David Collier, our Operations Director and I, plus a couple of clients, Barry Weston and Roger Webster of BSX along with Matt Brown from TVD Group, thanks for the invite by the way, played in the famous ‘The Sir Bobby Robson Celebrity Golf Classic’ at Pestana Vila Sol, in the Algarve.
I played with Matt, Will Cunningham and Gerry Taggart, ex premiership footballer with Leicester and Bolton and he was a complete joy to play with, great golfer, thoroughly nice guy and most importantly great company. Will and Matt were equally good company too.
The important thing, was we were there to raise money for a great cause.
The Sir Bobby Robson Celebrity Golf Classic has been run annually for nineteen years at the request of Lady Elsie Robson and her family. The tournament was started by Sir Bobby in 2004 with the objective of having a fun celebrity golf tournament in the sun, but most importantly to raise money for a homeless children’s charity the Refugio Aboim Ascensã, which is based in Faro.
Back in 2003, Sir Bobby and Lady Elsie chose the Refugio Aboim Ascensão to be the benefactors of the funds raised at the tournament. The home looks after 95 children at any one time and is a 7-days a week, 24 hours a day operation. Its Director, Dr. Luis Villas-Boas and his dedicated team, look after the children and create a home and new lives for them. The philosophy the Director and staff of the Refugio live by is that “Every child has the right to be loved“.
Since Sir Bobby started this tournament in 2004 – over millions of Euros have been raised for the children and the tournament is now a major fund raiser for the Refugio and since Sir Bobby’s death in July 2009 the tournament has continued with Lady Elsie’s blessing with two principal objectives:
Firstly, to Celebrate Bobby’s life both on and off the pitch, to remember what he brought to football both in the UK and in continental Europe having become one of the most successful British managers in Europe.
Secondly, because Sir Bobby would have wanted to keep raising valuable funds for the Charity and help those Children so less fortunate than our own.
Celebrities from the world of football, sport and entertainment attend and play with the corporate teams for the honour of winning Bobby’s tournament played on the Championship Course at Pestana Vila Sol on the Algarve, which has twice hosted the Portuguese Open. Celebrities who have played include Garry McAllister, Steve Bruce, Mick McCarthy, Alan Shearer, Kenny Dalglish, Alan Brazil, Harry Redknapp and Sam Allardyce to name just a few