Published on: 12 June 2015




On Friday 6 June, three Christ Church boys embarked on a challenging fundraising effort for Romsey House. Their aim was to swim for 24 hours, raising money and awareness for Romsey’s house charity, the Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation.

Jeremy Hopkins (Year 12), Byron Hall (Year 12), and Nick Throssell (Year 11) each swam for eight hours with a combined total of 1742 laps or nearly 90km. In the final hours of their swim, the students and staff of Romsey joined the boys at the swimming pool to support them though the last stretch.

“The boys were magnificent, it was a huge effort for a great cause,” said Mr Alec Barbour, Romsey Head of House.

“The support team, including the House Prefects were equally as impressive with round the clock supervision and support. They should all feel very proud of their achievement”.

There were swimming relays, heads shaved, a sausage sizzle and a biathlon relay, all organised to raise money for the Children’s Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation. The Romsey House Sundowner was held at the culmination of the event, with almost 300 staff, parents and boys in attendance. All in all, it was a very successful fundraising effort, with the total funds estimated to eclipse the $5000 target.

“None of this would have been possible without a large amount of work behind the scenes. Thank you to the people who put their time and effort into organising the event to ensure it ran smoothly,” said Henry Louden, Captain of Romsey House.

“I would like to acknowledge to Mr Alec Barbour, Mr Rob Vickery, Dalton Whittle, Luke Foley and Hunter Jackson who stayed overnight to support the swimmers and ensure they stayed safe. A huge thanks must also go to the members of the North Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club, who volunteered their time to ensure the safety requirements of the event were met and to Mr and Mrs Throssell for suppling and cooking breakfast in the early hours of Saturday morning”.