£4k raised from Thatcham Rotary duck race

On Sunday, the club launched the Great Thatcham Duck Race on the River Kennet, at the Rowbarge pub in Woolhampton.
Several hundred people turned up to watch the town mayor Mike Cole start the two races. The first was the corporate duck race involving 25 large ducks that had been sponsored by local businesses. The winning duck was sponsored by the Regency Park Hotel.
The second race consisted of 4,000 ducks which were released into the river. This time, the winning ducks had tickets purchased by Fernando Pereira, Mick Keech and Richard Roberts who won £250, £100 and £50 respectively.
The president of Thatcham Rotary Club, Frank Quinn, said that the day had been a great success and had raised more than £4,000 for charity.
He thanked the sponsors and the people who bought tickets and added that the club was now planning to host the duck race annually and that next year would be even bigger.
All profits from the day will go to mainly local charities, with some supporting the world eradication of polio – Rotary Club’s international campaign.
The Thatcham club members decided to start hosting the duck race after it announced earlier in the year that, after 30 years, it was no longer going to continue hosting the town’s annual firework display.
In March, the former Rotary president Peter Bates said that the main reason for the decision was that the site was no longer available as the owner needed it for other purposes.
However, he added that a decline in revenue and competition from other firework displays had also been a factor.