Three veteran Norfolk paddlers with a combined age of 245 are calling on kayakers and rowers across East Anglia to help raise £10,000 for mental health charity YANA.
Norfolk farmer Henry Kilvert (73), Rod Hunt (87) and John Rampling (86) are taking to the water for the YANA Challenge 2026. Dubbed the “Three Old Men in Boats”, they are asking supporters to collectively paddle or row at least 500 miles. Participants are being asked to record their mileage and seek sponsorship, adding their distance to the trio’s total before the end of September. Promotional material includes a QR code linking to further information and fundraising details.
Diverse backgrounds
The campaign will support YANA – You Are Not Alone – which provides a confidential helpline, funded counselling and mental health awareness training for farmers, growers and others in rural businesses across East Anglia.
The three organisers bring experience from agriculture, business, education and charitable work. Mr Kilvert is a retired agricultural surveyor and mid-Norfolk farmer whose combinable-crop business is now contract-farmed.
Mr Hunt is the children’s author behind the Oxford Reading Tree characters Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy. A former teacher, he became a full-time writer in 1979 and received an MBE for services to literature in 2008. He is also involved with Holt Rotary.
Mr Rampling received the British Empire Medal for community service in 2025. His working career was in insurance and loss adjusting. He works with Holt Rotary on education and rural poverty and helped establish the Book Aid charity.
Mr Kilvert is a former YANA chair of trustees. During his tenure, the organisation became an independent charity, established a live helpline and expanded its coverage from Norfolk and Suffolk into Essex and Cambridgeshire.
The trio hopes other paddlers and rowers will now turn their own summer mileage into additional support. Their message is simple: “kayak for a cause, paddle for a purpose, row for a reason”. For full details, visit www.yanahelp.org