Sportsmans Charity, Edinburgh, Scotland

The Sportsman's Charity Dinner

Prestonfield House Hotel

Friday 3rd February 2017

2017 Sportsmans Charity Dinner

The 35th Sportsman’s Charity Dinner was celebrated on Friday 3rd February 2017 at Prestonfield, Edinburgh with 450 guests partaking in a prize draw and silent auction while being superbly wined and dined and then entertained by an excellent line up of speakers, all hosted by our master of ceremonies, Dougie Donnelly.

The Sportsman’s Charity was delighted to have as the main sponsor of the 2017 Dinner, Scotia Security Group, a locally based business engaged in the design, manufacture and installation of physical security and fraud prevention products for the banking and ATM industries.

The speakers were all very well received and our thanks are due to them.

  • Steve Backley, the world record holder for the javelin and now BBC athletics commentator
  • Fergus Slattery, the former Ireland and Lions wing forward
  • Al Kellock, the former Glasgow and Scotland rugby captain, Fergus and Al doing a Q&A with Dougie Donnelly
  • And, last but by no means least, the immensely entertaining Brian Blessed OBE. It is safe to say that the Dinner has never heard anything to equal Brian’s performance – Shakespeare, singing and, of course, “Gordon’s Alive!”

Willie Hunter expertly conducted a very successful main auction during the evening, the lots including a Denis Ribas painting auctioned for Teenage Cancer Trust, a weekend sailing for 12 with Ocean Youth Trust, a VIP day at stable yards at Newmarket and racing at Ascot, dinner for 10 at Prestonfield with Ann Budge and Craig Levein and a Macnab Challenge.

The main two “Featured Charities” for the evening were Ocean Youth Trust and The Drum Riding for the Disabled.

Other charities to benefit from funds raised at the Dinner include Cystic Fibrosis Holiday Fund, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Horseback UK, The Hearts & Balls Charitable Trust, Combat Stress and The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh among others.

The invoices are still being issued and received and payments being received and made. This report will be updated to confirm the amount of the funds raised from the Dinner once all of the sums have been done.

Forthcoming Events

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Latest News

Sportsman's at Home - Euros 2021

We are delighted that long time friend of the Charity Dougie Donnelly has agreed to Chair our Euro 2021 virtual event on Friday 23rd April where he will take charge of our panel Shelley Kerr MBE, John Collins and Dave McPherson.  Promises to be an excellent evening, hope you can make it.

 

 

Sportsman's at Home - Six Nations Warm-up

We were delighted to hold our first virtual event on the eve of the Calcutta Cup (5th Feb) and are very grateful to our panel of Jim Hamilton, Alex King, Nathan Hines and Chris Paterson who were expertly herded by our Chairman Al Kellock. 

If you were one of the large number who attended, thank you.  If you weren't, stay in touch and we will let you know what our next event is going to be shortly.

Our Second Charity Ambassador

The Directors of The Sportsman's Charity are very pleased to be able to announce that one of the UK's favourite comedians, Simon Evans has agreed to become our second ambassador. 

Appointment of our First Charity Ambassador

We are delighted to announce that Chris Paterson MBE has been appointed as The Sportsman's Charity's first ambassador.  

 

Event photos

Photo galleries available for recent events :-

The Sportsman's Charity Dinner 2020

The Sportsman's Charity Dinner 2019

Halloween SCREAM Ball 2018

 

2020 Charity Dinner

A very successful Sportsman’s Charity Dinner 2020 was held at Prestonfield on Friday 7th February 2020 on the eve of the Scotland v England Calcutta Cup match, the main sponsors being Carbon Financial Partners and Prestonfield House.

The dinner raised over £50,000. This allowed us to support both our featured charities, The Eve Appeal and Tom Smith Testamonial Fund along with many other charities.

For photos and more details of this event please look at the report in the Events section.