YOUNGSTERS in Immingham have raised money for three good causes after a charity swimathon.
More than 60 members of the Pilgrim Swimming Club took to the pool in May and raised their own sponsorship.
A grand total of £2,100 was raised, providing £700 each for St Andrew's Children's Hospice, LIVES first responders and Isabella Smith, a four-year-old girl from Immingham diagnosed with Loeys-Dietz syndrome, a connective tissue disorder.
Members of the LIVES Cleethorpes South responder group visited the club to receive the cheque and gave the youngsters some lifesaving instruction in return.
Coach Mary Clark said: "We always support our local charities and good causes, we usually alternate each year between the Hospice and Wish Upon A Star, and then find two others.
"We knew LIVES were struggling in this area and we know people who have been helped by them so we wanted to do something.
"The sponsored swim was a fantastic event and saw many of our swimmers beat their previous records."
Steve Hyde, marketing and fundraising co-ordinator for LIVES, said the money would provide vital extra equipment for the groups in the local area.
"One of the problems in this area is a lack of kit and responders are having to pass the kit over," he said.
"It makes it a lot more difficult for responders to work and loses time when they could be on duty.
"It's much more difficult in urban areas like this because we need more responders.
"It's a notoriously difficult area for East Midlands Ambulance Service to hit their targets.
"We hope excellent donations like this will help to raise our profile around here. It is a very worthwhile cause, many people think we are funded by EMAS or the NHS but we rely entirely on donations and require £1 million a year to run.
"Local responder groups alone require around £2,000 to operate."
Anyone interested in becoming a first responder in the Grimsby area can call Michelle Preston on 07900 611184 or visit www.lives.org.uk
