The Variety Club, in conjunction with Travis Perkins plc and the Staysure Tour, have this morning donated a new minibus to Woodlands Secondary School ahead of the 2018 Travis Perkins Masters at Woburn Golf Club.
Woodlands is a special needs provision for pupils from 11-19 with the vision to become widely recognised as a centre of excellence and expertise from which high-quality advice, guidance, support and resources will be accessible to all.
The donation of the minibus will aid the school in enhancing their ability to offer pupils work experience, take them on trips and assist in taking participants of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards to the necessary venues.
The presentation was made by John Carter, Chief Executive of Travis Perkins plc, and Jamie Little, Director of Golf for the Variety Club Golf Society, to Woodlands School headteacher Debbie Foolkes in front of a congregation of Staysure Tour members and personnel from Woburn Golf Club.
Mr Carter said: “This is our 11thyear of sponsoring the Travis Perkins Masters and the sun has come out for what’s going to be a great three days of golf.
“One of the things we wanted to do when we set the whole sponsorship up was to give something to the community. So what we do each year is give a Sunshine Variety Coach to a needing school in the local area. It was fabulous today to be able to give it to Woodlands School.
“I’ve got so many great moments that it would be difficult to name them. I do think giving the coach away to the schools each year has been a very big highlight for me and for the tournament.”
The Travis Perkins Masters is one of the biggest events on the Staysure Tour’s International Schedule, with thousands of fans flocking to Woburn Golf Club year after year.
Carter has expressed his pride of Travis Perkins’ long-term involvement in the event and has heaped praise on the organisation of the tournament.
“I don’t think there’s much better than being involved with real legends in my mind,” said Carter. “They are people we grew up with on the TV every week and to be able to come out and play with them – we’ve got a number of our senior and largest customers here today in the Pro-Am – and to be able to come out and play with them is brilliant.
“They’re still great players and they hit the ball beautifully. They’re so welcoming; they line putts up and really engage with the customers.
“It’s a quintessential English set-up here and the course at Woburn is just spectacular. The organisation is spotless and really fantastic.
“When we started the sponsorship, we always made it an objective to actually increase the crowds each year and drum up a good amount of excitement about the tournament in the Milton Keynes area.”
