon at Hole 5 and redeemed their prizes at the end of the day. Our Principal enjoyed hearing from everyone on the state of play when they stopped at the Hole 10 refreshment tent.



Laurian Godwin from SilkLiving with prize winner



Hit the Pontoon challenge

Over 110 people attended the evening dinner, and lots of prizes were given out, including under-your-seat spot prizes and prizes for the best golfing score by an Old Girl.

 

Congratulations to the winning team of Guy Callender, Jack Callender, Alastair Scott and Mike Russell, who won a free round of golf at the Royal Wellington Golf Club, some wine and Marsden caps.
Second place went to Andrew Johnstone, Duncan and Kathy Ferrier and John McLean
Third place was won by a team entered by sponsor Garry the Gardener, consisting of Clare and Murray Chandler, Terry and Malcolm McAlister.

 

Unfortunately, our Marsden staff team of Andrea Stockwell, Sarah Molisa and Jane Hazelton were awarded the wooden spoon! However, they received a voucher for some golf coaching, hopefully improving their placement next year! Jane said "it was actually for the most honest golfers, and it was a great prize!"



Marsden team receive their prize



The auction, led by auctioneer and Foundation Board member Andrew Johnstone was a huge hit! The 11 auction items raised nearly $8,000, including a weekend away in New Plymouth; a night at the West Plaza Hotel with tickets to an NZSO concert conducted by Marsden Old Girl Gemma New; and a tennis game against WTA world-ranked Old Girl, Jade Otway. The item that caused the most excitement from bidders was for Marsden's Food Technology teacher, Milan Kostanich, to be a private chef and cook a dinner party in someone's home (Milan was previously a Chef at Michelin-starred restaurant Dinner by Heston Blumenthal). Thank you to all of our wonderful auction item donors for the support - we absolutely appreciate it!

  

In total, we raised just over $25,000 from our Golf Day, which is an awesome achievement. This donation will provide a 50% sports scholarship to a student attending Marsden School in Years 12 and 13 and will also purchase some new sports equipment for our students to use this year.



Building on the overwhelmingly positive feedback we've received, we will be holding a Golf Day again in March 2024. We look forward to seeing you there!