Veteran paddlers launch £10,000 Yana challenge

Three Norfolk kayakers with a combined age of 245 years are taking to the water this month in a bid to raise £10,000 for rural mental health charity You Are Not Alone (Yana).

Farmer Henry Kilvert, 73; Rod Hunt, 87; and John Rampling, 86, have dubbed themselves the “Three Old Men in Boats” for the Yana Challenge 2026 – and are urging other paddlers to help ensure they don’t go the distance alone.

Their rallying cry is: “Kayak for a cause, paddle for a purpose, row for a reason.”

Henry Kilvert, Rod Hunt and John Rampling launch their Yana challenge © Yana

See also: Hawkstone Farmers Choir gives £100,000 mental health boost

The trio are calling on kayakers and rowers across East Anglia to join them in collectively clocking up at least 500 miles by the end of September.

Participants can record their mileage, seek sponsorship and add the distance they cover to the challenge total.

Money raised will support Yana, which provides help to farmers, growers and people working in rural businesses across East Anglia.

Its services include a confidential helpline, funded counselling and mental health awareness training.

Rural support

Mr Kilvert is a retired agricultural surveyor and mid-Norfolk farmer whose combinable crop business is now contract-farmed. He is also a former chairman of Yana’s trustees and helped oversee its development into an independent charity.

During his tenure, Yana established a live helpline and expanded its coverage from Norfolk and Suffolk into Essex and Cambridgeshire. His fellow paddlers bring equally varied backgrounds to the challenge.

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.

Mr Rampling received the British Empire Medal for community service in 2025. Both are involved with Holt Rotary, where Mr Rampling works on education and rural poverty projects. He also helped establish the Book Aid charity.

To find out more and possibly donate, visit the Three Old Men In Boats JustGiving page