Almost £1K Raised Swimming for Petals

Biology and Psychology teacher, Jo Toovey, celebrated this week having raised almost £1,000 with students involved in a charity Swimathon for baby loss charity, Petals. The good news was shared with the school during a Collect today recognising the collective contribution members of the community, led by Jo, have made.

The swimathon took place to mark the reopening of the school’s refurbished swimming pool in January and raised £570 directly plus a further £385 via JustGiving. The event supplemented Jo’s own outdoor swimming commitment for the charity to swim a minimum of 1,000 metres al fresco in open water every month between November and March, the chilliest time in the open water swimming season.

Having proudly raised a total of £955 with the support of family, students, parents, staff and members of the wider community Jo was given a finisher’s certificate, together with a t-shirt and medal. Fundraising Manager, Narissa Gibb, representing Petals, wrote to Jo expressing gratitude on her achievement: “It’s so good to hear from you and congratulations on completing your challenge. What a fantastic amount of money to have raised for Petals, thank you so much.” Reflecting on her experience, Jo said, “When I started this challenge,  I expected to raise perhaps a couple of hundred pounds. I am so, so proud of our community coming together to support Petals in raising such a wonderful amount of money. The challenge has also opened up conversations about a topic people often don’t talk about. I have had personal messages of encouragement and support for my own challenge and the swimathon from across our community.  What special place LP is.”