COLCHESTER Swimming Club members raised funds for the Ukraine humanitarian appeal after organising a fun team swimming gala.

They made an impressive £1423.50 for the Disasters Emergency Committee for Ukraine following generous donations from swimmers, spectators, cake and raffle ticket sales.

Around 80 swimmers from all sections of the clubs took part, with faces painted and team colours worn.

The captains organised six teams of swimmers competing under the names of Ukrainian cities including Kviv, Odessa, Mariupol, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.

The evening proved a huge success, with Kharkiv the winning team with 108 points.

In a collective statement, Colchester SC captains and vice-captains said: “We would like to express our deepest gratitude to everyone who helped us with planning and organising such a worth while event.

"For all the volunteers on the night, the generous donations for the raffle and cake sales, and for our swimmers for taking part and being amazing as always.

"We are proud to support the Humanitarian Appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee."

Colchester SC has swimmers from the region of Europe.

And the club's captains and vice captains, swimmers and parents, moved by their humanitarian conscience, decided that they wanted to make a difference.

Helped by an army of volunteers, consisting of older swimmers, coaches, parents and grandparents, the captains ensured that the fun team swimming gala, which had a Ukrainian theme, went ahead.

Swimmers from fthe club's Junior swimmers right through to the Senior Performance squads took part in 25 events.

The final swim event was the 14-swimmer canon relay, which was worth double points.