Local charity Phyllis Tuckwell has recently received a donation of £396.17 from Fins Swimming Club.

Fins is an award-winning, not-for-profit community club which offers swimming lessons to babies, pre-schoolers, children and adults. The money was raised through the club’s Distance Day, an annual event which sees Fins swimmers and their families take on the challenge of swimming as far as they can, without the usual half hour time constraint of lessons. All Fins swimmers are welcome, whatever their level and ability. Each sets themselves a goal of a distance they would like to swim, and gets sponsored, making the day a fundraising event as well as a club community day.

This year’s Distance Day was held on 1st June and raised money for three charities: Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and East to West. An outstanding £1,180.50 was raised in total, which was divided among the three charities.

Anna Strong, Director at Fins said “Our teachers are asked to nominate two local charities as beneficiaries for the Distance Day, and they chose East to West, a charity which helps young people through emotional upheavals and Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care, which provides supportive and end of life care for adult patients and families who are living with an advanced or terminal illness, such as cancer, in West Surrey and North East Hampshire. Each year we also nominate a water-based charity, and we chose the RNLI. Thank you to everyone who took part in this wonderful event!”

“We would like to thank Fins for this wonderful donation, which could pay for two days’ care from one of our In-Patient Unit (IPU) nurses. These nurses care for up to five patients, providing 24-hour nursing care and offering emotional support to their families and carers too,” said Charli Quay-Barnham, Community Fundraising Manager at Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care.

If you would like to find out about how to raise money for Phyllis Tuckwell, visit www.pth.org.uk/community-fundraising.