Making a splash for charity
(L•R): Hilary ldzikowska, Maeve Fox, Community Fundraising Manager UCF, Maureen McCoy and Marie Cummings. (Hilary, Maureen and Marie are all swimming coaches for the Graduates Swimming Club).
LOCAL adult swimming club, the Graduates, recently held a sponsored swim at Lagan Valley Leisureplex, to raise money for the Ulster Cancer Foundation (UCF).
Members of the Graduates swimming club took to the pool recently to swim as many lengths as they possibly could in one hour. The inspiration behind the challenge came from Graduates member Richard Dorman who wanted to raise some money and put it towards the John Connery Maracycle Team. The team is made up of 15 local cyclists who are hoping to complete the challenge of cycling 220 miles from Belfast to Dublin and back to Belfast again this June and raise £l0,000 for the Ulster Cancer Foundation in memory of the late John Connery.
A successful local artist, John, from Scarva, Co Down, sadly lost his fight with bowel cancer last July. He wrote about his personal cancer journey during 2011 in a weekly column for the News Letter newspaper.
Richard said: "My son Michael is a member of the John Connery Maracycle Team so I wanted to help raise some money towards their fundraising target of £10,000 for the Ulster Cancer Foundation. As a member of the Graduates Swimming Club, and having organised similar charity swimming challenges before, I knew the Club would be very willing to do it again and raise sponsorship for swimming as many lengths of the pool as possible in one hour for this good cause."
Maeve Fox, Community Fundraising Manager, UCF, said "I would like to thank Richard and all the members of the Graduates Swimming Club for getting involved in this sponsored swim and raising money for the Ulster Cancer Foundation. The money raised will go towards the fundraising target of £10,000 that the John Connery Maracycle Team have set themselves. All the money raised will make a very important contribution to the work of UCF helping us to continue to provide much needed care services and information for all those affected by cancer. All funds raised for UCF are spent locally to help support people with cancer in Northern Ireland."
The club season runs from September to the end of June and provides the opportunity for adult swimmers to enjoy one hour of swimming each week.
If this piques your interest, why not come down on a Thursday evening at 8.30pm to Lagan Valley Leisureplex and join in! For more information, please email info@graduatesswimmingclub.co.uk
If you would like to make a donation to the John Connery Maracycle Team, please log on to their JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/JFCCyclingTeam or contact Maeve Fox at the Ulster Cancer Foundation on 028 9068 0761 or email maevefox@ulstercancer.org
(L•R): Hilary ldzikowska, Maeve Fox, Community Fundraising Manager UCF, Maureen McCoy and Marie Cummings. (Hilary, Maureen and Marie are all swimming coaches for the Graduates Swimming Club).
Ulster Star
20/04/2012
