In pictures: Maidenhead Swimarathon raises thousands of pounds

Maidenhead’s annual Swimarathon returned over the weekend – raising tens of thousands of pounds for good causes.

The Swimarathon is an annual fundraiser event organised by the Lions Club of Maidenhead every January.

Each year, dozens of teams complete relays in the Braywick Leisure Centre pool for 12 hours.

The teams are made up of participants from organisations such as schools, churches and local authorities, with each team nominating a good cause to benefit from their fundraising.

Half of the funds will be donated to the teams’ chosen charities and the other half goes to the Lions Club to donate to the community throughout the year.

Maidenhead MP Theresa May and the Royal Borough mayor, Councillor Christine Bateson, visited the swimmers at the event on Sunday, which saw 119 teams take part.

Club secretary, Brenda Butler described the popular Swimarathon as ‘a virtuous circle of working together, exercise and the little children striving so hard’.

She added: “Everybody’s happy and pleased and it’s just wonderful.”

Brenda said the event has raised £25,000 so far and added: “My big ambition was to achieve £30,000 to beat last year and I think we’re going to do that.

“I would really like to achieve a £38,000 figure because it’s our 38th year of the marathon and it would sort of be fitting”.

Brenda added: “We award a President’s Cup for the team that best symbolises the ethos of the event and this year [the winner is] Cox Green School, which had nine teams and they all had such a great time and they were raising money for Alexander Divine Children’s Hospice.”