A group of young swimmers from across the region have completed a sponsored swim at their club ‘in at the deep end’ to raise vital funds for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS).
561 swimmers, all with varying abilities, completed the swim between 1-10 March, with their individual fundraising goals being set to match the swimming distances they achieved.
The South Shields based club originally came up with the idea of seeing whether their pupils could swim the distance between their base, to the GNAAS offices in Darlington and back but pupils surpassed this goal.
Speaking of the reason behind the challenge, owner and director of in at the deep end, Mark McNichol, 35, said: “It’s our 10th anniversary this month and we thought it would be nice to do something a bit different.
“From a personal point of view, I can’t believe the Great North Air Ambulance is not centrally funded and it was scary how many people didn’t realise this, including our staff.
“I’ve seen you do your work before and realistically it’s that comfort and reassurance that if I, or a family member, ever needed critical intervention someone would be there when a normal ambulance couldn’t be”.
The current total is at £3,850, but with sponsors still coming in, this figure looks to increase.
One swimmer alone, who attends a Monday night class managed to raise a fantastic £653.
GNAAS is reliant on public donations to survive. To donate please visit: www.greatnorthairambulance.co.uk/donate or call 01325-487263
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