Camp Quality Charity Golf Day

By Jason Graham

WHEN most people in Australia think of Canberra their thoughts turn to Parliament House, politicians and public servants. 

But Canberra is much more than that!

Living in Canberra and raising a family in this beautiful city is a blessing and my wife Johanna and I would never relocate. We just love Canberra. 

Sure, winter can be a bit chilly in the mornings and summer can be extremely hot, but after being a business-owner for more than 30 years in the ACT one soon learns that the Canberra community has a very warm and “big country town feel”.

I make reference to this because small business has endured a great deal during the pandemic in Canberra.

And never have I experienced and witnessed small business and our community band together and help one another through these hard times.

As a business-owner, it feels like the people of Canberra had a big wakeup call due to Covid and there is a massive shift for us to support one another, buy local and offer help, support and assistance to any fellow Canberrans who need it.

The Camp Quality Charity Golf Day kicked off in 1996. That’s right, 26 years ago. It is organised by a local bloke Andrew Mills who lives just around the corner from my house in Kaleen. 

Touched first-hand by cancer when he was 19 years old, Andrew gratefully survived and when speaking with Millsy (as he is affectionately known among his friends) the one thing that stayed with him was the kids and families he met during his treatment in hospital. 

“I just always wanted to do something to help,” said Millsy. “And I didn’t do anything straight away but that feeling didn’t go away.” 

Andrew took on Finnigan’s Bar in Dickson in the 1990s so the opportunity arose to do some trivia nights to try and raise some money for Camp Quality. Long story short, that’s how it all started.

“The trivia nights were great fun and we raised a bit of money, but not much and I wanted to do more so I thought ‘why not a golf day’?” Andrew added. The funny thing is Millsy put an advertisement in the newspaper to find a major sponsor for the golf day and one of Canberra’s most renowned business owners, Graham Shaw of GE Shaw and Associates, at the time, and Shaw Wines now, reached out and offered $4000 to become the first major sponsor of the Camp Quality Charity Golf Day. 

What a thoughtless act of kindness from Graham to help kick off a local Canberra charity event and it is hard to believe that Millsy has been able to keep the charity event going for all these years. 

If you look at the photo you will also notice Millsy is much younger.

One of the driving forces in keeping the enthusiasm and passion up for Millsy organising the golf day has been his close relationship with Paralympian Tristan Knowles, who has represented Australia for almost two decades at four Paralympic Games and four World Championships. 

Tristan fought and beat cancer at the age of nine and again at 12 and his Aussie fighting spirit enabled him to be an inspiration to all kids and families that have faced adversity and illness in their lives.

Millsy is the unassuming, quintessential bloke next door who doesn’t seek thanks or accolades, but credit is due when credit is due. 

Millsy has raised more than $2-million for Camp Quality and kids with cancer and this is an amazing achievement. 

Millsy puts it all down to the support of his family, friends, community and, most of all, the local business owners who sponsor the golf day and get involved in making the day not just a great success but a day we all look forward to each year.

This year my wife and I (from Offshore Boat Sales in Mitchell) are offering a $100,000 Cutting Edge Marine Signature Edition 530 Side Console package as the hole-in-one prize on the sixth hole at Yowani Country Club where the charity golf day is held every year. 

This is very exciting for us because we would love someone to get a hole-in-one and win this fantastic prize. The Cutting Edge Brand is designed by myself and built by our own team based in Echuca. It’s 100 per cent Australian-made and manufactured. 

We really want to help Millsy lift the profile of his golf day which in turn hopefully will enable him to raise more much-needed funds for the Camp Quality cause and keep this great tradition going for many years to come. 

On the sixth hole at Yowani, my wife, Johanna, will also be hosting a wine tasting event courtesy of our good friends at Lake George Winery. It will also have some super treats on offer.

Not only will there be the hole-in-one on prize up for grabs, but also the traditional ‘nearest the pin’ competition. Being a dealer for Garmin, the boys from Garmin Marine and Garmin Golf have also offered some fantastic support by offering a Garmin Golf enabled watch to the nearest the pin winner on the day.

I also spoke with Adrian Derham, the CEO of Yowani Country Club, who everyone involved must thank for Yowani’s years of support by donating the course for this great cause. 

Rather than advertise how great the Yowani golf course is, Adrian wanted to focus on the longevity of the charity day and congratulate Andrew for raising more than $2-million for Camp Quality and also make mention of the very exciting news of the new clubhouse, redesigned golf course and future joint development of the Yowani Country Club project.

With so many supporters and local businesses making a contribution to the charity golf day event, I felt that we should show a list of the sponsors and their teams along with other key contributors to the day so that these people and businesses receive a plug for their support of the Camp Quality event.

THE LIST OF SPONSORS SUPPORTING CAMP QUALITY ARE:

Graham and Anne Shaw – Shaw Vineyard Estate

Canberra & Queanbeyan Camp Quality Escarpade Teams

The Energy people – Darryl Skidmore, Founding Sponsor

Hawker Roofing – Pat & Damien O’Halloran, Founding Sponsor

Yowani Country Club Phill Hosking – Golden Roast

Cheree Mostert – Screen Makers The Oven Door Bakery – Mitchell

Canberra Valley Lions Club Benmax

Cord Civil Civil Contruction Hire

Monaro Plumning & Gas Better Music

Drummond Golf Fyshwick ACT Light Control 

Offshore Boat Sales Cutting Edge Marine

Garmin Yamaha Australia

IHS Building Langes Auto Centre

Fuse Joinery Canberra School of Tennis

Nexis Accounting Mcintyre Property

On the Go MSJ Plumbing

Capital Kerbs Affinty Electrical 

Richard Horlock Bricklaying All States Towing 

Canberra Roofing Men Virtue Electrical

Huon Contractors Hughes Mechanical

Blackshaw Real Estate Gungahlin Heating & Cooling Services

Jessy Mills & Tony Miller Hawker Butchers & Bonza Bangers

For Donations please go to the www.ours.com.au web site.

Editorial supplied and edited by Inside Golf.