EDITION NO 30
NEWSLETTER – MAY 2026
JAMIE’S BLOG We've enjoyed a wonderful start to the season, beginning with a splendid Captain's Lunch at the RAF Club, followed soon afterwards by our Captain's DriveIn at Tandridge. At the helm this year is the irrepressible Ronnie Irani (below), whose infectious enthusiasm, boundless energy and great sense of fun have already made the opening months of his captaincy both memorable and thoroughly enjoyable. In the seven events held so far this year, we have enjoyed full turnouts at every one. We've played some magnificent courses - some old favourites, others exciting new discoveries - and have been fortunate enough to enjoy excellent golf, excellent company and, remarkably, some excellent weather too. We always knew that our Anniversary Year in 2026 would be a hard act to follow. Donating 60 Sunshine Coaches, with a combined value of more than £3.5 million, made it the most successful year in our history by some distance. While we may not quite match that extraordinary achievement this year, we have certainly made a very encouraging start. What never ceases to amaze me is that, as economic conditions become more challenging, the generosity of our supporters seems only to grow. Time and again, you rise to the occasion, helping us transform the lives of disabled and disadvantaged children throughout the country. As usual, you'll find summaries of all our events on the following pages, would but l would like to highlight one in particular. When our ambassador, Kipp Popert, the world's number one disabled golfer, approached us with the idea of creating his own tournament, I must admit to being slightly apprehensive. His vision was ambitious: to bring together eighteen of the world's leading disabled golfers, each captaining a team with three amateurs, for a unique competition at the London Golf Club. The aim was not only to raise enough money to ensure the professionals received a worthwhile fee for competing, but also to fund a Sunshine Coach. Well, how wrong I was. The Kipp Popert World Invitational sold out within weeks. The support was overwhelming, the golf was outstanding and, in the end, we were able to present not one but three Sunshine Coaches! It was a magnificent occasion and a landmark event for Variety Golf. Our heartfelt thanks go to Kipp for choosing to partner with us. It was both an honour and a privilege. We formed a small, hard-working committee for this event and I would like to thank them all for their help as well as the generous sponsors and donors. Hopefully, we will be able make the event a regular on our fixture list. So, enjoy the rest of the season knowing that Variety Golf continues to go from strength to strength. We are playing great golf on some of the finest courses in the country, sharing wonderful friendships and, most importantly, helping thousands of special children live fuller, richer and more independent lives. That's what we do. Thank you for your continued friendship, generosity and support. We have plenty to look forward to - and I look forward to seeing you again very soon.
Up to Town for Ronnie’s Lunch On Friday February 27th we kickstarted our 2026 events with our Variety Captain’s Lunch at The Royal Air Force Club in London’s West End – hosted by our 2026 Captain, ex-test cricketer, Ronnie Irani. With a complete sell-out of 110 members in attendance, we had a superb Lunch with plenty of entertainment, fundraising and a lot of laughs. A great way to start the year! Ian Irving hosted the Heads & Tails along with Ronnie, followed by ‘The Magic Man’ David Redfearn who wowed us with his incredible magic, followed by an auction hosted by Ronnie himself which raised just over £15,000 in about 10 minutes, including the sale of a number of copies of his autobiography! Ronnie then got up for a Q&A with some absolutely hilarious anecdotes drawn from his career – all of which which were also very insightful and great fun! Big thanks again to Ian Irving, David Redfearn and of course Ronnie himself for entertaining us all afternoon, plus all the members and their guests for supporting the Lunch and helping us raise over £16,000!
Captain’s Day at Tandridge On March 19th we were so fortunate to be able to play our Variety Captain’s Day at Tandridge in the most amazing conditions - the weather, golf course and food were all absolutely first class! Ronnie ‘Drove In’ with style (the video is currently being edited, which could take some time but will be well worth the watch) and the whole day was perfect from start to finish! After Golf, our event sponsor Richard Keel presented his 6th Sunshine Coach to The Goldwyn School based in Ashford in his company ‘Keel Toys’ colours, and the
school were so grateful for Richard’s very kind donation. During Lunch (which was incredibly tasty), Adger Brown entertained us superbly and then Ronnie auctioned off a few items. Along with Richard’s sponsorship and all the fundraising on the day, an amazing £50,000 was raised at our first event of the year, what an amazing start! And, of course, a big thanks to Captain Ronnie Irani for being such a great host. Here are the scores:
Division 1 1. 2. 3. 4.
