HULLAVINGTON resident Linda Phipps has spent the past 10 days raising money for charity in a canoe with her partner and collie cross Jovi.

The trio are sailing the length of the Thames from Castle Eaton near Cricklade to Teddington Lock in Greater London to support a Tanzanian social worker they met while on a trip to Africa.

Despite only spending one day in a canoe in her life before setting off on her adventure, Ms Phipps, 49, said she was pleased to be doing something for her friend Jessica, a poverty-stricken Tanzanian girl who knitted jumpers to pay for her secondary school education.

She said: “It’s been a real challenge and I’m sure I’ll be glad to finally see the car that’s coming to pick us up at the end.

“But I’ve really enjoyed the experience and we’ve had some great moments.

“We’ve been camping as we go, with a stop at a friend’s house half-way.”

The addition of faithful friend Jovi posed some tricky moments early on.

“After about ten minutes from leaving the bank he had jumped overboard and I wondered how we were going to manage,” she said.

“But he calmed down after that and has been happily napping in the boat.

“We have to watch out though because every time he moves around we have to readjust our positions to keep the boat balanced.

“The biggest problem we had was when we tried to land on an island and the main area to disembark was a narrow metal walkway Jovi couldn’t use surrounded by stinging nettles.

“In the end we had to circle the island and find a spot to get him out of the boat.”

Ms Phipps and her partner Ian, 51, met while in Tanzania where they first came across Jessica, who was not only knitting jumpers to pay for her education, but breaking rocks for road building to fund her younger brother as well.

Ms Phipps said: “She is now at college training to be a social worker.

“That’s her dream, to help people.

“She’s from a very poor family and has worked so hard to get where she is.

“We’re hoping this trip will help to pay for the last two years of her training so she can become a fully qualified social worker.”

To add to their sponsorship funds, call Ian and Linda on 07501 875102.