SPORTSMEN and women in Blackbird Leys have found a way to thank the wonderful team at Sobell House Hospice a year after a gut-wrenching loss.

Members of Blackbird Leys Bowls Club visited the facility at the Churchill Hospital last week with a gift of £550 raised throughout the year in 'fines' paid by players.

The club chose Sobell House, currently at the centre of an Oxford Mail fundraising campaign, as its charity of the year after its captain Anne Ranger watched her daughter Amanda, a head nurse at the West Wing in the John Radcliffe Hospital, go through her final days under the expert care of its staff.

Mrs Ranger, 75, said: "I'm still getting my head around it now. It's not fair; you don't expect your children to go before you.

"She had breast cancer and a mastectomy, and 10 years clear, and all of a sudden a lump came up in her chest. She had six lots of chemo and it didn't shrink it."

Amanda was admitted to Sobell House in late 2015 and passed away on November 28, two days before her 54th birthday.

Mrs Ranger said: "Sobell House were wonderful. You could not wish for anything more. They were really good.

"The bowls club captain always picks a charity for the year - last year we picked Maggie's Centre - and I thought 'It has got to be them'."

Throughout the season from May to September Mrs Ranger set about collecting 'fines' from club members for a range of bad behaviours during bowls games.

The £1 penalties were paid for having the wrong bias, smoking on the green, using phones or even wearing coloured underpants under white trousers.

Last year the team raised £350 for their chosen charity but this year the grand total was notably higher.

Mrs Ranger said: "A couple of times I said to people 'I don't know quite what I can fine you for but you keep looking at me waiting, so I'm going to fine you'.

"Then you get a lot of abuse so you fine them double.

"But I was quite surprised when the treasurer and myself opened up the pots; there was £520 and the club made it up to £550. I was impressed."

Fellow bowler and Blackbird Leys Parish Council leader Gordon Roper, who was re-instated as president this year for the club's 50th birthday, said it had been 'good fun'.

The Oxford Mail is pledging to raise £40,000 for the hospice in Headington to pay for 100 days of care and support for those with terminal illnesses and their loved ones.

Readers are invited to donate what they can to support the cause, 40 years after Sobell House first opened its doors to the Oxfordshire public.

Dominique Cadiou, head of fundraising at Sobell House, said: "We are thrilled to receive this cheque from Blackbird Leys Bowls Club.

"Every donation helps us get closer to our annual target of £1.6m, which is the how much we need to raise every year to run the hospice.

“This year to mark our 40th anniversary we set ourselves an even bigger target of raising a further £4m over four years to help us grow the services we offer.

"We’re making great headway in reaching our goal and it’s all down to the local community and support from businesses and clubs such as The Blackbird Leys Bowls Club."