Army veteran “Major Mick” Stanley has launched his latest charity venture in his homemade “Tintanic” rowing boat after being named JustGiving’s creative fundraiser of the year.
Michael Stanley, 83, was seen off by Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, as he began his fifth year of rowing the tin boat which he has previously taken as far afield as Paris, across the Solent and to Scotland. He has met the King and the Prime Minister along the way.
He won the JustGiving award last year having raised a total of £80,000 by completing 400 miles in the 6ft vessel.
He is raising the money for Children on the Edge, a Chichester-based charity which supports an orphanage near Kyiv, Ukraine.
In what he says will be his final year of rowing, Mr Stanley, from Chichester, West Sussex, said he aimed to row another 100 miles in Sussex and Hampshire as well as travel the length of the Isle of Wight from the Needles lighthouse to Bembridge lifeboat station.
Officially starting the challenge on the River Arun in Arundel, he said: “I have done 400 miles since the beginning of Covid and I am going to do another 100 before the end of the year in my fifth and last year of doing it.
“If by the end of the year I can raise another £20,000 that will be splendid.”
Of his plans to take the boat to sea off the Isle of Wight, he said: “I took it over the Solent 18 months ago so I am not frightened and I’m perfectly happy about it, it’s perfectly safe.”
Mr Stanley added that he had not made any improvements to the Tintanic which is in its second iteration.
He said: “The boat is exactly the same, a little more filler. I take it out for servicing and fill it with water and where the water leaks out I fill it in.
“It will do well for the summer, it will be a lot of fun.”
On meeting the Duke of Norfolk for the launch event, he added: “It was really nice seeing the Duke of Norfolk who was very hands on and helped me take the boat to pieces afterwards. A very practical man, very charming.”