A HINKLEY station director is rowing 21 miles to raise money for charity this month.

Peter Evans, who has raised more than £20,000 for charity in the past using his rowing machine, has decided to take to the water for his latest challenge.

The Hinkley Point B Station director rowed 26 miles on his 60th birthday during the height of lockdown. Also in 2020, he raised thousands with a sponsored row in the station's reception.

Later this month, Peter will be joined by a crew from Combwich Boat Club and will row 21 miles to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK.

"Rowing on a machine is a solo activity and brings with it unique challenges of keeping a target pace and never giving up," he said.

“Doing a rowing challenge on the water is going to be a really interesting twist on the challenge too, and I would like to thank the Combwich team who have reached out and made me a welcome member of the crew.

"I’m so grateful to the team at Combwich Boat Club for their support. We’re training really hard for this, because we know it won’t be easy, but also because we want to do this safely and quickly.

“This will likely be my final big fundraising push before retiring so I’m hopeful we can really break my previous fundraising record because this is such an important cause.

"Prostate Cancer UK does a magnificent job supporting men who need their help and in pushing for vital research into this condition."

The row will start in Burnham-on-Sea and will include 13 miles up the River Parrett to Bridgwater town centre, and then onto Combwich Boat Club.

The crew, made up of Bev Reason, Dave Cooke, Mike Iles, Pauline Cawkwell, Gary Simons, Trevor Reason (Cox), Bill Edwards and Pete Stobart (reserve), expect the challenge will take three-and-a-half hours.

Trevor Reason, from Combwich Boat Club, added: “I coxed a crew in the 2019 London river marathon which covers 21.6 miles from Millwall to Richmond and three of the rowers in this crew took part in that race.

"Peter has been training with us for a few weeks now and is training hard on this different rowing technique, it’s very different to rowing on a static rowing machine.

"You have to work as a crew, and the weather and tides can make conditions tricky at times. It takes stamina and at times pure guts to tough it out and row for over three hours.

"I know Peter has the determination and the blisters will heal."

Both of Peter's parents passed away in August within three weeks of each other, and he is dedicating this row to them.

So far, Peter has raised just over £5,000.

To support Peter on his challenge visit uk.virginmoneygiving.com.