When Rob Frood from Barclays Bank became responsible for the accounts of Woking & Sam Beare Hospice and Shooting Stars Children’s Hospice, he saw an opportunity to take on a challenge to raise money for both charities.

His colleague, Tim Sowry, literally got on board immediately and suggested a challenge that he knew he could get them both through – canoeing from one hospice to the other!

Tim is no stranger to a canoe, having represented Team GB 25 years ago.

“I was lucky enough to join my local canoe club at a young age,” says Tim. “And just by chance, it happened to be one of the best in the country. I was thrown into training with the most talented paddlers without even realising it. I no longer canoe competitively so being able to use my experience for a challenge like this was great.”

Tim and Rob set off from the River Wey, next to Shooting Stars.

“I thought I’d have an easy ride given Tim’s experience,” says Rob. “But he worked me hard as we kept in sync. Tim sat at the back of the canoe so that he could steer us in the right direction.

“New to paddling myself, I’d built up my stamina by doing park runs and training on a rowing machine. I’d also done some weight training to improve my strength as rowing uses muscles I never imagined.

“The total distance from hospice to hospice was 18.6 miles. As we set off down the River Wey, the current was in our favour, which helped to push us along.

“When the river reached the M25 motorway, we hit the junction with the Basingstoke Canal and that’s where it got really tough. Due to the lack of rainfall this summer, the water levels were low and we had to battle through the vegetation, which was something we hadn’t anticipated.

“We were also surprised by the number of locks we had to navigate. As there simply wasn’t enough water in the canal, the locks were out of use, and we had to literally climb out with the canoe at each one and get back in the other side.

“We had a support vehicle to meet us at a number of checkpoints and our friend and colleague, Jacqui, cycled alongside us the whole way carrying a first aid kit and water supplies. We completed the challenge, arriving at the canal point parallel to Woking & Sam Beare Hospice, just before 3pm.”

Tim and Rob raised £7,303, which included £2,000 match funding from Barclays and Gift Aid. They split it equally between the hospices.

“We are so thankful to Tim and Rob for doing this for both us and Shooting Stars,” says Chris Cupples, income generation officer at Woking & Sam Beare Hospice.

“The lovely thing about hospices is that we are so supportive of one another and keen to collaborate, so this challenge was the epitome of this.”

“Tim and I haven’t personally experienced hospice care,” says Rob. “But the number of people who donated to us because they knew of the amazing work that hospices do was incredible. We are already talking about what we can do next to support these two fantastic charities.”