Carpenter Simon Neale made history today when he became the first person to row a small boat from Wells Sailing Club to the Fairway buoy and back single-handed on a single tide.

The trip was about six miles against the tide.

Mr Neale, 47, who is from Wells and now lives in nearby Warham, completed it in one hour and 58 minutes.

He was cheered home by a large crowd at the sailing club.

Mr Neale undertook the challenge to raise money for Rescue Wooden Boats, Homes for Wells and the RNLI.

It is not yet known exactly how much has been raised.

But, enjoying a cold pint of larger back at the sailing club after finishing, Mr Neale said: 'I expected to raise about £900 the results have at least trebled that, both in terms of how much I've raised and the number of people coming out to cheer me on.

'It's been fantastic and I never thought I'd make it under two hours.'

Wells RNLI D class lifeboat followed Mr Neale and obtained evidence of him rounding the buoy.

Mr Neale said he would like to thank everyone who supported him, including his sponsors, French's fish and chips, Joint Effort gym, Potato Innovations, Swire Shipping, Wells Harbour, The Edinburgh Inn, Norfolktvchannel.com, Arthur Howell and Coastal Photography.