A Thames Ditton rowing club took to the Thames to recreate a race from 100 years ago to raise money for war veterans.

Members of the Dittons Skiff and Punting Club, by Hampton Court, raced down the river in a recently renovated 100-year-old rowing boat on Saturday.

The race was a recreation from Boxing Day, 1916, where rowers from the area raced the Thames to raise money for injured soldiers returning from World War One battlefields.

This year the club raised about £300 for charity Help for Heroes.

Malcolm Pembury, vice-president of the club, said: “It went very, very well in the end. I started planning it in January and it was only 10 in the morning that I got the final crew member.

“It was quite a sight to see, as far as I know this boat is unique. We’re not doing it for another 100 years that’s for sure.

“It was one those things you really had to see to say wow, this really is something else.”

The rowing club had renovated an old rowing boat, estimated to have been built between 1890 and 1900, last year and used it in the weekend’s race.

The boat has held the record for the longest distance travelled in 24 hours and had competed many times in the Great River Race, along with taking pride of place in the fleet in the Queen’s pageant in 2012.