SimpsInns 24hr Spinathon raises £3,500 for Children in Need

Staff from Ayrshire Golf Scotland founding member SimpsInns, raised an enormous total in their Children in Need fundraising efforts.

And what an effort it turned out to be from the team at Gailes Golf:Leisure who, along with great support from the members, raised a staggering £3,500 for Children in Need from their gruelling 24-hour Spinathon last Saturday.

There wasn’t blood, there was most definitely sweat and as far as we can tell there were no tears. Instead there was a fantastic team effort as everyone pulled together to raise a great amount for such a worthy cause.

The fundraising began with the dedicated Just Giving page which raised £390. On the day Children in Need buckets were on display at the Gailes Golf:Leisure reception beside the spin bikes and passers-by gave so generously to raise a further £1,350.

Even better news followed when SimpsInns owners Malcolm and Karen Simpson agreed to match whatever was raised. When the total therefore came to £3,480, Karen kindly added: “£3,500 sounds like a good round number!”

“I’m absolutely delighted with the total raised, I can’t believe how generous people have been,” said Sandra Hay, one of the Gailes Golf:Leisure instructors, who along with her colleagues and members clocked up many hours and miles on the bike.

“The legs were definitely hurting on Sunday but it was worth the effort!”

Simpsinns own and operate a number of quality hotels and restaurant operations across Ayrshire and are founding members of Ayrshire Golf Scotland. The hotels provide superb service for the visiting golfer and are owners of their own nine hole course and driving range at The Gailes Hotel in Irvine which is situated in the heart of Dundonald Links, Gailes Links and Western Gailes.

Read More about Gailes Hotel here

Trump Aviation Partners with Prestwick Airport

Along with the great and the good of the Scottish and national media Ayrshire and Arran Golf Partnership sat alongside golf club and hospitality businesses this morning to hear of the plans for a strategic alliance between Prestwick Airport and Trump Aviation Operations.

The announcement confirmed that Trump Aviation will utilise Prestwick Airport as the Scottish base for all of its aviation operations which include Trump's private Boeing 757 and Sikorsky 76B Helicopter and in making this announcement it will service the Trump Turnberry Resort in which a £250 million investment will transform Turnberry "into the finest resort in the world".

Donald Trump was quoted,

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Glasgow Prestwick Airport. They have a tremendous facility with a unique rich history. Their expert team and state of the art operation is perfectly aligned with our global client and member base that travel frequently to Scotland and to Trump Turnberry one of the most beautiful destinations anywhere and home to many of the finest golf resorts in the world."

Iain Cochrane CEO at the airport was delighted with the news,

" We are very excited to be working closely with the Trump Organisation going forward and are delighted that Prestwick has been chosen to be the European base for the Trump Sikorsky Helicopter. Forging a new partnership will undoubtedly be mutually beneficial to both parties however it will also bring significant opportunities for the region as more inbound visitors travel to visit the legendary Trump Turnberry Resort."

Donald Trump outlined some of his hopes for the future suggesting that hundreds of new private flights could be attracted to use Prestwick in the next two to three years. In addition he outlined some of the changes  ahead at Trump Turnberry including the creation of new world class Ballroom, the rebuilding of the golf clubhouse and the planned start date of 1st October 2015 of the reshaping of the Open Championship course including plans to upgrade the old Turnberry Lighthouse into the "world's greatest halfway house" and place the new ninth green adjacent to it making it a Par Three playing across the sea!

Mr Trump departed the press conference in his own inimitable style by bidding the press and industry a fond farewell and climbing the steps to his private jet before the grand opening of the massive hanger doors allowed the jet to be taxied to the runway.

And with that he was gone.

He left behind however a more motivated and optimistic airport team and a tourism sector that would clearly be joint beneficiaries to the new partnership.

Ayrshire is and always has been a wonderful location for golfing visitors from across the world and the opening up of new private charter business into the airport in association with Trump Turnberry will only reinforce the message that Ayrshire is Scotland's finest and most accessible golfing destination.

Whether you wish to arrive by ferry from Belfast, train from Manchester or by private just from New York it will always be "Our Golf Your Way!"

Dundonald Links Wins International Sustainability Award

Dundonald Links Golf Club in Ayrshire has secured the prestigious Environmental Sustainability Award at the International Association of Golf Tour Operators awards presented last week in Italy.

Golf courses in Scotland, Dubai, Puerto Rico and Portugal have been honoured in the second IAGTO Sustainability Awards, which reward excellence in the fields of environmental and social responsibility in the global golf tourism industry.

The awards were presented at a gala dinner marking the 15th annual IAGTO Awards in front of 1,500 industry professionals at Villa Erba, on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como, on the final night of the International Golf Travel Market.

Launched as a result of a strategic partnership between the world’s golf tourism trade organisation, IAGTO (International Association of Golf Tour Operators), and GEO (Golf Environment Organization), the Sustainability Awards have proved to be a huge catalyst in encouraging golf courses to register their environmental projects and the work that they are doing with local communities. This year’s awards have seen a huge leap in entries, with more than twice as many courses entering and embracing GEO’s sustainability programmes compared with the inaugural honours, presented last year in Costa Daurada, Spain.

As last year, the 2015 Sustainability Awards recognise four golf courses for their achievements in sustainability. There are three category winners and one overall winner:

Overall Winner of the Environmental Sustainability Award – Dundonald Links, Scotland
GEO Certified Dundonald Links has won the overall award due to exceptional management standards within golf’s sustainability issues – nature, water, energy, supply chain, pollution control and community. The club has demonstrated a deep, integrated commitment throughout all aspects of sustainability since opening in 2003 and is now recognised among the most progressive clubs in the world with its dedication to environmental and community initiatives.

Zero Waste, numerous and specific biodiversity projects, habitat improvements, “outdoor classrooms” for local schools, campaigns and partnerships with a large variety of local and national organisations, public nature trails with education boards, are among the many activities embedded in the culture of Dundonald Links.

Runners up for overall winner award were Machrihanish Dunes (Scotland), La Galiana (Spain) and Golf della Montecchia (Italy).