Last Friday 16 team members from VCCP London raised more than £10,000 for The Change Foundation after kayaking 30km down the River Thames from Greenwich to Hammersmith. Following that they immediately took to the oars for a further 10km in eight-person skerries.
The final leg of the challenge then saw the boats row into the riverside White Swan pub in Twickenham where the participants – who work for the firm of our former Trustee and long term supporter Charles Vallance – were able to relax and celebrate their achievement.
The event, a popular annual fundraiser also gives those taking part a unique view of some of London’s famous landmarks from the water – including Tower Bridge, HMS Belfast, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. It’s not all smooth sailing as rowers have to negotiate frequent river traffic and cope with strong tidal currents along the 40km of historic waterway.
“The sites you can see from the river are spectacular, but this is a real challenge.” shared our Head of Business Development Alex Bassan.
Alex added: “After negotiating 30km in a kayak as part of a two person team, rowers then have to take on the large skerries. That is really where the hard work starts. All eight rowers have to work as a team and there is no room for any mistakes. If one person messes up it upsets the whole rhythm and they have to start all over again.”
The funding raised from this event and the number of participants joining in grows year-on-year, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone that takes part and supports this incredible challenge. Thank you also to all of our TCF team that supported on the day and helped it happen.
Alex also shared: “We can’t thank everyone at VCCP enough for taking on this challenge and raising funds to change the lives of young people across London. I would like to give a special thank you to the team at the London Kayak Company, event specialist Paul Buckley, Skerry Cox, Mark Langston and our TCF Ambassador Emily Cooper who is also part of the incredible VCCP team.”
Written by Alex Bassan
