Boxing event tops off £12k fundraising effort

A GROUP of fundraisers who have cycled 1,000 miles, climbed Yorkshire peaks and undertaken other challenges for charity have completed their efforts with a 'fight night' raising more than £12,000 for Dame Hannahs.

- By ANDY PHILLIPS

Tugboats and Dolphins CIC, a group of fundraisers who started out five years ago, topped off another incredible year of fundraising challenges with the amateur boxing event at Boringdon Park Golf Club this month.

The Fight Night event saw a group of beginners signed up to a 10-week training programme, culminating with a black tie dinner show which took their annual total past the £16,000 mark.

More than £12,000 of that has been presented to Dame Hannahs, and will be used to renovate a new sensory room at the Ivybridge charity, which supports care and learning for adults with disabilities.

Earlier this year, three members of the group cycled more than 1,000 miles from Ivybridge to Santander over 10 days, while the fundraising has also seen members hike, swim and quiz their way through 2025.

Mike Dunn said Tugboats and Dolphins started out as a casual WhatsApp group among family and friends, and saw them undertake charity swimming events at Crazywell Pool, near Princetown on Dartmoor, in the middle of winter.

But once they broke the ice - literally in the case of their first swim - they have gone from strength to strength, and raised around £65,000 for charities since 2020.