Padraic’s legacy gives hope to the less fortunate

GOLF can be a passion, an obsession, a romance, a close acquaintance with trees, sand and water. It’s really a walk on the wild side and, I suppose you could say, we have used it to our advantage.

In 1996, Padraic Sweeney and the Society hosted the first Kidney Research charity day at Ruddington Grange. By then, Padraic, who came from Doohoma, near Belmullet in County Mayo, had started to struggle with his own health, sadly dying in 2000 but his legacy has lived on.

It has helped the Society raise over £200,000, some of which has been donated to the Renal Units at the Nottingham City Hospital, the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar which received 40,000 euros to buy three new dialysis machines. Numerous other worthy causes, and some people less well off than the rest of us, have also benefited from monies raised, thanks to the generosity of Ruddington Grange Golf Club, who give the course free, McCanns Lighting, who sponsor the event every year, and those who have supported the competition by playing in it on the last Bank Holiday Sunday in May every year.