A FUNDRAISING golf day held at Chester-le-Street Golf Club has raised more than £9,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Charitable teams from firms including Thomsons of Prudhoe, Stopdigging UK and Park Commercial took part in the event, hosted by family-run business Par Petroleum, based in Houghton-le-Spring.

Generously donated raffle and auction prizes included a day trip on a Routemaster London bus from Henry Cooper Coaches and hire of a VW California camper van courtesy of Lookers VW.

The £9,300 raised will support the work of Cancer Research UK, a charity close to the hearts of the team at Par Petroleum, where members of staff have experienced cancer and benefited from the latest research on their road to recovery.

The well-attended event saw over 50 keen golfers take to the fairways for a friendly game in the format of Texas Scramble.

Par Petroleum’s Managing Director, Leanne Hardy said: “We’d like to extend our thanks to everyone who supported our first charity golf event, particularly Chester-le-Street Golf Club, who really looked after us all.”

“We couldn’t believe how much we managed to raise for a charity very close to our hearts. This was completely down to the generosity of those who attended and the sponsors who supported the day. We couldn’t have done it without them.”

Jan Leafe, Cancer Research UK’s fundraising manager said: “Due to our life-saving research at Cancer Research UK we can now say that over half of those diagnosed with cancer will now survive.

“This is good news but still there is so much more to do. We can only do this with the generous donations from our supporters, such as Par Petroleum. They have raised such an amazing amount and we are very grateful “

Richard Wood, from Scania UK was one of the golfers who took part on the day.

He added: “I know the team from Par Petroleum put a lot of effort into organising the day and the amazing weather was the icing on the cake. Everyone I spoke to had a brilliant day and we would be happy to support the event again in the future.”

Prizes were awarded for longest drive, closest to the pin on a par three hole and first second and third best scores on the day.