TEAMS of swimmers took a break from the sun on Sunday to help raise funds for charity at the Swimarathon in Ringwood, raising more than £1,000.

Ringwood and Fordingbridge Lions Club organised the event, which saw seven teams of up to six swimmers do 740 lengths, including Ringwood Town FC Under-11s.

Each team taking part in the event at Ringwood Health and Leisure Club was raising cash through sponsorship for their own choice of charity or project, with half of the money raised donated to the Lions’ own charitable trust for community projects.

Teams included two from Ringwood School, one raising funds for a project in Borneo, the other for Ringwood food bank, while another team came from Fordingbridge Air Cadets.

Lions president Stephen Sherring said they were delighted with how it went.

He said: “We have not done a swimarathon for a while, but we decided to start it up again this year, and it was great to have such an enthusiastic response.”

“Since it was the first and we weren’t sure how many teams would take part we decided to let people nominate different charities, but next year we might pick one charity to benefit.”

Mr Sherring said the Lions have donated £15,000 over the past 12 months, to causes as varied as the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, Wessex Heartbeat and a reading project for youngsters at Ringwood School.