A total of £17,000 was raised for Garden House Hospice Care on Saturday by a golf day and fundraising auction in memory of a Baldock dad who died of cancer aged 51.
Adrian Gray, who was one of the senior figures at the Larger Profile printing firm in Letchworth, had the day organised in his honour by Gary Orsman, Martin McMahon, Simon Manning and Liam Doherty.
And remarkably, this isn’t all the fundraising Adrian has inspired since his death on July 29. His daughter Rebecca raised £2,428 in Garden House’s Colour Clash run, and his wife Diane has completed the Brave the Shave challenge to make £4,126 for Macmillan Cancer Support – bringing the total to £23,554.
“Dad would have absolutely loved the golf day,” said Rebecca, 24.
“We had competitions like longest throw of the golf club, which he probably would have won, and he’d have very much enjoyed the auction.
“The highlight of the day was just everybody being there – all his close friends and family. People who have not played much golf came out to do their best in honour of my dad.
“Part of why we raised so much is because we were able to sell one of the auction items twice – one of the things donated by local firms was a week in a villa in Barbados, and two people kept bidding against each other all the way up to £5,000.
“The owner was there and said he could sell it for two weeks – and that all went to the hospice.”
The other donated auction items included a week in Spain, golf gear and tickets to the British Masters.
There were 67 participants in the golf at Adrian’s favourite local course, Cambridge Meridian, which was won by his best mate Keith Wells.
And more friends and family joined for the auction and disco at Adrian’s favourite pub, the White Lion in Baldock – which had also been the venue for Diane’s shave.
Diane’s hair was donated to the Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for children living with cancer.
Garden House’s Jordan Russell said: “We are very thankful to the Gray family and friends for supporting the hospice and raising money in memory of Adrian.
“The amount of funds they have raised is astonishing. This will enable us to continue to provide our free care in North Herts, Stevenage and the surrounding villages.
“We could not provide our services without supporters like these. Thank you to everyone involved for their extreme generosity.”
For more see ghhospice.co.uk.
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