A LANDSCAPE gardener from Essex has set himself the target of rowing a million metres for charity.

Elliot Furniss

A LANDSCAPE gardener from Essex has set himself the target of rowing a million metres for charity.

Sean Butler, 44, began his marathon rowing machine mission yesterday at a country club gym and said he is aiming to raise �10,000 that will be handed over to the NSPCC.

Mr Butler, a father-of-six from Carters Lane in Wickham Bishops, near Witham, said he wanted to do something to help children across the country after reading about the tragic case of Baby P in Haringey, London.

He said he had been reading about the problems the NSPCC faced when dealing with the high volume of calls it received and felt that by raising the cash he could do his bit for the charity.

He said: “The �10,000 makes it a significant total and I'm planning to get one million pennies for one million miles.

“I've done 20,000 metres in training already, but I didn't start that until eight weeks ago. I had a long lay-off before and the first day in the gym on the rowing machine was absolutely knackering.

“But I've only had two days off from training over Christmas and I'm aiming to do it in 10 weeks, it just depends on how I feel when I get going.”

Mr Butler will be rowing almost every day at the gym at Benton Hall Golf and Country Club near Witham and there will be other fundraising activities there during the coming weeks.

These include an unwanted Christmas present stand and a “row against the rower” challenge, allowing other people to Mr Butler on as he clocks up the miles.

To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/seanbutler1.