ONE of Oxfordshire’s oldest golfers has backed a campaign to save a city course which he said has kept him fit and healthy into his nineties.

Harry Benford has been a member at the under-threat North Oxford Golf Club since 1969, and at the age of 92 is its oldest player.

The former owner of Abbey Press in Abingdon, with his wife Eunice, has helped form a campaign to save the course, earmarked as part of a development of 1,180 homes between Cutteslowe Park and the A34.

Cherwell District Council has proposed the homes for its its requirement towards Oxford’s unmet housing need.

But the club’s members have launched the group Greenway Oxon to highlight the benefits of the 110-year-old course to the community.

Mr Benford, who recently moved from Kennington to Witney, said: “The course is well over 100 years old and it is enjoyed by people of all ages.

“It’s of enormous local importance to people to be able to use their leisure time to play golf and keep fit.

“Playing twice a week for more than 40 years has certainly kept me fit and relatively well.

“Obviously I’m not quite as competitive as I was but I still haven’t abandoned hope of improvement.”

Earlier this week the Oxford Mail revealed that North Oxford Golf Club had agreed to accept £2.1m in relocation money – if the homes go ahead – from landlords, Oxford University, Exeter College and Merton College in exchange for silence during the planning process.

But the agreement does not silence individual members.

Their campaign has been joined by The Vicar of Dibley writer Paul Mayhew-Archer, who lives in Drayton.

The 65-year-old, diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2011, recently filmed a programme for the BBC’s The One Show at the club, exploring golf's health benefits.

He said: “I know only too well how important exercise is in coping with a serious medical condition.

“On a visit to the club for The One Show I met a terminally-ill man who left me in no doubt that golf and the camaraderie of his fellow players was keeping him going.

“The club was for him, as for many others, his extended family.”

“I very much hope the council will drop its proposal.

Thomas Slingsby, a spokesman from Cherwell District Council, said: “The local plan contains a requirement to complete a partial review as a contribution to the unmet housing need of Oxford.

“That has been a process over two years, with extensive public consultation and consideration of 47 sites.”