12:00pm Tuesday 18th August 2009 WITH the Monmouth Raft Race only weeks away, a team from Blackwood began its preparations for the charity event
on Sunday. Transport manager Don Jones and five fellow workers at Phoenix Community Transport in Pontllanfraith have spent the last few weeks making a raft from barrels and pieces of wood. They have entered the race to raise funds for Ty Hafan and the Trinity Fields Special School in Ystrad Mynach. They chose these as they are two charities the service works with. With the event taking place on September 6, Mr Jones and his colleagues gave their raft its maiden voyage on Pen-y-Fan Pond, Oakdale on Sunday. He said: “The main thing is, seeing if it floats,” he laughed. “The warden agreed to open the park up, so we wanted to have a test run and to launch it.”
The Monmouth Raft Race is organised by the Monmouth Rotary Club and features teams paddling six and a half miles down the River Wye.