AN ANNUAL charity golf tournament in Sauchie has broken the £100,000 running total in donations last week.

Andrew Matheson’s celebrity competition once again netted thousands for Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS)

The retired policeman, who started the initiative while serving with Central Scotland Police, organised his tournament for the 18th time last Friday.

For the last eight years it has been held at Alloa Golf Club at Schawpark in Sauchie – with the impressive running tally now heading beyond the six figure milestone.

Thanks to the recent favourable weather, it was a perfect day for the sport on Friday, May 18, when a number of celebrities joined club members in mixed teams.

An auction later that evening raked most of the cash in with auctioneer Ali Logan of Caledonian Marts in Stirling. After-dinner speaker Jim Robertson, who is a part-time Procurator Fiscal from Airdrie, kept the audience entertained.

Among the famous names gathering for the event was actor Clive Russell – known for on screen roles in Still Game and Game of Thrones.

Others included Gordon Smith, Ian Durrant and Stewart Kennedy – all former Rangers players – as well as Tom Boyd, formerly of Celtic, and ex-Hibs stars John Blackley, John Brownlie, Stuart Lovell and Tom McManus to name a few.

BBC pundit Allan Preston, former Falkirk gaffers Peter Houston and Alex Totten, and ex-Kilmarnock player James Fowler all joined in too.

In the end, former Rangers midfielder Bob Malcolm, along with Alloa Golf Club’s Andrew Malcolm, Neil Malone and Rory McWalter came out on top at the end of the day.

Andrew told the Advertiser he is “delighted” with the £100,000 that has now been raised over the years.

He said: “It couldn’t be done without the support of Alloa Golf Club, the teams supporting the event and the celebrities who have given up their valuable time to come along and appear in the tournament.”

Thanks also go to all other individuals and organisations that supported the effort in any way, this year’s main sponsor was J Chandler & Co (Buckfast) Ltd in Andover.