Kayakers charitable donations

Following their recent charity kayaking expedition in France, the Munro’s Mariners team handed over the money raised to three very worthy causes yesterday, (7 January 2010).

Almost £15,000 was collected by the Munro’s Mariners, which smashed their original target of £10,000, in honour of their friend and colleague Inspector Neil Munro who tragically died in 2008.

Representatives from each of the charities received their cheques at a special presentation ceremony on Poole Quay.  The money was split between the  Special Boat Service Association, the Neo-Natal Unit at Poole Hospital and the Dorset Police Benevolent Fund.

The Munro’s Mariners team, made up of 21 staff and officers from Dorset Police, completed the 70-mile charity kayaking expedition in France – following in the fearless footsteps of Second World War commandos in the daring Operation Frankton in 1942 .

The team took to the water on Saturday, 28 November, from Pointe de Grave in south-west France.  They kayaked over four days along the Gironde and Garonne rivers, finishing at Blaye, near Bordeaux, on Tuesday 1 December. They had to contend with strong winds, horizontal rain and some nasty blisters and strains during the expedition.

The majority of the team returned from France on 2 December. However, expedition member and Dorset Police Superintendent, Mick Rogers, PC Gary Jones and the High Sheriff of Dorset Vicky McDonaugh stayed on until Saturday 5 December to complete the 103-mile walk originally completed by the ‘Cockleshell Heroes’ of Operation Frankton.

Gill Clark, from Weymouth, is the daughter of Bill Sparks, one of the original ‘Cockleshell Heroes’. Gill attended the presentation event at Poole Quay yesterday. She said: “The amount of money that they have raised is amazing.

“They did really well to complete the challenge and they will have needed to have done so much training to complete it.

“All of the hours of kayaking they had to do in those conditions, which can be treacherous, is a fantastic achievement.”

Expedition member and Dorset Police Superintendent, Mick Rogers, said: “I and the rest of the team are very proud and pleased that we completed this very physically and mentally gruelling challenge in memory of a very fine and highly respected police officer. I’d like to thank the many people who have supported us.

“We initially aimed to raise £10,000 for these three very worthy causes, but to have exceeded that target by almost £5,000 is a tremendous achievement and we were delighted to hand over the cheques.”