Marcus Stewart, Portishead resident and former Premier League striker, was recently diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 49.

Marcus is a keen golfer and some friends of his, also local residents, organised a charity Golf Day at Clevedon Golf Club. The event was well supported with 45 players in the field.

There was also a raffle and charity auction with items donated by businesses far and wide.

The whole event raised a total of £16,150 for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation which is the foundation Marcus has chosen to support with a number of fundraising events in the future. So far Team Stewart have raised over £27,000 through their Justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/team/teamstewart254 and with the Golf Day contribution the total now stands at over £40,000 against his target of £100,000.

Marcus said of the day: “I am genuinely overwhelmed with the support and donations that came in on the day, the amount raised was well beyond our expectations, the team organising did a fantastic job.

"Our thanks go out to Clevedon Golf Club, and Tony Sommerville and Wayne Pearce who helped to organise the day.”

Marcus played over 500 games and scored over 250 goals in his professional career and had notable spells in the Premier League for Ipswich Town and Sunderland, and was the Premier League's second highest goalscorer for the 2000–01 season.

He also played for Bristol Rovers, Huddersfield Town, Bristol City, Preston North End, Yeovil Town and Exeter City.

MND affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, and is a degenerative condition, for which there is no cure. Anyone that would like to donate can do so using the web address above.