Golfers in Ickwell did not have to go a fair way to take part in a charity golf competition last weekend.

The Ickwell Open Charity Golf Competition saw 32 golfers playing over 12 holes – in back gardens and on the village green – to raise more than £1,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

And it was all down to Mike Alexander, who installed a putting green at the bottom of his garden.

Mike said: "I was talking about some friends coming up and putting a putting green in the garden for a laugh. It really went from there.

"I thought, 'wouldn't it be nice if we got a few of us together and all had holes in our gardens?'. I just kept chatting to people and got more and more people interested."

Before long there were six holes in gardens around the village, with a further six on the green, and the idea for the competition was born.

Ickwell Cricket Club offered up the use of the clubhouse for the day, with 20 sponsors coming forward to help make the dream a reality.
Mike added: "We had an absolutely fabulous day. Everyone had a lot of fun and we've raised over £1,200.

"Everyone seems to want to go ahead again so next year hopefully we'll raise more money. We didn't expect to make that much so it was a very pleasant surprise.

"The response that we had was that everyone who played wants to play again and now other people have said they want to join in and have a hole in their back garden."

The winner of the event was Nick Ashby, with Sue Campbell taking the prize for the best lady.