Major Mick returns as Chichester's iconic tin boat gears up for another year of adventures

Major Mick, in the Tintanic. Photo: Joe Stack.

The ‘Tintanic’ is gearing up for another year of adventures ahead of a launch event at Chichester Yacht Club next month.

The event, which will see 84-year-old Major Mick Stanley set off on another fundraising row boat trip, is set to start at 11am on May 9, with the Duke of Richmond lined up to assist with the launch. Chichester MP Jessica Brown-Fuller, and Mayor Sarah Quail will also be in attendance.

It will be five years in June since Major Mick first started rowing his homemade tin boat for charity. Since then, he has raised more than £87,000 for a range of charities and travelled more than 470 miles in his homemade boat.

He’s rowed all over Scotland, England and Wales crossed the Solent to the Isle of Wight, met King Charles, the Prime Minister and won a range of awards – including the ‘creative fundraiser of the year’ award in 2023 – but he’s not done yet.

This year he’s raising money for St Wilfrid’s Hospice in Chichester, which offers palliative care for those in the last stages of their lives, and hopes to row 500 more miles and raise another £13,000 – bringing his final total to £100,000.

To hit that number, he hopes to row the full length of the Isle of Wight this summer and plans to attend the Southampton Boat Show in September and the Fontwell Race Meeting in October. He will also be conducting regular rows up and down Chichester Harbour.

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