AN EAGLE-EYED St Albans family who found nearly 500 lost golf balls over the summer have donated them all to charity. Bill Harris, of Everlasting Lane, and his two children, nine-year-old Amy and Alex, six, collected the abandoned balls while walking thei

AN EAGLE-EYED St Albans family who found nearly 500 lost golf balls over the summer have donated them all to charity.

Bill Harris, of Everlasting Lane, and his two children, nine-year-old Amy and Alex, six, collected the abandoned balls while walking their labrador Jazz on the nearby Batchwood golf course.

This week the Harris family donated their collection of golf balls to their neighbour Miles Soppet, who sells lost balls back to Batchwood golf club in order to raise money for his volunteer group, the Friends of Batchwood, which maintains the woods around the golf course.

Miles, who has been with the group for 10 years, said he was very grateful to Bill and his family: "Dog walkers are the best at spotting the balls and it's lovely that they want to help the Friends of Batchwood. The money I get from selling the balls back to the club goes a long way."

Bill said they will continue to keep a lookout for stray golf balls: "We're more than happy to help the Friends of Batchwood and it's great fun for the kids, not to mention Jazz! They all bound off in search of lost golf balls and the most we've collected on one walk is 30 so far.