Ex-army major rows to Isle of Wight in DIY boat for Ukraine
- Published
A retired 81-year-old army major has rowed across the Solent in a homemade tin boat for a charity helping Ukrainian refugees.
Michael Stanley, from Chichester known as "Major Mick", set off in Tintanic II from Hurst Castle to Colwell Bay, Isle of Wight, shortly after 06:30 BST.
He said the crossing of about a mile (1.6km), which took about an hour, "couldn't have been better".
Mr Stanley has to date raised more than £8,000 for Children on the Edge.
The row was one of several planned to raise funds for the charity who help Ukrainian refugees crossing the border to Moldova and Romania.
He said: "The Ukrainians need every help they can possibly get.
"I just felt that if I could raise a few pounds for them, it's a drop in the ocean but it's something rather than nothing."
Mr Stanley, who served in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards for 35 years, has included trips across the Beaulieu river in the New Forest and the Serpentine in Hyde Park.
He made the Tintanic out of two sheets of corrugated iron in March 2020, the year he started rowing.
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