A lesson in humility and gratitude

I have been absolutely blown away by the generosity of our members at The Hertfordshire Golf & Country Club. We (My wife Karon and I) have held several fundraisers for Macmillan in recent years and the support they give us every single year is absolutely humbling.

In total, including preparation and planning, it generally takes 9 months to put on these events. I know it probably seems easy, but there's always lots of niggling things that need to be done, whether it's preparing supports for the signs, getting the various website pages (my own blog page on Gibboblog.uk or the JustGiving page) or ensuring that everything is linked up with Macmillan, it all just takes time and effort.

There is always the anxiety that we're putting in all this effort (and no little expense!) to create an event that no-one turns up to. But of course, and as usual - the members (and a few special guests - of which more later!) did us proud. And how!

With a name like The Hertfordshire Golf & Country Club, (and for some, an outdated view of what golf clubs are like) it might seem like we are a golf club inhabited by rich types with lots of money to spread around.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that we are a bunch of ordinary working people. We do indeed have the occasional accountant or Doctor, but their cars in the car park are vastly outnumbered by trade vans and lorries. It's quite a unique club in my experience - no-one actually cares who is good at golf or not. How you are viewed by your fellow members has more to do with whether you are an enjoyable companion during a round or a good laugh after it.

Last year, we had 74 players and thought we'd done well. This year, they turned out in their droves - all 104 of them !!

What's more, we published the address of the Just Giving site (and my own dedicated blog page) 3 weeks before the event. It's always tricky to get the timing of the event right. Captain's Day is a huge event at any club and it landed just 3 weeks before our event. Ordinarily I'd do a 5-week lead up to the event but I didn't want to take away from the Captain's Day so we didn't do any publicity until the day after it had finished.

Despite that, 6 days before the event, all available spaces for the event were taken. Astonishing ! We even had a few non-members who were paying a lot of money to enter the event but they did so enthusiastically and without a murmur.

So we arrived at the day of the event, and it was arma-bloody-geddon!! As the first group went out, the rain lashed down for 5 minutes giving the impression that someone in heaven had just emptied their saintly bath. When the 4th group was going out, a storm cell came straight over our heads and thunder and lighting almost brought play to a halt. If I had been compelled to sound the airhorn and bring people in off the course, that would have been it - there's no way I could have got them back on the course.

Happily though, the storm cell passed through and we got everyone out - including one very special group ! My wife Karon and I obviously played together. But we were absolutely overjoyed to be joined by our "surrogate daughter" and her partner.

Along with Karon, Natasha is the centre of my universe. She keeps me grounded, stays in touch with me every single week and she makes all the crap I have to go through in dealing with the leukaemia, chronic pain and dementia, bearable.

So - how did it all go?

Well - beyond anything I could have hoped for ! By the day of the event (so before we had actually collected any money on the day), we had £2,200 pledged on the Just Giving page. Incredible ! So how much more were we going to get on the day?

I had incredible help for the event from so many people but I must make mention of one special lady. Polly Burnett lost her mother a couple of years ago. She has worked with me on these events ever since and she is my absolute dynamo on the day.

On top of her majestic efforts to raise money for us, Polly even baked her own special cakes (and I have two things to report to you - they were very expensive and absolutely delicious!!!!)

There's no way we could adequately thank Polly for all her efforts. We presented her with a bouquet of flowers but that seemed hopelessly inadequate given how much work she put in for us.

Before I tell you the final amount raised, I just want to say a few words about why I support Macmillan. As you all know, I have been fighting chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) for more than 9 years alongside fighting debilitating chronic pain (there's plenty of blog posts on this site about that stuff!) and more recently dementia.

I am blessed to have the devoted and loving support of my wife Karon, Natasha and my family. But anyone who is fighting cancer will tell you that it is just a long, hard, depressing slog. You lose your sense of who and what you are as your life becomes nothing more than a constant round of treatment, assessment and recovery. I know that my variant of leukaemia is terminal and there is no cure. All we can do is slow down my inevitable deterioration and that brings its own layer of anxiety, depression and introspection.

Throughout my journey, from Day One, Macmillan have been at my side and on my side. They have held my hand, given me information, given me support and dried my tears.

I am under no illusion that without Macmillan, I would not still be here to continue this fight and write these blogs. That is why I support them. For everything they do for me and everyone else.

So ! Monday was counting day and this is what we had to count.

It took us an hour just to sort it all. Even the stray 5 dollar bill which had somehow found its way into the tin, presumably looking for a nice new home !

In 2023, we raised an incredible £4,200 and I knew right from the start, it would be impossible to beat that this year. But...if you want to see what happened and how much we raised - watch the video below!

https://youtu.be/7E5JALa1eew

So, we are incredibly grateful to so many people as noted in the film.

To raise so much money was beyond our wildest dreams and it will do so much for so many people. It will change lives.

So, thank you to everyone who donated, helped and contributed to such a ridiculously successful day. You have made a difference to ordinary people.

Ordinary people...like me.

This year's appeal is still open for another week or so and all donations are gratefully received. You can find our Just Giving page by clicking here

Mike Gibson is fundraising for Macmill