PORTMAN Hunt supporters turned out in force on Saturday for their Tollard Royal meet – at which a cheque for £4,080 was presented to the Southern Spinal Injuries Unit.

The money will fund specialist equipment to help racehorse trainer Robert Alner, paralysed in a car accident last November, and others.

An open day at Mr Alner's yard at Droop, Hazelbury Bryan, in September raised more than £6,000, of which £2,000 will be presented on Christmas Eve to the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, which the biennial event traditionally supports. This year the open day was hosted by Mr Alner's wife Sally, their daughter Louise and the team of trainers, jockeys and stable hands at the yard. Portman Hunt members and Channel Four racing commentator Alice Plunkett of Hinton St Mary also assisted. Mr Alner was able to make his first visit to the yard from Salisbury's Odstock Hospital, where he is an inpatient.

Two-thirds of the total raised on the day will fund the provision by the Southern Spinal Injuries Unit of a cough assister for the Odstock spinal injuries.

Lead nurse Anne Seaman, who accompanied unit trustee Lady Amanda Margadale to receive the cheque presented by joint Portman Hunt master William Gronow Davis of the Rushmore estate, said: "The equipment is really quite new, and makes it physically easier for us to assist patients who are unable to cough to do so.

"It is something they can have at home which can be operated by a carer, and, for someone with a very high level injury, can be a life saver."

She said it would be particularly helpful for Mr Alner, who is paralysed from the neck down following the accident in which he broke a bone in his neck.

Lady Margadale said the trust – set up two years ago by her employer Jeremy Major of Smith and Williamson after his secretary was paralysed in an accident – was very grateful for the donation which would allow them to double the number of machines at Salisbury.

Joint master of fox hounds Charles Frampton thanked Mr Gronow Davis for allowing the hunt to meet on his estate at Rushmore, particularly during the shooting season when the estate could be generating a huge amount of income.