Staff at a prison held a charity swimathon, which helped to raise more than £400 for three good causes.

Senior officer Sean Wood organised the challenge for staff of HMP Swaleside and HMP Standford Hill in Eastchurch.

About 35 of them took part and they each had to swim the equivalent of six miles in the pool at Standford Hill.

The distance could be completed over different legs and it took three months for everyone to finish.

The sponsorship has now been collected and a total of £129 will go to the DannyBoy Trust - set up in memory of Warden Bay rifleman Daniel Holkham, who died in Afghanistan; £129 to Demelza Hospice Care for Children in Bobbing and £172 to Kent Air Ambulance.

Prison officer Ross Elderfield, who took part, said: “I enjoyed it. It was something different. I don’t normally do swimming. A lot of it I completed during my lunch hour.

“Everyone completed the challenge in their own time.”