We feel strongly that we need to add whatever we can to the rescue and relief efforts and activate our boatfolk community to help raise vital funds so we've come up with an emergency fundraising event on Wednesday 22 February to raise as much ££ as we can for the Disasters Emergency Committee Fund. Please share this event far and wide, sponsor the team, donate and join in by jumping on a rowing machine, either at the marina office, at home or in the gym!

The Portland and Weymouth Marina, boatcare, boatpoint and The Kitchen teams will be manning the rowing machines in the Portland Marina reception for 24 hours from 8am on Wednesday 22 February to 8am on Thursday 23 February and we'd love you to join us! You can drop in at any time during the 24 hours to hop on a machine or just cheer us on! We'll sort free parking while you're here, just let us know if you need to add your car registration to the iPad when you come into our reception (don't forget to park in the visitors car park opposite the dry stack if you're not a berth holder).

Even better, The Kitchen at Portland Marina will be donating 20p for every burger and 10p for every pint of Coastline Lager sold during February, so once you've done your row you can get some celebratory refreshments to restock your energy levels!

In addition to raising as much moolah as we can for the DEC fund, we're also trying to virtually row from Portland to the epicentre of the earthquake during the 24 hours, a distance of 3,500 km and you can join in at home or in the gym;

1) Do your row between 8am on Wednesday and 8am on Thursday at home or in the gym

2) Take a photo of your end distance

3) Email it to portland@boatfolk.co.uk so we can add it to our tally!

4) Let us know whether you're happy for us to tag you on our social media by giving your Instagram handle (@...) in your email

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.