THE club captain of a west Dorset golf club will raise funds for two epilepsy charities next month.

John Coley from Ryall, will hold a charity golf event next month to raise money for Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) Action and the Muir Maxwell Trust.

Mr Coley and fellow captain Caroline Baker will hold the event at Lyme Regis Golf Club on Saturday, June 4.

A couple at the golf club lost a child through sudden death in epilepsy some years ago, while Mr Coley also has a niece who has mild epilepsy, and a colleague whose young son also has the condition.

Mr Coley said: "It’s great to know that I will be raising funds to help prevent unnecessary epilepsy deaths.

"It seems to be an underestimated danger and the more I have spoken about it, the more people I discover are unaware of the risks. As well as raising funds therefore, I also hope this will help to raise much needed awareness.”

Mr Coley will play as many holes of golf as possible in the day, and is seeking sponsorship not on how many holes he plays, but how well he plays. One of golf’s scoring systems is with Stableford points which are won according to how well each hole is played. To play to his handicap, 36 points is the target.

He added: "I am going to be absolutely exhausted but it is for such a good cause, so it will certainly be worth it.

"I'm very happy that the Muir Maxwell Trust have said that they will ring-fence any money so that it can go to local people."

John plays off a respectable handicap of 6, but aged nearly 67, he knows he needs to use all his stamina, as well as skill, to play from dawn to dusk. He is hopeful of completing at least three rounds and possibly four, before his arthritic hips scream to stop.

There are around 1,200 deaths from epilepsy in the UK each year - while more than 42 per cent of these deaths are potentially avoidable. SUDEP Action is the only charity in the UK solely dedicated to the prevention of SUDEP and other epilepsy-related deaths.

SUDEP Action chief executive Jane Hanne said: “The risks of SUDEP are still not fully acknowledged.

"This means that some people with epilepsy are still at risk of dying suddenly, prematurely and unnecessarily. We are grateful to our supporters, who do so much to raise vital funds to help research into the prevention of SUDEP and other epilepsy deaths.

"We would urge anyone who knows of a death in someone with epilepsy to report it to the epilepsy deaths register at sudep.org."

To donate to Mr Coley's charity event, please call 01297 442963.