Nick Edwards Ian Watson Joe Colletti Tom Nunn
40 pts 39 pts 37 pts 37pts
Division 2 1. 2. 3.
Neil Bookatz 39 pts Steve Coppell 38 pts Philip Heffer 36 pts
Team 1. 2. 3. 4.
Ronnie Irani, Richard Keel, Joe Colletti, Phil Heffer with 87pts Adger Brown, Rob McNamara, Stephen Griffiths, David Newham with 87pts Dave Beasant, Craig Clarke, Billy Phillips, Shane Long with 87pts Nick Edwards, Dan Cook, Steve Macrossen, Paul Eagle with 87pnts
Jamie’s Annual Charity Day Pro-Am On Friday 27th March Jamie had his Annual Charity Pro-Am at The Grove, which was in incredible condition. We were very lucky to stay dry the whole way round, despite the forecast being set for rain all day. Perhaps the two Sunshine Coaches on display kept the rain away! I am delighted to say that in addition to the 2 Sunshine Coaches worth £121,000 which were presented to two Special Needs Schools based in Barnet (The Orange Tree School and The Northway School) we then raised an additional £26,000 from the event so a grand total including the costs of the Coaches, makes an amazing total of £147,000 raised for our charity - Variety Golf. A very special mention and big thanks to Variety member Paul Boyle of Sherwood who very kindly sponsored the event. The scoring was really close and the prize winners were as follows: Leading Teams 1st - 90 pts Simon Khan, Mark Pears, Gerard Cohen, Ashley Whitby 2nd - 88 pts Scott Bailey, Daniel Rubin, Dan Bourne, Robert Craigs 3rd - 88 pts Matt Cort, Mark Muddiman, Philip Baker, Mark Ramprakash Leading Pros 1st - Simon Khan & Steven Brown with 66pts (6 under) 3rd - Sam Little with 67pts (5 under) 4th - David Griffiths, Daniel Brooks & Paul Nessling with 68pts (4 under) 7th - Jamie Little, Chris Gane, Tom Shadbolt, Dale Whitnell with 69pts (3 under)
Spring Masters at Walton Heath On Thursday April 2nd we were at Walton Heath for our Variety Spring Masters and although the greens at Walton Heath weren’t as quick or as true as Augusta National’s greens will be this week, we had a superb day, presented another Sunshine Coach and the Walton Heath famous Carvery did not disappoint! After golf we were delighted to present another Sunshine Coach to the nearby Cricket Green Special Needs School and this Coach was sponsored by funds raised at our 2025 Variety Christmas Lunch. Then after an incredible Carvery Lunch, Ian Irving helped us raise some more funds with a game of Heads & Tails and then we were entertained with a superb and funny Q&A with two of our Footballing legendary members Liam Brady & Alan Pardew. A big thanks to David Mattey & Lawrence Brown who very kindly sponsored the event. The final leader board looked like this: Individual
1st - Varun Chopra - 39 pts winner on countback. “The 2026 Variety Masters Champion” 2nd - Mark Ramprakash - 39 pts 3rd - Ian Watson - 39 pts Team Scores 1st - 88 pts: Dave Beasant, Robin Stock, Daniel Sims, Ian Watson 2nd- 88 pts: Ronnie Irani, David Mattey, Lawrence Brown, Robert Goldstein 3rd - 86 pts: Tony Negal, Steve Smith, Terry Berry, Clive Waddington
The Bucks Invitational On Thursday, April 17th, we returned to The Buckinghamshire for the first time in seven years for our Variety Golf - The Bucks Invitational. The sun was shining on us all day thankfully and despite some challenging conditions the course was in fantastic condition and a superb day. After the round, The Buckinghamshire hosted us incredibly well with an excellent BBQ Lunch followed by some incredible tricks from our ‘Magic Man’ David Redfearn and his glamourous assistant Neil Bookatz. And then a big thanks to Gary & Claire Davis who then presented their first Variety Sunshine