The 8th Annual Potatoes NZ Charitable Trust Golf tournament was held at Methven Golf Club on Friday 26 May. It was a glorious day and a very pleasant afternoon for the golf.
The event is scheduled for the end of May because by then all harvesting should be well & truly over. Well not this year. The weather in the previous month had delayed harvest and as a result our numbers were down on last year. In addition Christchurch airport was closed due to fog and some North Island folk couldn’t get to the event.
The winners were a team representing Alex McDonald Ltd (Kerry Hughes, John Wilkinson, Richard Tait and Peter King) who accumulated 50 stableford points. The SGS NZ Ltd team were runners-up (48) on a countback from Fruitfed Supplies/PGG Wrightson also on 48 points. It was great, that due to the generosity of our sponsors and supporters everyone who played left with a prize.
Once again it was an excellent opportunity for the potato industry to come together and while final figures are not yet available the event raised over $6500. This will be used for potato research and education projects including assistance to our partner in the community, STAND Children’s Services (formerly Te Puna Whaiora, Children’s Health Camps).
Such an event could not happen without the support of sponsors & supporters. This year these were;
AsureQuality, Balance Agri Nutrients, Dow AgroSciences, FMG, Fruitfed Supplies/PGG Wrightson, Heartland Chips, Landpower New Zealand, Market Access Solutionz, Peracto NZ, Molloy Agriculture, Ravensdown, SGS NZ, Syngenta NZ, Talley’s Group, Waterforce and Yara Fertilizers NZ.
Thank you all.
Next year version nine will be held on Friday 25 May, and we look forward to seeing even more people, including growers and their staff, support this fundraiser. Hopefully the earlier autumn weather will be kinder next year.
In the meantime the Trust will be holding its first North Island event on Friday 29 September at Maramarua Golf Club, Pokeno and I will be approaching potential sponsors very shortly. Should you wish to involved as a sponsor or player please contact me at eba@ebatnyy.pb.am