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Businesses and sports celebrities returned to the golf course this week to support a North East based international children’s charity. Stars including Ben Stokes and Kriss Akabusi joined 25 teams for the Steve Cram Celebrity Golf Day at Slaley Hall, raising around £21,000 for COCO (Comrades of Children Overseas). The funds will help support communities in Kenya to get back to school and work after the challenges that the pandemic has brought.
COCO was co-founded by Steve Cram and British Army Major Jim Panton in 2000. The charity works with communities in remote regions of the developing world that provide children with access to the education that is essential for a good start in life. COCO works with partners to invest in small, sustainable, community led initiatives that can make a big difference at a local level.
The annual Steve Cram Celebrity Golf Day is one of COCO’s key fundraising events and its absence in 2020 had a big impact on the work of the charity. Thanks to the support of businesses from throughout the region, and further afield, the event returned this week, backed by sponsors Grosvenor Casino, Slaley Hall, Laneberg Wines, Blackstorm Brewery, Middlemiss Embroidery, KSD, and HowieWhite Resourcing. Along with Ben Stokes and Kriss Akabusi, other sports celebrities who turned out to raise money for COCO included TV presenter Manish Bhasin, and cricketers Phil Mustard, Neil Killeen and Matthew Potts.
Lucy Philipson, CEO of COCO, comments: “We were so pleased to be able to host the Steve Cram Celebrity Golf Day again and absolutely delighted with the response from businesses and sports stars. After such a difficult time for everyone, it was hugely encouraging to have 25 teams out there raising money for COCO. Those funds will make a big difference for young people in Kenya who have been deprived of access to education during the pandemic. Thank you to everyone who contributed to make sure that the golf day could go ahead, and helped us raise such a great total.”
To find out more about the work of COCO visit www.coco.org.uk, find the charity on Facebook or follow @COCO_Charity on Twitter.