A TEAM of restaurant workers rowed a century-old lifeboat on the River Ouse for charity.

The William Riley of Birmingham & Leamington lifeboat is a 34-foot long, three-ton wooden boat, originally built in 1909, which operated in Whitby. It fell into disrepair, but was bought and restored in 2005, and is now used mainly for charitable causes.

Rhys Carlyle is deputy general manager of The Star Inn The City, and put together the 11-strong team to row seven miles along the River Ouse, from Beningbrough Hall to the restaurant, and raise money for the York Rescue Boat.

He said: "None of us have had any experience rowing, so it's been even more of a challenge for us, I suppose, but it's nice to step into the shoes of the volunteers who were manning the lifeboat back in the day.

"The river's like a millpond today, nice and calm. They gave us a flypast on the support boat to create some waves and see what it was like with a bit of chop, and it wasn't very easy, but nothing compared to what it could be in the North Sea."

David Mapplethorpe works with the Whitby Lifeboat Charitable Trust and helped man the William Riley during the challenge, which took the rowers about two hours.

He said: "It's been brilliant.

"They've done seven miles back down the river, and by the time they got here they were well practised, so we were quite pleased with them."

David Wilson from the York Rescue Boat was in a support craft alongside and ahead of the rowers, and said the money raised - which stood at more than £1,000 by the time the challenge ended on Friday afternoon - would be much appreciated.

He said: "A thousand pounds for us is brilliant.

"It will keep us operational for a good couple of months. There's always costs, there's always expenditure, and something like this, especially support from a business alongside the River Ouse is fantastic to see."