GOING TO GREAT LENGTHS
A VILLAGE rose queen swam 40 lengths to support her village hall.
Last May, Eden Hargreaves was crowned Flash Rose Queen. And part of her duties is to fundraise for a charity, so Eden decided to help towards the upkeep of Quarnford Memorial Hall in Flash.
To raise funds Eden decided to complete a sponsored swim at Brough Park Leisure Centre in Leek.
Mum, Marie, said: “We have run this as a swimming event from Flash to the sea level and back again. Flash is the highest village in the UK, and sits 1,514 feet above sea level, so Eden swam 3,028 feet, which is actually about 37 lengths of the main pool.
“This was enough of a challenge without it being too overwhelming for her.
“One of Eden’s duties as Rose Queen is to hold a fundraising event for a charity of the Queens choice so she decided to raise funds towards the upkeep of Quarnford Memorial Hall in Flash, by completing the sponsored swim.”
Eden, 13, who attends St Edward’s Academy in Leek, said the event was hard and tiring but well worth completing so she could support her village hall.
She said: “All the sponsorship is not yet in and people can still donate to my justgiving page, but I hope to raise a few hundred pounds when it is all collected in.
“A representative from the village hall was present at the swim to watch me complete the 37 lengths. However I went on to do 40 lengths in just under one hour.”
Eden went to school in Flash from the age of four until the school closed in 2012. She was the last girl at Flash school, along with six boys.
The school had close links to the village church and the surrounding community.
The annual Rose Queen is a popular traditional village event, and a girl from Flash becomes the Rose Queen for the year.
She attends lots of local events and represents Flash at events in other villages.
The village hall features at the heart of many local events, including weddings, funerals, birthday parties and fashion shows.
The day to day running of the village hall is funded completely from donations and money raised by the community.
It is manned by volunteers who give their time freely to keep this essential village amenity open to all.
Anyone who wishes to donate to Eden’s swimming fund can go to her Justgiving page, which has been set up for anyone who would like to donate online, and can be found at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/flashrosequeen2018.