When Mansfield brothers-in-law George Nelson and Russ Davis announced they were going to row across the Atlantic Ocean unsupported to raise funds for dementia charities, a local rotary club was among the first to donate to the challenge.

Last year on 25th April George spoke to a Mansfield Rotary meeting about Oar Blimey’s journey, which started on 1st December.

Rotarians were among the hundreds of local people who followed the duo’s epic journey as their successful and often dramatic progress was updated daily on social media and by regular reports in the News Journal.

In April, George kept a promise he made a year earlier and returned to Mansfield Rotary, together with his wife, Linda, to talk about the incredible journey that was completed in March.

George recalled his amazing experience with Russ, illustrating his presentation with photographs.

Afterwards Mansfield Rotary president Paul Bacon (above right) presented Oar Blimey with a cheque for £1,000, which George accepted to add to the money being raised for Vicky McClure’s Our Dementia Choir, which rehearses at Portland College, and Ladybrook Enterprises in Mansfield.