A GROUP of eager golfers teamed together last week as part of a gruelling 24-hour challenge which saw them raise nearly £2,000 for a Basingstoke hospice.

Club captain and vice captain of Weybrook Park Golf Club, Geraint Ingram and Ron Tiplady, along with fellow members Geoff Tanner, Pete Elie, Paul Kirrage, George Harris and Adam Harris, took part in the 24- hour golf challenge at the club, in Rooksdown Lane between noon last Friday and noon on Saturday.

The event is expected to raise around £2,000 for St Michael’s Hospice, which has also been chosen as the club’s charity of the year.

The hospice, in Aldermaston Road, provides treatment for people with life-limiting illnesses and needs to raise £2.5 million a year to be able to provide services.

The hospice is close to the heart of club member Geoff Tanner because his mother Margarethe Tanner was cared for there before she died of breast cancer six years ago.

The 58-year-old, of Monk Sherborne, told The Gazette: “They are superb. It is not just cancer [that people are treated for] but it is people with life-limiting illnesses and the Government only subsidise them to the tune of 22 per cent so anything else is what people give.”

During the 24-hour challenge, the team managed a whopping 82 holes altogether, using luminous balls and night equipment to navigate around the 18-hole course when it became dark.

Geoff added: “It was a great event and a few people kept morale up. It was a bit arduous because it is 25 miles in 24 hours which doesn’t seem very long now but we had our trolleys and we were hitting golf balls.”

Daisy Mitchell, community events co-ordinator at St Michael’s, said: “It is fantastic and we are delighted with the support they are giving us as their charity of the year and for the 24-hour golf event.

“Raising £2,000 is incredible and it allows us to provide care for the community.”