The Budleigh Salterton Lions Annual Golf Day started over 18 years ago. During this period they have raised approximately £75,000 for local charities.

This year the money raised from the golf day at East Devon Golf Club was for the diabetes research team at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

Lions president Richard Allen said: "Thanks to tremendous support from local businesses and individuals we had a record number of teams and some fantastic prizes and items for the auction.

"The profit from the day was £8,121.35 and this was generously topped up to £8,250.00 by one of the Lions, a founder member and supporter of our golf days, Mr Doug Fowler."

Richard added: "What a fantastic day! I would like to give my sincere thanks on behalf of the club to Lions Mark and Geoff Paver who have done such a wonderful job in organising our golf days over many years. They truly represent the essence of what being a Lion is all about, selfless service to others. I was delighted to present certificates of appreciation to Mark and Geoff on the day.

"I must also thank all the other Lions and their partners who, over the years, have also given so much time in helping organise our golf days. On behalf of the Lions Club I would also like to thank our entertaining auctioneer, all the staff at the golf club and our sponsors and the players without whom we could never have raised so much money for charitable causes."

Professor Andrew Hattersley, Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Exeter, said: "Please can you pass on our massive thanks to all your members of Budleigh Salterton Lions Club who contributed to raising the most generous £8,250 for supporting diabetes research at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital. This is a fantastic donation that will really make an impact to the research we can do.
"Research often starts from one good idea or an unexpected result in a study being done for another reason. It is enormously helpful to have money like your donation that is not for any specific type of research as it allows us to immediately follow-up on any potential breakthrough.

"This means we can get early results supporting a new area for study. This then allows us to go to the large funders like the Medical Research Council or the National Institute of Health Research with proof that supports our ideas and makes it much more likely they will fund a large project in this new area. This means your money is likely to be important in supporting research costing as much as £250,000 to £1,000,000!"

Professor Hattersley added: "By supporting research in Exeter you will be helping people living with diabetes in East Devon, but also the rest of the UK and the whole world. Our research is published in international medical journals and will alter how people are looked after throughout the UK and around the world. The Exeter Diabetes research team has a reputation for doing research that improves how diabetes is diagnosed and treated. We will aim to put this money so it supports research with direct patient benefit.
"We will let you know how the money is used.
"Thank you again for this wonderful generous donation."

Richard added: "To raise over £8000 for Diabetes Research is a wonderful achievement. Diabetes is one of the Lions five global causes and we were very pleased to have the opportunity to support this invaluable local research work."