Coach to The Beaucroft Foundation School based in Dorset (pictured above). A massive thank you to our event sponsors Dominic Trigg and Gary Davis who are both Variety Golf members and members of The Buckinghamshire. The final leaderboard looked like this…. Team Scores 1st - 84 pts Mark Muddiman, Phil Baker, Mitchell Sydee & Rob McNamara 2nd - 81 pts David Pears, James Frener, Ashley Whitby & Steve Coppell 3rd - 79 pts Martin Rose, Mike French, Daniel Dias & Dave Beasant 4th - 78 pts Harry Hutchinson, Jim Fox, Bill Macklin & Jimmy Norman 5th - 78 pts Laurence Saffer, Daniel Sims, Neil Bookatz & Lawrie Sanchez Individual Scores 1st Phil Baker (37pts), 2nd Ray Nash (36pts), 3rdJeremy Curtis (36pts) 4th Alan Pardew (35pts)
Variety Golf Celebrity-Am On Friday April 24th we were at Thorndon Park GC for our Variety Golf Celebrity-Am. The weather was absolutely perfect, the course was in great condition and what a stunning layout. We also had an incredible coach presentation which reminds us of why we raise money for these amazing Special Needs Schools and what they do to support the children is simply incredible. A Sunshine Coach was presented to The Kingsdown School based in Southend.
Final Leaderboard The final team scores looked like this: First Place (91pts) Justin Seal, Jess Rider, Jack Bryne & Jim Hall Second Place - (90pts) Terry Mancini, Ian Watson, Robin Stock & Peter Weston Third Place -
(85pts) David Redfearn, Peter Little, Mark Heading &
Jamie Little Fourth Place - (84pts) Lawrie Sanchez, Rob Brown, Marc Dodd & Derry Thompson Fifth Place (78pts) Paul Walsh, Steve Middleton, Paul Kelly & Doug Covil
Variety Mixed Pro-Am at Sundridge Park GC On Friday, May 1st, we were at Sundridge Park GC in Bromley for our Variety Mixed Pro-Am and the sun was shining all day for us out on the golf course and whilst we were presenting 3 Sunshine Coaches to 3 very special SEN schools based in Kent. We had 12 Pro-Am teams hosted by a Lady Tour Pro and 12 Pro-Am Teams hosted by a Male Tour Pro and Dame Laura Davies was the Ladies Captain and Paul Way was the Men’s Captain. The condition of the golf course was by far the best conditioned we have played all year and the greens were Augusta quick!! The Men’s Team won the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ by just a mere 4 points in total and the Final Team and Pro Leaderboards looked like this: Teams 1st (88pts) Pro – Jemma Adams, Steve Middleton, Eddie McGloughlin, Douglas Covil 2nd (88pts) Pro – Richard McEvoy, Tommy White, Lee Fermi, Martin Dennis 3rd (85pts) Pro – Van Phillips, Martin Gigg, Mark Norton, Min Patel 4th (84pts) Pro – Jamie Little, Alan Pickrell, John Beagley, David Redfearn 5th (83pts) Pro – Alfie Plant, Rolf Nuijens, David Spooner, Greg Atack
Pros Individual 1st - 68 (-3) Andrew Marshall 2nd - 70 (-1) Raymond Russell 3rd - 71 (par) Richard McEvoy, Jamie Little, Alfie Plant & Annabel Dimmock 4th - 72 (+1) Robert Dinwiddie
Variety Golf Pairs Trophy at Beaconsfield Golf Club On Wednesday 6th May we returned to the stunning Beaconsfield Golf Club for our annual Variety Pairs Trophy kindly Sponsored by Alan Bird & Century Financial Planning. The weather was kind to us and the golf was in superb condition and after golf our event sponsor and Variety Golf member Alan Bird of Century Financial Planning presented his first Sunshine Coach to The Dysart Special School who came along with some children to collect the Coach. It was a lovely presentation and the children told us how excited they were as their first trip in the Sunshine Coach will be to Centre Parcs his weekend brilliantly before we called out the prize-winners.
