Ducks make a splash for charity race

AN ANNUAL duck race went swimmingly thanks to the soaring temperatures.

The Swindon Old Town Rotary Club’s annual duck race brought out the crowds and was predicted to have raised more than £5,000.

While many people soaked up the last rays of the Bank Holiday weekend, families indulged in some old fashioned activities including wooden skittles, tombola, splat the duck and face painting.

Charlotte Mannion, president of Swindon Old Town Rotary, said: “We’ll have raised more than we have ever done before thanks to the Great British Swindon public.”

A digger tipped the plastic yellow ducks into the river near The Running Horse pub on Wootton Bassett Road, and the race was started by Sandra Fairall, landlady of The Bakers Arms in Badbury, who managed to sell over 500 ducks from her pub.

Though 5,000 £1 ducks were sold in advance, organisers predicted they had sold another 1,000 on the day thanks to the hot weather bringing the crowds out in addition to another 48 ducks sold to local firms for the drakes race at a cost of £50 or £100.

Paula Westerman, 38, of Stratton, had brought Ethan, seven, and Jorja, five, who entered the race for the first time. “It’s just a nice local thing, it brings the crowd out and we have been really lucky with the weather,” Paula said.

Half the proceeds went to Calm, the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Movement, which supports local children and families coping with the illness, and other smaller rotary charities.

Richard Crowley, chairman of Calm, whose six-year-old son Andrew is recovering from a three-year fight against leukaemia, said: “When things are so difficult and the economy’s not so great, to have people that you know like the Rotary helping us out is a big bonus.”