A team of staff from the Sentinel found the perfect excuse to spend 24 hours in a pub – by competing in a charity pool marathon.

Three teams of two from the editorial department battled out 113 games of pool from 10am on Saturday to 10am on Sunday.

They raised almost £1,500 for the Treetops hospice which is part of the paper’s adopted charity the Donna Louise Trust.

Assistant editor Martin Tideswell organised the event which also included Pete Bossley, Duncan Robertson, Matt Forster, Seb Short and former assistant news editor Richard Firth.

Martin said: “It’s the third time we’ve done it and it was pretty gruelling! Between 2am and 10am everyone was absolutely knackered.

“I love playing pool but by the end of it I was ready to set fire to the table!

“We had a side bet where everyone threw in a tenner and those winnings also went to charity.

“The winning team was myself and Seb but it was over as a contest by midnight which made the rest of the night pretty hard.”

Martin said that a couple of players unadvisedly started drinking during the day and then found it even more difficult to make it through the night.

He said: “Two of them were well away so we had to keep prodding them when it was their turn to take a shot! But they all stuck at it.

“We all started to wake up in the morning and looked pretty crap. And then some of us had to be in at work on Monday morning at 6am!”

To date more than £4,000 has been raised by the pool marathons.

• The Donna Louise Trust was founded in 1999 with the aim of raising £5m. It provides respite care and support to life limited children and families within their own homes and through its Treetops hospice.

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