A sunny day at Sunningdale
WITH the sun shining so marvellously on Wednesday, what better day could have arisen to bunk off work, in order to dodge some bunkers, on the green fairways of Sunningdale golf club in Berkshire.
City and celebrity players alike turned out in their plus fours for the 15th Tullow Oil charity golf day.
Besides the enjoyable “I’m on a golf course – not deskbound – haha” bragging rights, players were there to raise money for the annual event’s beneficiary charity, CLIC Sargent.
In total over £168,000 was raised for the charity, which provides support for cancer sufferers and their families.
Rugby player Nick Easter, who was playing with Stephen Bristow from Citi, said: “I had a fantastic day but unfortunately my team probably had the record for the highest amount of non-scoring holes, the record for the shortest drive, and the record for furthest from the pin.”
Sir Steve Redgrave’s team led the celebrity pack finishing the round one under par, and his group also won the overall team competition.
Ian Springett, chief financial officer of Tullow Oil, was left dazzled by Redgrave’s sporting prowess, afterwards commenting: “Steve is not only an excellent rower but an excellent putter as well.”
However Jeff Knight, chief executive of Knight Security, had a little more trouble with his golfing partner: “Playing with Kenny Dalglish was amazing but we could have done with an interpreter at times to understand his golfing advice – that’s why we missed so many putts.”
While most definitely being all in favour of Inspiring Women, the topic of a conference that The Capitalist was invited to yesterday, one nevertheless had to pause for laughter while reading this particular agenda. With speakers including Charlotte Crosswell, president of Nasdaq OMX, The Capitalist had high hopes of serious debate, until inspecting the programme a little more carefully. Sessions on offer were touted as “Nice Girls Don’t Ask”, “The Power of Sheconomics” and “Why Still So Lonely at the Top?” The Capitalist couldn’t help but wonder if this was a genuine gender equality mission, or an early April Fool.
For anybody escaping the City this weekend, for business not pleasure mind you, The Capitalist would advise taking heed from the selection of “most bizarre travel requests” compiled by Travelodge. All were made by fellow businessmen and women while jetsetting for work. In times of a recession it may not be wise to ask loudly at the concierge desk: “Can we land a helicopter on the roof of the hotel?” Or indeed: “Can my Shetland Pony stay in my room with me?” However The Capitalist particularly enjoyed the final obscure request. Surely senior bankers aren’t so out of touch these days, that “can I use my Oyster card to book a limousine?” could be genuine?