A BASINGSTOKE company’s inaugural Charity Golf Day teed up a great fundraising boost for the firm’s Charity of the Year.

Eighteen teams took part in the Champion Group event at Dummer Golf Club, and the generous support of the players as well as auction sponsors produced a winning result for Ark Cancer Centre Charity as £4,695.85 was raised on the day.

Former Hampshire and England cricketer Shaun Udal, managing director of Basingstoke-based clothing and embroidery firm Cotton Graphics, played auctioneer at the event and was delighted that the winning team in the golf tournament was a quartet that took part under the Cotton Graphics banner.

James Bye took home the prize for the longest drive, while Ben Todd and Carl Vernon collected individual prizes for getting nearest the pin and the straightest drive respectively.

The success of the Charity Golf Day is a big boost to the construction industry-related Champion Group’s 2018 support for Ark Cancer Centre Charity, which is raising £5million towards a new cancer treatment centre that will be built at Basingstoke hospital.

Barry Champion, managing director of the Champion Group, fired the shotgun start that signalled the beginning of the golf competition, and he was delighted with the support shown by Champion Group customers, suppliers, and other local businesses, including Sylvia Goddard, of HR that Helps, who sponsored the refreshments.

He said: “The Champion Group team are delighted that the Charity Golf Day was a great success, and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to participate in, and support, the event.”

Ark Cancer Centre Charity trustee Merv Rees said: "The Champion Group team are a wonderful and supportive team who have really thrown themselves into fundraising for the charity, and I am delighted that this inaugural Charity Golf Day went so well.

"To have the Champion Group’s Charity of the Year backing is a significant show of support, and it is making a big difference in terms of raising further funds for, and awareness of, Ark and the cancer treatment centre project.”

The £5m that Ark Cancer Centre Charity is raising towards a new cancer treatment centre will ensure a range of support services and complementary therapies are available alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments in a calm and uplifting environment.

Largely being funded by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (HHFT), plans are progressing to locate the new centre on the existing Basingstoke hospital site.