Golf – foodbank benefits from Seniors Open

East Lothian Foodbank, part of a UK network dedicated to alleviating food poverty and hunger in the local communities, has been named as official charity to the Scottish Senior Open.

The tournament will be played at Craigielaw Golf Club, East Lothian, from September 14-16 and admission is free on all three days but car parking will be charged at £5 for a solo driver and £10 per car with two or more occupants with all proceeds going to East Lothian Foodbank, part of the Trussell Trust’s network of 428 foodbanks across the U.K.

The first 36 holes of the £250,000 tournament, which began in 1993 and has been played every subsequent year, will be contested in the Alliance Pro-Am format (amateur players paired with a professional). The final round on Sunday, September 16 will be for pros only, with the winner taking home a cheque for £37,500.

This will be the fourth consecutive year that the Scottish Senior Open has been contested in East Lothian, home to many of the country’s top golf courses.

The event was won at Renaissance Club in 2017 by England’s Paul Broadhurst, who also triumphed at Archerfield Links in 2015, with fellow Englishman Paul Eales taking the title at Archerfield in 2016.

Tranent-based East Lothian Foodbank, was set up in direct response to local need and opened in October 2012. Based in the Old Library in Tranent, East Lothian Foodbank fed a total of 4409 people in the East Lothian area during the 12 months from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.

In one month recently, 176 three-day emergency food parcels were distributed – a total of 3428kg of food – feeding 346 people of whom one-third were children.

Peter Dicker, manager of the East Lothian Foodbank, said: “Our objective is the relief of poverty in the East Lothian Community and every pound collected is precious in our mission to help people experiencing severe hunger.

“The Foodbank was by former East Lothian MP, Fiona O’Donnell, as a direct response to local need. There was, and still is, a growing number of people experiencing severe food poverty and we aim to alleviate this challenge through dependable emergency supplies accessible to people on their own, single parents and schoolchildren to persons released from custody requiring assistance.”

A total of 13,000,000 people live below the poverty line and in the last year the Trussell Trust gave 1,332,952 three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis.

Councillor John McMillan, East Lothian Council spokesperson for Economic Development and Tourism, said: “It is fantastic that a charity like East Lothian Foodbank will be the benefactor of the event, meaning spectators can turn up to enjoy some great golf in a wonderful setting, knowing they’re helping some of the most vulnerable in our society.”