Countryside Properties : ROCHESTER RIVERSIDE TEAM RAISES OVER £3,700 FOR MEDWAY SUNLIGHT IN CHARITY DRAGON BOAT RACE

30/05/2018

Rochester Riverside, the £419m regeneration scheme in Medway, has fielded a team of 18 to take part in a dragon boat race organised by Medway's Sunlight Rotary Club.

The Rochester Riverside team took part to help raise funds for the Club's chosen charities, raising more than £3,700 - the largest individual sum of the day.

The team comprised of Rochester Riverside's site management team along with volunteers from Stanmore Contractors & BPTW Partnership. They joined more than 450 people across 25 teams who took part to help raise money for Medway Sunlight Rotary, whilst thousands of spectators watched on in support of the event.

Every year, the Rotary takes a group of children from Demelza and Ellenor hospices, together with their families to EuroDisney in Paris for an unforgettable, family holiday as part of its Children's Hospice Holidays.

On the day, the Rochester Riverside team raced three times in a forty-foot long boat that had been elaborately decorated. Also known as Chinese war canoes, each boat featured a dragon's head and tail.

Andy Fancy, Managing Director for North and South London at Countryside Partnerships South, said: 'It was a really fun day and it was great to see the Medway community come together to support such a great charity and well-organised event. The Rochester Riverside team did really well on the day, it was a great team effort and gives us plenty of room to improve for next year!'

The first Medway Sunlight Rotary Club Charity Dragon Boat Challenge was held in 2014 and has since been established as the Club's flagship fund-raising event.

Dragon Boat racing is an ancient Chinese tradition and the fastest growing water activity in Britain today. The sport dates back more than 2000 years where it began on China's Mi-Lo river at about 400 BC. Today, it is estimated over one million teams compete in the sport worldwide.

Rochester Riverside is the region's flagship regeneration scheme. Delivered by Countryside and Hyde over the next 12 years, it will create a new mixed-tenure community of up to 1,400 new homes with provision for a primary school, nursery, as well as a hotel, parking, open space and landscaping.

Construction at the scheme has begun on the first three phases, comprising 489 homes and a hotel, along with 2,200 sqm of commercial floorspace and landscaping. The first wave of new homes is anticipated to complete in the first quarter of 2019.