Major Mick nominated for national award for his Tintanic fundraising

The Army veteran has raised more than £10,000 for the Children on the Edge charity.

Michael Stanley, known as ‘Major Mick’ has rowed more than 350 miles in total during his fundraising campaign (Ben Mitchell/PA) (PA Archive)

Army veteran Major Mick Stanley has been named as a finalist for a national award recognising his fundraising efforts in his home-made Tintanic boat.

The 82-year-old from Chichester, West Sussex, has collected more than £10,000 for the Children on the Edge charity, which supports families in Ukraine, by rowing 125 miles across lakes and rivers in Britain in the past year.

And since 2020, Mr Stanley has rowed more than 350 miles in the two iterations of his boat meeting King Charles and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson along the way.

Now Mr Stanley, who is completing a final set of fundraising rows this year, has been nominated for the Creative Fundraiser of the Year in the GoCardless JustGiving Awards taking place in September.

Mr Stanley, who served 35 years in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, told the PA news agency: “I am obviously very pleased to be nominated, I have had a fantastic three-and-a-half years of rowing for charity and extremely interesting people have been very kind I have had an enormous amount of fun.

“It’s been a great adventure from start to finish with meeting the King at the jubilee celebrations and Boris Johnson in Downing Street was great fun and the King was very charming and very supportive.”

After being nominated by members of the public, Mr Stanley was selected as a finalist by a panel of judges, which included radio DJ Rickie Haywood-Williams, actress Angela Griffin, longstanding fundraiser Caroline Jones and general manager of JustGiving, Pascale Harvie.

Ms Harvie said: “Our fundraisers and crowdfunders are amazing and whilst they don’t do what they do for praise and recognition, every single person like Major Mick deserves it.”

Members of the public can vote for the winners at: https://page.justgiving.com/awardsvoting2023