Great Set of Lads - Always Happy to Help

William Wroe Veterans Golf Society

I was fortunate recently to be invited to join members of the William Wroe Veterans Golf Society at one of their monthly presentation days. I spent a very pleasant couple of hours in the company of Ray Stratford, Bernard Meagh, Bob O’Flynn and Charlie Williams at the Flixton Ex-Serviceman’s Association where the members presented Francis House with a cheque for £355 – the proceeds of a year’s raffles.  

The William Wroe Veterans Golf Society is very particular about who can become a member. For one, you have to be over 60 years of age to qualify, but there’s no upper age limit. The membership about 140 strong and their most senior member is 91 years young, although he no longer plays. The oldest member still playing is 90 in January 2010. So I was very fortunate to be invited to join them during the afternoon of October 13^th as a guest and to accept a cheque on behalf of Francis House.

I was met at the entrance to the car park by Ray ‘Rambo’ Stratford - a nickname he’s inherited but not sure of the origin of other than to say: “Rambo Ray is here to play”. Ray acted as my guide and showed me into the club lounge where around 30 members of the Society, all wearing the same green Willie Wroe jumpers, chatted and laughed over a pint as they prepared for the business of the day.

The money they raised for Francis House came from raffles organised by Ray during the past year’s ‘away days’ to play at other courses across the North West. Everyone buys a ticket and the prize is usually a bottle of spirits, a bottle of whisky or a bottle of rum. On these trips out to places such as Chester, Wrexham and Tarvin, 30 to 40 people all chip in to the pot and the money raised goes to Francis House.

What started as a raffle on the coach soon spread to the presentation days according to Ray. He said: “I soon realised I could increase the amount of money we were able to raise for Francis House by including the monthly presentation in the raffle”. It all adds up and after a year we’ve gathered a tidy amount.

Why Francis House?

The first venture into fundraising for the Willie Wroe Veterans was to support a charity providing educational equipment for children in Africa. The charity provided books, pencils, paper and so on for kids who literally had nothing and so the first raffle was born. According to Ray the first bottle to be offered as a prize brought in £79 and it grew from there. Ray added: “I decided there and then to raffle a bottle of whisky and was delighted it raised far more than its cost. I thought, this is a good idea this raffle business and so I just carried on and this year the bottles themselves have been very kindly donated and so this means even more money for charity”.   

Ray admits to being a real softie when it comes to children and says he couldn’t bear to think of sick kiddies being in need as he would get too upset and emotional. When he was looking for a local organisation to support on behalf of Willie Wroe he asked the question “does anybody know of a deserving charity?” The hospice was mentioned and it has been the chosen charity for the past four years.

Ray was unaware of the work of Francis House at the time and it was a visit to the hospice which cemented his support. He described his first contact with the hospice as very moving. He said: “When Francis House was first suggested I’d never heard of it and so when I went down to meet Reverend David Ireland and he showed me round and told me what it’s all about, I thought, well, what more could you want. We’ve stuck with the hospice so far and I think you’ll be stuck with us for a good while longer.”

The five away days have netted £355 for the hospice over the past year, a record amount for the society. Ray added: “I wish this cheque could be for £355,000, but as they say every little bit helps – all the bits make a lot. We do our best and £355 is the most we’ve made so far and we’ll try and better this next year , I’ll turn the screw on them for a bit more!”

The members of the William Wroe Veterans Golf Society were surprised to hear of the amount Francis House has to raise each year to keep a roof over its head. With close to £2 Million a year needed to run the hospice and for this year about a fifth of this being covered by a government grant, the charity has to rely very heavily on public support to continue to provide a much needed service for the children and families of the North West. Unlike the adult hospice movement which receives a guaranteed amount each year – around 25% of running costs – children’s hospices are not given the same annual support. This year Francis House has been fortunate to receive more than £300,000 from government funds and is grateful for this central support but next year this may disappear altogether or may be only a fraction of this year’s grant.  

After hearing about the way Francis House is funded, Ray Stratford jokingly commented: “It’s a shame the government can’t stick their hands in their pocket and pay a bit more – maybe I could put a duck pond in the garden and claim for it on expenses!”

Many thanks go to the members of the Willie Wroe Society for their hospitality and continued support of the hospice. Here at Flixton Ex-Serviceman’s Association with the William Wroe Veterans Golf Society is proof that life begins at 60. 

Andy Glynn

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