Gordon Skiers Awards Night

Saturday 23rd April saw Gordon Skiers hold their End of season Awards night which this year doubled up as a fundraiser for Alex Tilley, who spent her younger years training with the club. Alex is currently Britain’s only female world cup skier and we are delighted to have her as a life member.

All profits from the night were donated to Alex to help support her in her quest to break into the top 30 female skiers in the world next season.

The night saw around 60 club members and their friends and family attend the night. Valentino’s Discos kept the music going throughout and towards the end of the evening the dance floor slowly filled up.

As it was an end of season prize giving there were a few awards to be presented; Most Improved Skier in the 3 age categories of , Bairns, Children and Junior. The club Chairman, Graeme Brown, welcomed everyone to the night and gave a brief run through of the history of the club and the involvement of the Tilley Family within the club, before handing over to Head Coach Gary Whatford and Racing Convenor James Paxton to present the awards.

• Most Improved Bairn – Glenn Liversidge
• Most Improved Child- Jack Morrison
• Most Improved Junior- Kathleen Ray

Guests were provided with a snack buffet by Westhill Golf Club along with some Birthday Cake to mark Alex’s nephew’s 7th Birthday and James 24th a few days later. Food and drinks were flowing and everyone was socialising with one another, there was a great atmosphere and it was great to see all the trainees getting on so well together.

Onto the main fundraising parts of the event, the raffle and auction. The raffle was filled with gifts donated by club members, ski resorts and shops, and a wide array of items were on offer. The raffle made just over £200 which was an excellent effort and will go a long way towards our fundraising for Alex. The highlight of the night was the Auction and Gary kindly accepted the invitation to be auctioneer for the night. I am sure anyone who was there will agree he did a fantastic job (must be that you tube video he watched beforehand!!). Again we had a wide range of items donated to be auctioned off ranging from, lift tickets to Atomic skis, jackets to signed golf prints. The ‘star item’ for auction was a signed photo of Alex Tilley which was kindly donated by Racer Ready. Bidding was intense for this item and the amount kept rising much to Alex’s surprise. The signed photo finally closed at £237, a true reflection on how the club and its members value having Alex as a club member. Total takings for the auction were £996. A big thank you to our Auctioneer, Gary Whatford for doing a fantastic job.

The night was rounded off with the much loved ‘Whisky Shove’ which raised an astonishing £100.

Alex's father, Dave, and Alex herself gave a few closing words to thank the club for their efforts in helping support Alex on her journey. I think the comment of the night came from Alex ‘it was really quite surreal watching folk bid for a picture of me’.

The night was a great success both on a social aspect as well as a fundraising side for Alex and we can report that total profits for the night are £1590 which we will organise to hand over to Alex shortly.

Many thanks to all those that turned up and we look forward to seeing more of you next year.

James P