Members keen to help ‘King Jimmy’ More than £4k raised in first 24 hours of campaign
The togetherness and spirit shown to fight back against the coronavirus crisis has been heartening for all associated with King James VI Golf Club.
These are tough times for courses across the country with fairways remaining eerily quiet and clubhouse bars absent of cheery - or not so cheery - golfers dissecting their performance.
While the closure of clubs in Scotland has brought unavoidable financial concerns, those with a passion for the game are clubbing together more than ever before.
That is certainly the case at the historic and muchloved King James VI whose successful introduction of a crowdfunding page has left committee members bursting with pride.
The ‘Keeping King Jimmy’ page was started to help alleviate the loss of income and, within 24 hours, more than £4000 had been raised.
Club captain David Angus was taken aback by the generosity and is full of belief that the club will come through this challenging situation stronger.
“Year to year we wash our faces and not much more, to be honest,” Mr Angus said. “We are not rich in reserves, but the history is rich and the members are a tight bunch.
“You don’t know what everyone’s situation is. People may have lost their jobs or will not be getting paid the same. So is it fair to ask them to dip into their pockets?
“We thought the best thing to do was for people to give us what they think they can.
“I’m really buoyant and encouraged by the support we have been getting and the positive messages from the membership about what we are doing.
“We have a website up and running on crowdfunding called Keeping King Jimmy.
“We started it on Tuesday morning and had a few members putting money in beforehand.
“We were at £1000 when it opened and by Tuesday night at 9pm we had reached more than £4000. Hopefully that figure will keep moving up nicely.
“Everyone has been commenting, saying how they feel proud to be part of King James VI.”
An army of volunteers have also been quick to chip in with any required maintenance to keep the course looking fresh, all completed in line with government guidelines.
“There is nothing pretentious about us as a club,” Mr Angus continued. “We are honest, love our golf but also like to socialise. The membership is really close.
“When we first started calling for volunteers people kept coming back to put themselves forward.
“We asked for volunteers to look at the bunkers because they were becoming really weedy. There has been great spirit shown, really positive stuff.
“When you walk down to the club, it’s looking fresh and nice.”
The playing of golf has resumed in England but, north of the border, clubs continue to wait patiently for the green light.
Mr Angus said: “It’s a pity we can’t get any golf played at the minute, but I think we’re maybe two or three weeks away from that.
“We have a plan in place. It will be going out in twos and you won’t be able to just rock up and play. It will be members only to begin with.
“As soon as we feel we’re safe to handle what we’re being asked to do by the government, we’ll be open and be ready to play golf.
“We will come through this a lot stronger and more together than we’ve ever been before. And we will celebrate that when we get back, I can assure you.”
Visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/keeping-king-jimmy to donate. The overall figure had smashed through the £7000 mark when the PA went to print yesterday.
Everyone has been commenting on how proud they feel to be part of King James VI