PUPILS and staff at Terrington Hall School rowed across Lake Titicaca six times and raised more than £2,000 for the school’s nominated charity.

What’s more, they achieved their goal without actually leaving the school grounds – clocking up the 730km on rowing machines in the school sports hall during a sponsored rowathon.

Even seven visiting rugby teams joined in the effort, using the charity event as a warm up before entering Terrington Hall’s U13 rugby sevens tournament that day.

The money raised will go to Amantani UK, a registered charity set up by 21-year-old former Terringtonian Freddie Branson in May 2008. Operating in Ccorca, the poorest region of Peru, Amantani UK has set up two girls’ boarding schools in the region providing food, shelter, education, personal development workshops and vocational training for the vulnerable and abandoned.

Some typical costs of the project include £12 for a girl’s exercise books for a year and £19 for the bread-baking teacher’s monthly wage while £50 funds the all-inclusive monthly cost of a girl at the boarding school.

So far the charity has transformed the lives of 40 destitute girls through its pioneering work.

Terrington Hall School has so far raised £3,200 for the charity through plays, concerts and fundraising events.