Former professional golfer John Hoskison came to Marlborough on Thursday 3rd March to give a PSHEE talk to the Shell about risk.
He began by giving us a brief outline of what his life was like as a child. John came from a privileged background, but he still struggled. He did well academically in O-levels (now called GCSEs) so he moved to a school to enable him to take his A levels early. This school was much more like a university, and he soon realised that nobody said anything if he missed a lesson.
After having missed four months of school, his parents found out. John ran away from home and went to a golf club, which was where he spent his time off school. He worked there in return for lessons, sleeping in a shed. He soon realised his talent and with the help of players at the club – he made it to the European tour. He continued a very successful golfing career for 20 years until 1994, when one night he took an unnecessary risk – accepting a drink after a golf match. He drove the short journey home and hit and killed a cyclist. His world shattered and he was sentenced to three years in prison. After three months he received a letter from the cyclist’s wife forgiving him.
The bottom line of the message he wanted to spread was to ‘think before you do’. He said that one day, everyone sitting in the Ellis Theatre would be in a situation where your moral compass is screaming at you to stop and you have to listen. Whether it be something as simple as answering a phone, just quickly, or seemingly more dangerous like drink-driving, all it takes is a second, one misjudgement to kill somebody, and throw the rest of your life off course. John’s fantastic talk was very well received, and I think everybody learned a valuable lesson from it.
Review written by Rosie B (Sh)
John is now a member of the PGA European Seniors Tour and a Sports Feature Writer.
