Charity Golf Event Gives a Boost to Digital Inclusion

On 2 September, Virgin Media Business Wholesale held our first charity golf day at Woburn Golf Club, Buckinghamshire. Fifteen teams from our community of wholesale partners came to play golf, network and raise nearly £6,000 for charity.

We were fundraising for the Good Things Foundation, the UK’s leading digital inclusion charity. The foundation will use our donation to fund UK digital inclusion hubs which help vulnerable or excluded people to gain access to the digital world.

Woburn hosted the event on the Duke’s Course, a pine and chestnut-lined, 6971-yard course with a par of 72. After the round players enjoyed a drinks reception on the (briefly) sunlit terrace and a three-course dinner.

Founded in 2010, the Good Things Foundation provides devices, data, and training in local communities and has already helped over 3.5 million people globally.

“It's never been more important to be online,” Robert Shapiro, Partnerships and Fundraising manager at the charity, explains. “Yet in the UK, 8.5 million people lack essential digital skills.

“A sincere thank you to the Virgin Media Business Wholesale team and everyone who donated and took to the golfing fairway. Your generous donations and support will help members of our national digital inclusion network provide vital local digital support.”

PXC won the team stableford competition, with our Virgin Media Business Wholesale team claiming second and Giacom winning third place.

Mike Fleming from Redcentric won the Closest to the Pin contest and Lee Whalley from PXC won the Longest Drive.

The primary focus of the event, though, was bringing people together and raising funds for charity, and we were glad to welcome a mixed range of golfing abilities.

“It’s been a brilliant day,” Dale Parkinson MD, Connectivity of Giacom said. “Woburn is an incredible venue and the Virgin Media Business Wholesale team has been brilliant.”

“What better way to spend a (partially sunny) day than connecting with and building a strong community of partners and customers, whilst raising money for such as great cause?” asked Ciena’s Will Rhodes. “PXC were worthy winners despite the best attempts of the Ciena team.”

“We’ll definitely be back,” said Neil Wilson, Chief Product & Marketing director at PXC, “and I expect it will be bigger, better and bolder next year.”

That was an opinion shared by our Head of Business Partners Raza Baloch.

“It was good to see so many partners at our first event,” he said. “We’re looking forward to evolving the golf day, welcoming more partners and raising more money next year.”