WHILE England may have fallen short after several stirring victories, Ark Cancer Centre Charity was a World Cup winner thanks to a Basingstoke businessman.

Kevin White, director of Fortem Financial Education, painted 11 stones in the flags and names of different countries that were participating in the World Cup and then he and his team of helpers hid the stones in locations across Basingstoke.

When each Basingstones-style stone was found and returned to Kevin’s company, the finder received a £5 prize and £25 was donated by Fortem Financial Education to Ark.

Kevin kept the treasure hunt going for the duration of the World Cup, so once a stone was and returned to Fotem, it was put back into the field of play, by being placed in a new location for someone else to find.

The end result was a total of 12 stones being found, resulting in a win for Ark as a total of £300 was donated to the charity.

Kevin said: “I thought that creating this World Cup Basingstones treasure trail would be good fun and a great way to further support Ark.

“We put the stones in places where hopefully children were the most likely to find them, and I’m delighted that young people made up the majority of the winners. We also gave each finder a certificate which says they have helped to donate to Ark.”

Mark Jones, director of fundraising and communications at Ark Cancer Centre Charity, said: “Thanks to Kevin for coming up with this fun way to celebrate the World Cup and help Ark at the same time. This was a great and topical idea to raise further awareness of Ark and the cancer treatment centre project as well as some welcome funds.”

Ark Cancer Centre Charity is raising £5million towards a new cancer treatment centre which will provide a range of support services and complementary therapies, alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.

The centre is largely being funded by Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and plans are progressing to locate the cancer treatment centre on the existing Basingstoke hospital site.