Pickering Rotarians raise over £16,000 for charity

Rotarians, sponsors and friends helped to raise more than £16,000 for charity in an ambitious 18 month project that involved the renovation of an old Yorkshire cobble and a rowing race in the Lake District.

Rotarians from Pickering took the cobble, turned it into a pirate ship and named it Sweet Charity before touring with it around Ryedale’s towns, agricultural shows and the Tour de Yorkshire to raise money.

But then followed the toughest challenge of all; four Rotarians and two partners of Rotarians took part in a gruelling sponsored rowing race on lakes Windermere and Ullswater. Their efforts paid off handsomely. Pickering Rotarians presented cancer care charity Marie Curie with a cheque for £12,775 and Rotary charities with £4,000 at a dinner held at Forest and Vale Hotel in Pickering.

Rotary president Luke Arnold said: ‘We wanted to tick a number of boxes. We wanted to raise the profile of Rotary, we wanted to raise a decent sum of money for charity and we wanted to have a really fantastic time doing it. We ticked all those boxes. Job done.’