By Saul Cooke-Black

A GROUP of Wycliffe College students raised more than £1,000 for The Elms Care Home in Stonehouse by running and rowing the distance of the English Channel.

A team of eight runners set off from the Stonehouse school in a relay to King’s Walk, Gloucester, with each runner covering three miles.

The second group of seven then went to King’s walk shopping centre to row the equivalent distance of the English Channel on a rowing machine.

Vikki Diamond, activity co-ordinator at The Elms, said: “The money will go into our Amenity Fund to enable residents to have a better quality of life.

“We are planning to get some therapy donkeys down in the summer and we would like to use the funds to buy a kindle tablet for reading.

“We are grateful to the students and in particular to Anna Fishwick who has done a number of events to help raise funds for the care home.”

Anna, 18, has been volunteering at the care home for the past seven months, running games and reminiscing sessions with residents. She wanted to raise awareness about the care home to help support staff and residents.

The week after the running and rowing challenge on Sunday April 26 she arranged an auction and raffle at Wycliffe.

Fifteen prefects and five members of staff were auctioned off for the day, while a raffle was held to be headteacher.

The auction and raffle took the total raised to nearly £2,000.

Anna said: “I am absolutely thrilled. The total exceeded anything I could have ever expected.

“The Elms rely heavily on charity so the money will make a big difference.

"I was overjoyed to tell them how much we had raised.

“The challenge was hard and a bit nerve-racking but definitely worth it.”

Anyone wanting to donate can visit the website gofundme.com/qarhk8