Wrekin Rowers to visit Wellington town centre as part of fundraising efforts
Four Shropshire men who are taking part in ‘the world’s toughest row race’ are bringing their boat into the centre of Wellington this month to promote their fundraising efforts.
Stuart Shepherd, Martin Skehan and brothers Gary Richards and Stuart Richards, who call themselves The Wrekin Rowers, are competing in the 3,000 mile Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, starting on December 12 this year.
The four members of the Shropshire Adventure Rowing Club aim to raise £100,000 for two charities - Severn Hospice and the RNIB – and have already collected £68,000 towards this target.
“We are all from the Wellington area and will be in the town centre on September 18 to raise awareness of the event and hopefully encourage people to donate,” said Stuart.
“When we were thinking which cause to support during the row, there was no discussion, we all knew it had to be Severn Hospice as the charity looked after several of their close friends and family members.
“And we have chosen the RNIB as Stuart Richards is visually impaired and Martin works as a community optometrist for Specsavers.
“We are funding the full cost of entering this race ourselves and promise that any donations we receive will be used entirely to help our two chosen charities.
“We are just four normal people with a limited rowing background that want to achieve something different. Fewer people have rowed an ocean than have climbed Mount Everest.
“Living within a few miles of one another in the beautiful county of Shropshire, we can all see the Wrekin landmark from our homes. This inspired us to call our team Wrekin Rowers and we hope Wellington will get behind us,” Stuart added.
The Orbit cinema in Wellington plans to show the film Hell and High Water at a lower admission price than usual and will be giving some of the ticket price to the rowers’ charities.
