Premature or poorly newborn babies and their families will benefit from a bumper donation from a local sports club.

Ebbisham Sports Club kindly donated more than £2,000 to the Special Care Baby Unit at Epsom Hospital.

Last year, the Special Care Baby Unit (often referred to as SCBU) was chosen as Ebbisham Sports Club’s club charity after being nominated by squash member, Trevor Foale.

Trevor nominated the unit after his son, John, received exceptional care whilst being treated there as a baby and the club were keen to get behind the good cause.

Senior sister Geraldine Cotter, in the Special Care Baby Unit, said: “On behalf of the staff in SCBU and the families we care for, I would like to say a huge thank you to Ebbisham Sports Club for choosing us as their club charity and for their generous donation.

“We know that having a baby who needs special care with us can be a difficult thing to go through and we want to support parents and families as much as we can. As such, the money raised will go towards improving the experience for families.”

The sports club held a variety of fundraising events, including raffles and their 80 year anniversary party.

They also had help from one of their tennis members, Darren Yap, who generously donated his free time to run Tai Chi sessions within the club. All of the of the profit from these sessions went to charity – with 50 per cent going to SCBU.

The cheque was presented to senior sister Geraldine Cotter, staff nurse Christiannah Dele and ward clark Denise Scott, during a special gathering.

Darren and his Tai Chi class joined for a thank you, before everyone was treated to refreshments in the lounge area.

The grand total donated to SCBU was £2,030, with £573 coming from Darren’s Tai Chi lessons.