Top award for fundraiser Cole

Chris Cole has been awarded the Toby Sunderland Award for his fundraising efforts in aid of the Charlie Bear Cancer Care Fund.

The charity, based at Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, is very close to Cole’s heart. Since 2011, the 53-year-old Beamish Park professional has raised a magnificent £52,600 for the children’s charity.

And he didn’t need motivating to start his campaign because he’d spent 100 days in the same hospital fighting and winning his own battle against the disease.

Coles' fundraising efforts saw him presented with the Toby Sunderland Award at the Regional Members' Meeting for the PGA North region at Huddersfield Golf Club on February 8.

“We used to run a small charitable golf day at the club but after my recovery I returned to work and decided to enlarge the event,” explained Cole, who played in most PGA North Region competitions until the turn of the century.

He’s been incumbent at the County Durham club for nearly 31 years but he has no immediate plans to retire.

“I just keep working!” he grinned. “The charity day which is held in July gets bigger and bigger and I’ve already signed up 27 teams.

“Jim Cockburn, one of the club’s long-standing members who is an accountant, runs the event with me.”