First victory for Pheasant in Aunt Sally charity contest

A friendly match which has become a tradition between two pubs has raised money to help victims of stroke.
Keith Child from the Rising Sun (left) handing over the shield to this years winning team captain - Mark Wallington from The Pheasant.Keith Child from the Rising Sun (left) handing over the shield to this years winning team captain - Mark Wallington from The Pheasant.
Keith Child from the Rising Sun (left) handing over the shield to this years winning team captain - Mark Wallington from The Pheasant.

This year’s charity Aunt Sally match between the The Rising Sun in Ickford and The Pheasant at Brill has raised £1,700 for Stroke Association, bringing fundraising over the last three years to almost £5,000.

Each year following the summer Aunt Sally season, the two pubs get together for the big match, first held in 2014.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The idea came about when team captains Mark Wallington, from The Pheasant, and Keith Child, from The Rising Sun, were thinking about ways of raising money for charity that would involve a large number of people and have fun at the same time.

The money would be raised by charging every player a nominal fee to sign on for their team. Fines would be given for ‘blobs’ - a blob is the term for when a player fails to hit the Aunt Sally dolly after six attempts - and both pubs would organise some raffle and auction prizes.

A normal Aunt Sally team consists of eight players but because the idea is to make money for charity the teams can be larger, and this year there were 14 players on each side.

There is also a serious side to the competition because the teams compete for a grand shield that is displayed for a year within whichever pub fields the winning team.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As it stands at the moment The Rising Sun has the upper hand leading 2:1 but it was The Pheasant this year that claimed victory for the very first time.

So far a different charity has been chosen each year and this year the Stroke Association was nominated by the management team of The Pheasant. In 2015 over £1,500 was raised for Leukaemia Care and in 2014 more than £1,800 was raised for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Keith said: “Both teams really look forward to playing this light-hearted, charity competition. To have raised almost £5,000 over three years is well beyond my expectations. Everyone is delighted that we’ve been able to make these contributions to such deserving charities over a little game of Aunt Sally.”

Both teams and pubs would like to thank all of those companies who donated prizes for the raffles and auctions this year – Dayla, Connells estate agents, Waterperry Gardens, Chalgrove Wines, J C Meats, A&M Meats, Velvet Brown, The Practice (Thame), GS Mechanical and Heineken.