Admiral Nurse Campaign smashes through £80k barrier
Ron Galling and Steve Gunnell of Sidmouth Rotary Club hand over a cheque to Adrian Ford for the Admiral Nurse Campaign. Ref shs 15-16TI 8860. Picture: Terry Ife - Credit: Archant
The Admiral Nurse Campaign has raced past a momentous milestone as it draws ever-closer to securing a dementia specialist for the Sid Valley.
A record-breaking £10,767 from the Rotary Club of Sidmouth’s Swimathon has pushed the total through the £80,000 mark.
It now stands stand at £81,400 - with the target £100,000.
The club presented a cheque to Adrian Ford, of the campaign organisers Sid Valley Memory Café, at a ceremony on Wednesday.
Swimathon organiser Steve Gunnell said that online donations had played a huge part to the final total, with 20 per cent of contributions tallied up from teams’ fundraising pages.
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Mr Gunnell added: “The online donations have made a big difference to the total.
“The Swimathon has been going for 10 or 11 years and, in terms of the overall takings, this is a record year.
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“There has been only one time it has come this close and that was when we did the first Swimathon for Help For Heroes.
“We hope that it continues and we want to express our thanks to everyone who has donated.”
The rotary club raised £7,820 for the memory cafe from its swimathon in 2014 and chose to support the charity once again to support its Admiral Nurse Campaign.
Rotary president Ron Galling said: “Sidmouth has a particular need for Admiral Nurses.
“We have the second oldest population in the country and a real need for this service - and we will get there eventually.”
“It [the Swimathon] is a brilliant concept. It’s wonderful that everyone from all sorts of organisations plays their part.”
More than 20 teams took to Sidmouth’s swimming pool in October to help propel the campaign towards securing a dementia specialist for the Sid Valley.
Adrian Ford, Memory Cafe trustee, said: “It is wonderful that the Rotary Club of Sidmouth is continuing to support our campaign for an Admiral Nurse after supporting the memory café the previous year.
“This wonderful cheque will push us over £81,000.”
