My name is Matthew Laight, I live in Taunton and have been keeping fit by using an indoor rowing machine for the last six years. My wife tells me that it has become an obsession, I believe she is correct. Over the last two years I have moved on from casual use (3 or 4 sessions a week) to rowing - to a strict training timetable - almost every day. About a month ago, I had an idea to row a marathon, and I have been steadily increasing my training to accommodate this target. I will start at 4pm on Saturday 4th April.  I decided to combine my - frankly mad - idea with the Somerset Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund and signed up straight away. Please help if you can - I don't need to say anything about what your donation might mean. 

From a personal point of view, rowing a marathon is a pretty tough ask, so to know that I am doing it for so worthy a cause and that people will part with hard-earned cash for my sweat and toil, will be a huge incentive.

I am aiming to complete the distance in 2 hours 40 minutes, and hope to livestream the event on Facebook. So if you having nothing to do on Saturday 4th April from 4pm onwards why not watch me going absolutely nowhere for the best part of three hours? 

The Charity 

Through the Somerset Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund, we will award grants to local charities and community organisations across the county of Somerset in two stages: response and recovery. In the response phase, we will get extra money to boost efforts to provide essential support to older people and other vulnerable groups affected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak. In the recovery phase, we will fund a wider group of local charities and community organisations whose operations and finances have been affected, helping them to recover while also helping our communities get back on their feet once the outbreak eases.We will work to make sure the fund reaches the communities that need the most support. We are working closely with partners in the voluntary sector, NHS and local authorities and contacting frontline organisations to see what is needed. We have been funding the local voluntary sector for 18 years and we know a lot of these organisations very well.