Steve’s Supporter Story

Steve was first introduced to the Hospice in 2018 through his relationship with Sherfield Oaks Golf Club. St. Michael’s Hospice has been their chosen charity for three years in a row by their members desire to support the Hospice that had cared for their loved ones over the years. The members and friends of Sherfield Oaks Golf Club have raised an incredible £34,579 for St. Michaels Hospice from 2022-2023.

Steve was appointed Captain of the golf club throughout 2023 and the Hospice Fundraising team visited the club regularly to thank the members and provide more information about patient and family support and the impact their support provided to the Hospice and families across North Hampshire.

When we asked Steve if he had a personal connection to St. Michael’s Hospice, he said: “I have been around other hospices before, visiting relatives and partner’s relatives, but I have never known the scale of what hospices do before hearing the St. Michael’s team speak at our events.”

In the summer of 2023, on the longest day of the year, Steve set himself the golfing challenge of completing 99 holes in one day. This equated to 33 miles and raised an incredible £6,000 for the Hospice.

Every year, Sherfield Oaks holds a themed Captain’s Day! This year’s theme is books as their current Club Captain works in publishing, and everyone will be dressing as their favourite literary character on the 8 June to raise funds for the Hospice, with the day and including a charity auction.

When asked what gives Steve the motivation to take on these challenges, he said: “Knowing the support the Hospice provides to people and their families gives me the drive to keep going and pushing myself, because I know that whatever I put myself through is not as bad as what others at the Hospice are experiencing.”

Steve explained that he has always been a competitive and self-motivated person – when he sets his mind to it, there is little that will stop him! Steve takes pride in putting that drive to compete on someone else’s behalf. During his 99-hole challenge he carried out the course on his own, with over 40 people gathered on the green of his last hole to cheer him on.

This year, starting on the 2 July 2024, Steve has set himself the mammoth challenge of walking 99 miles between four of the Get Golfing Golf Clubs! Steve will start his route at 6am on Tuesday 2 July at Hampton Court Golf Club and will end at Sherfield Oaks Golf Club on the 3 July. During his route he will visit two Get Golfing Clubs, Pyrford and Winter Hill, plus the St. Michael’s Hospice shop in Tadley and the Hospice. He will be supported by other members of the Get Golfing community, friends, colleagues, and family.

When asked, why 99 holes last year and 99 miles this year, Steve said: “Well, at the time the Hospice had been open 33 years, and as a golf club we had supported the Hospice for 3 years, so 99 made sense. I did consider a challenge of 99 kilometres, but it didn’t seem long enough, so I upped it to miles!”

Some of Steve’s colleagues at Cirium will be walking the second stretch of 15 miles with him on the first day, and all donations will be match funded.

If you would like to support Steve in this massive challenge and help raise the much needed funds for St. Michael’s Hospice, please visit his JustGiving Page here.

Update: Sadly Steve was taken ill before his walk and had to make the difficult decision to delay his challenge.