The equivalent of 29 elephants, or 17 double-decker buses, was lifted by members of Canterbury’s local American football team, the East Kent Mavericks, as part of a sponsored ‘lift-a-thon’ on Saturday at Kingsmead Leisure centre. The event was closely monitored by the helpful members of staff in the fitness centre and was attended by the Lord Mayor and her family.The players took it in turn to bench-press 50kg, or seven and a half stone, as many times as they could in an hour to raise money for the Lady Mayoress’ charity- The Footlights Trust and the East Kent Mavericks youth team.

Members of the Mavericks Youth team completed a gruelling 1 hour iron man challenge to raise money for equipment and the Mavericks nominated charity for this event the St.Johns Ambulance. In total the team ran over 5 miles, performed over 1,200 press ups, 1,400 sit ups and 1,300 squat jumps raising nearly £600 for Canterbury St. Johns Ambulance.