A martial arts school in Swindon has smashed their target during a 24-hour fundraiser for charity.

Instructors and students at Gracie Swindon in Old Town set a target of £5,000 for Crohn’s and Colitis UK, a charity supporting people suffering from the two main forms of inflammatory bowel disease.

The bi-yearly fundraiser was started in 2020 by Jacob Sworder, after being hugely impacted by Crohn’s disease, watching his dad suffer from colitis, and finding out several of his students had been personally affected by the disease.

On Saturday, September 21, groups took part in non-stop Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu sparring, which Jacob describes as an "endurance event", while children donated £30 to have a big sleepover, raising £5,557 and exceeding their total of £3,800 in 2022.

Jacob said: “We had people visit from schools in Bristol, Bath, and as far as Stockport to take part. It was a huge team effort with some of the students coming in for eight, 10, or even 12 hours plus.

“There were four students who managed to do the entire 24-hour period with some rounds rest and a 30-minute power nap. A special mention for Zena Sworder, Nick Tuckett and Sam Fry, who all did the first and last round as well a whole lot in between. We lost count at around 80 but think the max was probably 120 rounds.

“At 10.30am Sunday I challenged myself to do all remaining 20 rounds (2 hours) without a round off.

“The kids sleepover made £360 towards the total.”

Ahead of the event, Jacob told the Advertiser: “Crohn’s and Colitis do a lot of good work on the research front, it’s one of those invisible illnesses where it’s not always obvious the person is sick or can even get to the point of disability at times.

“They do a lot of support to help people get PIP and stuff like that and they’re a good charity overall supporting people with an illness that people aren’t always super aware of.

“When you start talking to people, everybody seems to know people who has Crohn’s but they don’t really know what it is. It’s an illness that has affected me and affected my family hugely. Now that I’m fortunate enough to be in reasonably good health, I’d like to pay it back a bit.”