A talk at Felsted School raised over £866 for the Because I Am a Girl campaign, run by Plan International to combat abuses such as child marriage and female genital mutilation.

The Felsted School Butler Lecture welcomed back three former Felsted students from the same family, who have between them raised over £500,000 for charity by rowing the world’s greatest ocean.

Angus Collins, who was at the school in the 1990s, his sister, Bella Collins (at the school from 2003 to 2006-06) and their uncle Charlie Pitcher, who was at the school in the 1970s, shared their stories of their separate Atlantic adventures.

Charlie, who holds the world record for rowing the Atlantic solo, led the talk in a traditional chat-show style with humorous anecdotes of the Pitcher-Collins family life.

His nephew, Angus rowed into history this year by winning the Talisker Atlantic Challenge race in a world record breaking 37 days. He said his key survival tip was to “Eat. Sleep. Row. Repeat”.

Angus’s younger sister Bella entered just hoping to complete the challenge, but her team called Row Like a Girl, saw them finish in second place, just three days behind her brother, making them the fastest and youngest female team to row the Atlantic.

One Felsted pupil was so inspired by Bella that she has signed up for a row around Great Britain next year.

The Because I Am a Girl campaign aims to support hundreds of millions of girls to live safe from violence and to get the education, skills and support they need for the future.