TEAMS of swimmers came together over the weekend to raise money for good causes as part of the Thornbury Rotary Swimarathon.

Originally intended to be a three-day occasion, running from Friday to Sunday, the charity swimming event faced considerable problems with Storm Emma plunging Thornbury into arctic conditions on the Friday, threatening cancellation entirely.

With the Castle School Steel Band equipment snowed in and almost half of the teams entered for the event scheduled to swim on Friday night, Rotary Club organisers were facing disappointment, but through the efforts of the Rotary Club and Thornbury Leisure Centre, the show was back on for Saturday, with proceedings being opened officially by Thornbury mayor Cllr Helen Harrison.

In total 40 teams took part in the event, swimming length after length for a range of charities, including the likes of Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and Thornbury-based children’s charity Jigsaw, with several teams including from Scouts and Brownies groups in Thornbury changing their plans so they could swim over the weekend.

One of the teams, which was swimming for Jigsaw, included Catherine Miles and her seven-year-old son Harry, who receive support from the charity for Harry’s cerebral palsy.

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The Jigsaw Swimarathon team. Picture:

Despite his physically demanding condition, Harry took to the pool as part of the team and kept going for a full hour to make an outstanding contribution to the team.

Offering praise for the incredible effort, Sarah Martin from Jigsaw, said: “We're really proud of Harry and the rest of the team in reaching 105 lengths with lots of big smiles!”

Rotary president Michael Neale said he was delighted that we were able to run the Swimarathon for two out of the three days, despite the extreme weather conditions.

A further day yet to be arranged in order to give the 20 teams that intended to swim on Friday a chance to take part.

The Swimarathon has run at this time of the year for more than 30 years, raising more than £21,000 in 2017, receiving the support of many businesses from the area, including main sponsor Berkeley Vale Motors.