Friday 8th July 2011

One of the smallest schools in Derbyshire has finished top of the class in one of the country's biggest golf competitions.



Osmaston CE Primary School, in Ashbourne, only has 118 pupils, but their team of 10 (above) emerged victorious from a competition which has featured more than 8,000 youngsters from 42 counties.

The school came through the regional qualifying stages to represent East Midlands in the final of the Golf Roots Primary School competition at Loughborough University.

The finalists had to pit their Tri Golf skills against 10 other regional qualifiers in the finale to the Golf Foundation's largest ever British school golf project.

The competition puts the emphasis on both golfing and life skills. As well as testing their long-game and chipping and putting skills, players have to display the 'Skills for Life' that golf promotes, including respect, co-operation, honesty and perseverance.

Lorraine Simpson-Allsop, PE coordinator at the school, said she was delighted that the children's hard work had paid off in the final.

"It is such a wonderful feeling to have achieved this as the children at Osmaston are very committed and dedicated to their sport and they deserve this win so much," she said.

The school is building links with Ashbourne Golf Club and has run an after school club, coordinated through the Derbyshire Golf Schools Golf Programme.

Added Lorraine, who was helped with the team by parent Victoria Clarke and Sally Benn, junior development officer at Ashbourne GC: "We teach Tri Golf as part of our curriculum now and the children really enjoy it. The activities are fantastic as children of all ages can take part and they are quick paced and exciting.

"The whole event was well organised and I am sure it was a day the children will never forget."

Nigel Furniss, county development officer for Derbyshire Golf, said: "Congratulations to Lorraine and her team for a wonderful achievement.

"Tri Golf is a great way to get primary school children involved in golf and building links between schools and clubs is a way of introducing the benefits of both the sport and golf club membership to the next generation. It is fantastic to see that our investment in the Derbyshire schools golf programme is beginning to reap rewards."

Golf Roots is run by leading golf charity the Golf Foundation and aims to reach one million youngsters a year by 2013.

The programme works to create sustainable links between schools and golf clubs and driving ranges in support of the national plans for the development of the game in England, Scotland and Wales.

Mike Round, Chief Executive of the Golf Foundation, said: "This was a fantastic day for all the youngsters present, who were all winners as they had progressed so well through to this national final. We would like to thank all the people at local level, including young volunteers, teachers, PGA professionals, partnership managers and also the Youth Sport Trust, who are all working with us as we help to increase participation numbers in schools.

"Following our Tri-Golf and Golf Xtreme initiatives golf has become one of ten 'priority sports' in schools and that is a great achievement when less than a decade ago many teachers and head teachers thought golf to be elitist and unworkable in schools. Over 10,000 teachers, volunteers and PGA coaches have been trained over the last five years.

"It was perhaps fitting that in the week before The Open Championship itself, these boys and girls were so clearly demonstrating all the attributes needed to be a national champion."

Golf Roots has some heavyweight support from The R&A, The European Tour, the Ryder Cup, the PGA, the BGIA, England Golf and Sport England. A further amount of money has been made available from the Ryder Cup Trust.

The Derbyshire Golf Partnership is a collaboration of a number of stakeholders in the sport including the English Golf Union, The English Women's Golf Association, the PGA, the Golf Foundation and Sport England.

In Derbyshire the partnership is supported by the Derbyshire Ladies County Golf Association, the Derbyshire Union of Golf Clubs and the Derbyshire PGA.

For more details of the activities in Derbyshire visit www.derbyshiregolf.org

For more information on the work of the Derbyshire Golf Partnership contact Nigel Furniss, County Development Officer, Derbyshire County Golf Partnership by looking at the website at www.derbyshiregolf.org or call Mobile 0787 1260430 or email: nigel.furniss@derbyshiregolf.org

To learn more about Golf Roots and the Golf Foundation call 01992 449830 or see the website above

For media information on the Golf Foundation call Ben Evans on 01747 820384 or 07789 722853.

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