Highland family pushes the boat out to raise money for charity hit by Covid-19 coronavirus crisis
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A family is preparing for a 26-hour rowing session in the garden this weekend to raise money for a charity which runs a global volunteering programme for young people.
The Kents, who live at Lentran near Kirkhill, have dusted down an old rowing machine to raise money for Project Trust which has paused its overseas programme and repatriated more than 200 volunteers due to the coronavirus crisis.
Parents Andrew and Jill will take part along with Michaela (25), Natalie (23), Aidan (22) and Cameron (20) who were all involved in volunteering through the organisation in Honduras, Nepal, South Africa and Cambodia.
They will start rowing at 5pm tomorrow and aim to finish at 7pm on Sunday, taking turns to do one-hour stints.
They are doing it under the 2.6 Challenge, a fundraising event created by the organisers of the London Marathon which is no longer going ahead this year.
Although they have not set a specific target, the Kents would like to achieve a distance of 260km – about the same distance from Inverness to the Isle of Coll, where Project Trust is based.
Aidan, a student at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, explained why they were getting involved.
"Project Trust is such an independent charity and it is really going to struggle to make money," he said.
"We decided to take part in the 2.6 Challenge and use our rowing machine which has not had a lot of use in the past few years. We are all novices."
But given he is studying sport science, he has been putting his knowledge to good use.
"I have been doing training for the family and getting them prepared for rowing," he said.
"I have been doing training for the past two weeks which is quite specific for the task."
Aidan, a former Charleston Academy pupil, did a year-long placement in South Africa working with vulnerable and disruptive boys from troubled backgrounds such as being part of the gang culture, or living on the streets.
As well as ensuring they attended school, he was also involved in organising sports activities.
"Project Trust was really supportive overseas," said Aidan who added his siblings had also benefited from their placements.
"It really appealed to all four of us. They offer different projects, not just relating to social care but teaching projects too."
Mrs Kent, a teacher at Kirkhill Primary School, said Project Trust had issued an urgent appeal for people to raise funds after repatriating volunteers working on various projects overseas.
"Because we are all at home, we were wondering what we could do to help raise money and decided on the rowing challenge – but I am sure I will be the weakest link!" she said.
They have set themselves a target to raise £2600.
To donate go to https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/26HourRow
