A SERIES of wet and wacky games at Lodmoor Country Park raised more than £15,000 for a Dorset disability charity.

Diverse Abilities, which supports more than 600 children and adults with profound physical and learning disabilities and their families, recently held its third ‘It’s a Knockout’ challenge in Weymouth.

The charity was founded by Phyllis Edwards, who is now 97 and is still involved with the charity today after her daughter Marilyn was born in 1948 with cerebral palsy.

The event, supported by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, saw record numbers of 22 teams take part in a variety of games and replicated the BBC TV show that aired during the 1960s and 1980s.

Sharon Wells, events fundraiser at Diverse Abilities, said: “We were really pleased with the turnout at the event and it’s the most number of teams we have had take part in the past three years, which is great.

“Everyone that took part had a great time and as well as having fun actively supported the work of Diverse Abilities.

“We’ve already had a number of the teams interested in next year’s event so if you think you can take on the crazy challenges, get in touch.”

Teams of up to 12 took on a number of challenges starting with a warm up and then progressing onto three team captains competing in a dance off to win points.

Following this all teams took part in six games – slippery summit, medieval madness, only fool’s gold, the washing machine super suds, all hands on deck and fe fi fo fall – and competed against the other teams to win points and be crowned first, second or third.

Dorset resident Ruth Paulus, from team Cheekyboo, took part in the challenge this year and said: “It’s a Knockout is such a fun event.

“Each game really got us working together as a team, cheering each other on and having a good laugh while raising money for a worthy cause.”

The charity also has many other events coming up during this year, including the Kamikaze Run in September, skydiving, a race night, tandem paragliding, the Castaway survival challenge, a diamond gala ball and more.

Find out more by visiting the charity’s website at diverseabilities.org.uk.

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