Sign up for the Thame Swimathon!

ROTARY Club of Thame & District are appealing to the public to come up with teams to attend the eighth edition of Thame Swimathon, the now traditional fun and fundraising event to be held at Thame Leisure Centre on Sunday, March 1, between 11am and 3pm.

There are about 10 spaces left for teams of between four and six during the 11:00, 12:00 and 14:00 time slot.

Marius Ciortan, Chairman of the Thame Swimathon steering group, said: “Thame Swimathon is a wonderful event for families, school friends, work colleagues to raise funds for charity, swim for one hour and have fun. To enter it’s as easy as 1-2-3: get a team of 4-6 together, download the Team Entry Form from www.thame.rotary1090.org, fill in the form and then email it to thame.swimathon@btintenet.com“

The organisers hope that all swimming slots will be booked before the end of the schools’ half term holidays due to start on the February 14. All participants will receive medals awarded by Ann Midwinter, Mayor of Thame, or by Peter Allen, President of the Rotary Club of Thame & District.

Teams have the option to allocate 50% of their money raised towards the charity of their choice or 100% towards Rotary’s charities. In both cases all monies will be collected by Rotary Club of Thame & District and they will apply for Gift Aid as appropriate. Once this process is completed, Rotary Club of Thame & District will make a donation towards the charity of a team’s choice, should this option be taken.

Rotary Club Thame & District main charities supported during 2019-2020, are Thame Young Carers, Red Kite Family Centre Thame & Chinnor, and The Maple Tree Children’s Centre Wheatley. The event is possible due to generous local sponsors who kindly cover the swimming pool hiring costs, Thame Leisure Centre and Haddenham Beer Festivals Trust. Aston Hearing Thame kindly supported the event with the cost of producing the medals.

Volunteers from Thame Inner Wheel, Wheatley Park Interact Club and Phoenix Community Club will be supporting Thame and District Rotarians with the counting of lengths swum by teams.

Five teams for Barley Hill School will participate in the Swimathon, raising funds for its PTFA – as they have done for the past three years – Thame Swimathon is now one of the main fundraisers for this parents-teachers association.

Rapid Six from John Hampden School, Thame, Wheatley Park Interact Club and Dippers & Divers will participate again this year. A team from the newly created Phoenix Community Club will be welcomed to attend.

All the teams would appreciate any support via online donations. The Virgin Money Giving links will be available on the Thame Swimathon page of the Rotary Club of Thame & District’s website www.thame.rotary1090.org and on Facebook via www.facebook.com/thamerotary