Water Great Way To Fundraise!

Colleagues at HM Revenue and Customs have risen to the challenge to drink nothing but water for 10 days. 

28 people took part in the H2Only challenge in January, raising more than £1,500 for The Lifeboat Fund.

One of those taking part was James Waters, of the Chief Digital and Information Officer Group, who recruited 20 colleagues from Benton Park View to join him. 

James - who is also a volunteer crew member at Tynemouth RNLI station - said the thing he missed most wasn't tea, coffee or alcohol, but juice:

"Not being able to have anything that had flavour on a morning was really difficult." 

Roselyn Olajide, of Individuals and Small Business Compliance in Portsmouth said:

"Early days I was experiencing headaches, but all that's gone now as I wasn't giving in to my body demands. I started having cravings for teas and coffees. Sometimes, it's just like one drop will do."

Sandra Morrison, of Large Business in Benton Park View, said:

"By doing this challenge, I've realised I'm addicted to caffeine. First couple of days into the challenge, I started to get headaches and withdrawal symptoms. Since finishing the challenge, I've bought decaf tea bags and now drink more water."

Mark Young, of Solicitor's Office and Legal Services in London, said:

"It was a lot more difficult than I thought. I hadn't realised how my day was so orientated around coffee. Headaches, dry mouth and reaching out for 'phantom coffee' that isn't there. But the real torture was I popped in to a coffee shop one morning for some water. They chose that day to give me a free coffeee on the house!"

Paul Pendleton, of CDIO in Benton Park View, said:

"The hardest part was giving up the coffee. After passing this, I realised I was losing weight. Even after the challenge had finished, I've continued with drinking water."

All the money raised from this epic challenge will help fund a new, state-of-the-art Shannon class lifeboat - Civil Service 53 - for Wells-Next-The-Sea in Norfolk.      

If you want to try to go H2Only, download our digital fundraising pack.