London, 28th May 2010 – GamesAid, the video games industry based charity, is delighted to announce the 3rd Annual Golf & Spa Day fundraiser, organised by Gem Distribution, was an overwhelming success.
Representatives from publishing, retail, and development gathered together with last year’s chosen charities at The Grove in Watford in a sell-out event raising over £50,000.
The event, sponsored by Gem, Logitech, The Hut Group, THQ, Xbox 360, and MCV, saw 135 people take part in the golf and more than 150 attend the evening’s dinner. A video was shown featuring the charities and individuals GamesAid has helped in the past year before prizes were awarded for the day’s golfing, and a live auction for a signed England shirt donated by SCE UK, which raised £2,500.
Richard Stickler, GamesAid Trustee, said: “I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the sponsors and everyone who took part in the event making it such an enormous success. I’m immensely proud to see the real difference events like this make when the money’s put to work”. He added: “Special thanks to Louise Powell and Emilie George for raising £2,500 selling golf balls and mulligans throughout the day, and the Promotional girls and HoneyandLime.com cocktail bar who donated their services raising £650 from cleaning dirty balls”.
Tony Samuel, Head of Fundraising and Communications for Winston’s Wish, added: “Every pound raised will make a huge difference. GamesAid has been a fantastic supporter of Winston’s Wish and the other charities here. On behalf of all the children and families that will benefit: many, many thanks”.
Rupert Loman, GamesAid Trustee, said: “Thanks to Gem, the Golf & Spa day sponsors, and everyone who attended the event, an astonishing amount of money has been raised for GamesAid. Nominations and voting will soon begin to allow the games industry to decide which causes GamesAid will support in 2010.”
Chris Peacock, Group Director of Gem, added: “This is a great endorsement for the industry. Every publisher, distributor, and retailer has been represented here and together we’ve achieved something truly amazing. My sincere thanks to everyone involved”.
Tickets and Sponsorship packages for next year’s event will go on sale shortly. GamesAid politely remind everyone that these sell out extremely quickly.
The charities supported by GamesAid this year, who also attended the event were: Willow Foundation, Special Effects, Winston’s Wish, Action for Kids, and the Royal Hospital for Neuro Disability.