Lanseria based Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School got a special visit from the members of Citadel, its founder and SA golf legend Gary Player and Irish Singer Ronan Keating.
They visited the school before their Citadel golf tournament and gala charity auction. For the sixth year running, Citadel, Keating and Player, have joined forces to benefit the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital Oncology Unit and the Gary and Vivienne Player Foundation’s main project, the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School.
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The school’s principal, Marlize Visser explained that the teachers were very excited when they learned Player would be visiting the school.
“Some of the teachers and staff have been here for 18, 19 – and one for 33 – years. It almost like their father was coming home. It’s that respect, joy and the fun he brings – he makes them feel like queens for a day. It also brings us the exposure that the school needs. But, for me, the most important part is that it brings up my teachers’ confidence, knowing that what they do matters.”
The school’s purpose is to educate, uplift and develop underprivileged and vulnerable children in the community. To date, the school has grown to 125 children between the ages of three and six. The funds raised by this Citadel event go towards supporting the school with the resources required to provide the children with holistic development. The school currently has 95 children.
Visser added that the Player Foundation’s contribution is life-changing.
“We looking at the sustainability of the school and we have to look at not just what we can do this year but in the next 25 years. We want the school to last forever because if the school is not here, where the kids are going to go.”
The pre-primary school was established in 1990 by Gary and Vivienne Player on their farm in Lanseria. Player explained that they are trying to raise enough money so that they will be able to keep the school going long after he’s gone.
“We started the school out of nothing and now we are here. The teachers here are special for teaching these children with so much love. We are so lucky to have the sponsor that we have to keep the school functioning. It was my wife’s wish when she passed that I should keep the school running forever and that’s what we are trying to do.”
The 2024 Citadel Golf Tournament and gala charity auction, took place at the Blair Atholl Golf and Equestrian Estate, near Lanseria and raised just over R2.2 million for the beneficiaries.
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