After a delicious lunch, Adger Brown kept us entertained
The Team leaderboard was very close with the top four teams all scoring 88 points. 1st - 88pts Neil Baker, Dave Cresswell, Colin Day & Tim Hoiles 2nd - 88pts Ronnie Irani, Peter Berry, Alan Bird & Frank Forward 3rd - 88pts Daniel Sims, Roger Feist, Michael Budgen & Stuart Williams 4th - 88pts Dave Beasant, Laurence Saffer, Jamie Little & Peter Little The Pairs Trophy was aptly won by the event & coach sponsors of the day Alan Bird and his partner Frank Forward. 1st - 48pts Alan Bird & Frank Forward 2nd- 45pts Michael Budgen & Stuart Williams 3rd - 44 pts Tony Rosenberg & Joel Shields 4th - 44 pts Jamie Little & Peter Little
The Inaugural Kipp Popert World Invitational at The London Golf Club
On Monday, May 11th, we were at The London Club for the Inaugural Kipp Popert World Invitational event. We had 18 teams competing, and in each team of four we had a World G4D Disability Golfer. The G4D golfers were mostly pros from across the globe including South Africa, USA, Canada, Spain, Cameroon, Italy, Ireland and many more. After Golf we presented three Sunshine Coaches to three Special Needs Schools. The first Coach was donated by our amazing and long-standing Variety member, Alan Robinson, who presented his 41st Sunshine Coach – huge thanks as always to Alan and his company Robinson Jackson Estate Agents. The second was very kindly sponsored by our 2 Coach suppliers and Variety Golf members – Justin Seal of HTC and Jess Rider & Jack Bryne of Stanford Coachworks.
Austin Foster, Issa Nlareb, Brendan Lawlor, Juan Postigo and Kipp Popert and (below) Max Togisala The 3rd Coach was jointly sponsored by the eight corporate sponsors of the Kipp Popert World Invitational event – Scott Sumner of Olivers Mill, Jon King of UFG, Zak Summerscale, The Summerscale Foundation, Justin Seal of HTC, Martin Jepson of ERGO, Saheed Rashid of BXTA, Billy Wells of BWJW Ltd and Spenser Mills of Drakemoor. The final leaderboard looked like this: Teams 1st - Chris Foster – Ziggy Seagroatt, Danny Stockley, Rob Hunt (85pts) 2nd - Brad Smith – Mark Lahiff, Andrew Henderson, Dave Courtney (84pts) 3rd - Juan Postigo – Spenser Mills, David Holt, Robert Perry (84pts) 4th - Issa Nlareb - Zak Summerscale, Rod Loy, Richard Hancock (83pts) G4D – Individual 1st - Kipp Popert – 68 (-4) 2nd - Brendan Lawlor – 72 (par) 2nd - Johan Kammerstad – 72 (par)
After Lunch we had Jonny Gould hosting our Charity Auction. He was on top form and raised over £65,000 from the auction alone. With all the other fundraising parts to the event, we raised in excess over £100,000 which is just incredible considering it was the first year of the event.
Variety Golf Summer Charity Lunch – don’t miss this one!
Please see the attached flyer about our Summer Lunch at the Dorchester on Thursday July the 9th. This will be another great event – entertaining, great food, great company - and, of course, with the purpose of raising even more funds for the very special children we support. Do get in touch with Jamie as early as possible to secure your table or places! Thanks to everyone for their support so far this season. If you need any further information about our events, please refer to our website or call Jamie on 07801 098101
MEDBURN LANE, WATLING STREET, HERTS, WD6 3AA TEL: 07801 098101. E-MAIL: JAMIE@VARIETYGOLF.ORG.UK WEBSITE: WWW.VARIETYGOLF.ORG.UK