A donation from a Peterborough weekly newspaper that was intended to help pay for a tramp to travel to a professional golf tournament was returned when the tramp realised his dreams were not to become a reality.

The Peterborough Herald & Post gave the donation to Nobby the tramp after he revealed his ambition to play in the North West Irish Open tournament.

The paper also backed his quest with a front page splash and a page three ‘life story’ article.

But when the tournament began, Nobby was still in Peterborough and admitted that his plans had been over-ambitious, before returning the paper’s donation.

After rival paper the Peterborough Evening Telegraph reported that Nobby’s ambitions had always been just a joke, Herald & Post editor Steve Rose told readers: “The Herald & Post certainly got some extra exposure for its ‘Nobby Exclusive’ last week.

“A mention on local radio stations, plus a front page and inside lead in our local daily rival, meant more people were talking about the H&P than ever before. It certainly made our general manager happy.

“More importantly, our 84,000 plus readership have enjoyed a good read and been given an insight into Nobby’s world.

“It’s hopefully cleared up some myths and most likely started some more.

“And as for Nobby’s statement being a wisecrack, well, Nobby apologised and returned the travel expenses in full – still claiming he was told to leave his golf clubs outside his hut so he could be picked up and taken to Ireland. He even had a pocket full of Euros!

“You win some and you lose some. I’ll leave it to our readers to decide on which side we fall.”

Nobby, whose real name is Michael Ross, took up the sport when a passer-by left him a set of clubs at his bus shelter home.

He told the Herald & Post: “It wasn’t a joke and I had good intentions of going and playing, but I guess it was not meant to be and I wasn’t accepted.

“There are lots of people who enter the competitions who don’t get the chance to play and I was one of them.”

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