MELKSHAM Swordfish Amateur Swimming Club recently donated £300 to Dorothy House, which they raised by swimming nearly three times the length of the English Channel.
A report written by a young volunteer at the club, Charlie Dodge, tells their fundraising story:
“In November 2014, nine swimmers from Melksham Swordfish Amateur Swimming Club joined the Young Volunteer’s course with the ASA.
“As part of this course they had to complete the Young Aquatics Organiser’s Award, which meant they had to organise an event within Melksham Swordfish.
“The organising team for the event consisted of: Jacques Bramley, Paige Dunlop, Jenny Bond and Charlie Dodge. Thanks to everyone that came and got involved in the event. As well as this, three others from the course, Hollie Evans, Katie Arblaster and Anna Stevenson, also came down and helped out on the first session.
“The Saturday sessions on the 18th April and 25th April saw the annual distance badge session take place, 85 swimmers took part ranging in ages from four all the way up to 16. This is a brilliant turn out and those who organised it have had to order more badges because of the amazing goal smashing distances achieved.
“Due to those 85 swimmers a grand total of 3053 lengths were swum, absolutely brilliant, also this meant that overall a distance of 100,762m or 62.61 miles was covered, this is almost three times the distance of the English Channel. This resulted in many tired children who deserved every bit of praise they received. Well done to everyone.”
The event was a sponsored event which raised £300 for Dorothy House Hospice. Many of the swimmers who took part presented a cheque to Yvonne Brunton from Dorothy House.
Yvonne Brunton, community fundraiser said, “It’s my privilege to represent the hospice and always incredibly heart-warming when youngsters choose to give up their time to support us. I would like to said a very big thank you to everyone involved – from the teenagers who organised the event to the tiny tots who took part – they are all making a real difference to the lives of so many of our patients and their families.
“It’s events like these that help us continue our package of care – we literally couldn’t do it without them!”
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