A FOOTBALL club handed over a cheque for hundreds of pounds on Friday to a charity which cares for terminally ill people in Comet country.

Letchworth Garden City Eagles donated �850 to Garden House Hospice, based in the town, following a charity match against Tottenham Hotspur All Stars in May.

The event, supported by The Comet, saw Spurs legends such as Andy Sinton, Tony Galvin, Stuart Nethercott and David Howells take on the Eagles at their ground on Pixmore playing fields and emerge 3-0 winners.

“We try to support our community because the community supports us so this is are way of giving something back, said Eagles chairman Tony Eden, who visited the hospice in Gillison Close to present the cheque.

“So many of our members have reason to be grateful to the hospice as they have given care to friends and relatives in the last few months. We’re only just down the road from here and most of those members are local people so it was obvious to choose the hospice in Letchworth.

“Instead of taking out of the community we decided to put something back in!”

Jo Wiffen, community fundraiser for the hospice, which cares for patients from North Herts and Stevenage, added: “It was a fantastic event and we’re most grateful to the Letchworth Garden City Eagles for choosing us as a charity to benefit from the day. We couldn’t continue to provide care for the community without the help of groups such as the Eagles.”

The fundraiser pulled in �1600 in total with a further �150 going to Sudden Adult Death Syndrome (SADS UK).

The national charity was chosen after Stotfold residents Barrie and Brenda Irons - who lost their son David to the condition in 1979 at the age of 13 - presented the club with a defibrillator in April as part of their work for the charity.

The rest of the money raised will be kept in a fund which supports Eagles’ juniors and their parents who can’t afford to pay the full membership fee at the club.