On Sunday 15^th May at Abingdon on the banks of the Thames, the ‘Wittenham Warriors’ made their mark at the sixth annual Dragon Boat Day organised by the Rotary Club Of Abingdon Vesper.

The team consisted of twenty enthusiastic ladies (Dragonettes) who had pledged to raise the £2000 necessary to enter the race. This was achieved by holding fundraising events over the past few months.

Our first event was the Easter Egg Treasure Hunt held in Long Wittenham on Easter Monday. Family teams from the village and beyond enjoyed a pleasant sunny morning tracking their way around the village following clues and solving puzzles as they went. The children particularly enjoyed the egg hunt in the garden of one of our supporters. The event finished with refreshments and a raffle.

Our second event was the fabulous ‘Sheer Indulgence’ evening - ladies only! This took place at Long Wittenham Primary School and was a huge success. The team transformed every inch of the school into an oasis of calm and tranquility - yes we really did! Each classroom was given a complete makeover and looked and smelt beautiful.

Ladies came from far and wide to enjoy the skills of the many therapists who gave up their evening to come and support us. We had such delights as Indian Head massage, Tongue reading, aromatherapy and Reki, not to mention Hot Stone massage and Life Coaching! When the ladies weren’t being pampered they were able to shop in the retail village (school hall), on offer here was jewellery, make up, bags and bangles plus ’naughty’ chocolate and glasses of wine! The evening was wonderful and so very well supported by our local ladies, thank you.

Our final fund-raising event was the ‘Curry Night’ an event not likely to be forgotten for some time in Wittenham! Again the amazingly talented ‘Dragonettes’ came up trumps and with some help from ‘Indian’ connections from Oxford, transformed the village hall into the Taj Mahal. Our diners were treated to a sumptuous banquet of home -made curries and Indian delicacies, whilst lounging on rugs and cushions (yes we really did make guests sit on the floor - it added to the ambience of the night!). The climax to the evening was a performance of Indian/Belly Dancing - a group of brave and plucky Dragonettes put on an amazing display that had the audience spellbound. This was followed by some male members of the audience picked at random(?) who joined the ladies and took part in a light hearted competition to find the best dancing pair. Again the audience was transfixed only this time it was with laughter!

And so to the climax of the months of hard work (but tremendous fun)……….the race itself!

Sunday dawned with blue skies and sunshine, the perfect start to an amazing day. The Dragonettes performed brilliantly, we came second to last in the overall competition, we were the fastest and only all women’s team and we won the Fancy dress prize! But most importantly of all, we had tremendous fun together with our families and supporters.

Due to the overwhelming support of local people we have exceed our target of £2000 and hopefully once all the money is in the total should be in the region of £4000. An amazing achievement by a group of very talented local women who know how to put the FUN into fundraising. One third of the money will go to The Rotary club for distribution amongst local and national charities and the other two thirds will be divided between Against Breast Cancer, Long Wittenham Pre School and Long Wittenham Primary School.

Thank you all for your support.

Sally Richards (Dragonette Captain)