A former soldier from Burnham-On-Sea has completed a gruelling paddle in a BATH TUB for 17 miles along the River Avon to raise money for a military charity close to his heart.
Rob Lawrence, who served in Iraq, held the unique 24-hour challenge over the weekend in a buoyant bath tub to help Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a military charity that supports bereaved British Forces children.
As we reported here, Rob modified his own bath tub with drain pipes to give it buoyancy and also fitted a plastic gym seat for comfort.
He told Burnham-On-Sea.com after completing the challenge: “I love having a long bath, but this really took the biscuit! Overall every ache and pain was fully worth it!”
“We made it into Bristol in good time, and were then able to add on two more miles by going around the docks exploring right up until the 24-hour mark, so completing 19 miles in total.”
“It was a hard slog, but the people we met and the support along the way was amazing! The hardest thing was the lack of sleep by far. We were both a bit frazzled by the end.”
Rob explained why he did the challenge: “For some time now I’ve wanted to raise money for Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a military charity to help bereaved British Forces children. So I set myself the challenge of paddling a bath tub along the River Avon for 24 hours solid, with no sleep until it’s done, in order to raise money for the charity.”
“This is important to me, I served with Lee Scott aka ‘Scotty’ in Iraq and operated as his tank driver, so have always wanted to do something to show my support for the charity. The work that has been done with the charity in his honour is incredible.”
Rob, who lives in Berrow, has been practising locally on the Huntspill River leading up to the event. He has a fundraising Just Giving page here.
Rob had his best mate with him along the river to support him from a kayak for safety on the trip.
Photos: The bath tub fundraiser underway at the weekend (Photos Alex Christofides)
