AN ENGINEERING firm in Hampshire has helped raise a record-breaking £45,000 for poverty-stricken people across the world to get clean drinking water.

Crew members from Southampton’s Trant Engineering took part in Thames Water’s 19th annual raft race which is held in aid of international charity WaterAid.

Kneeling on their home-made plywood raft, the Rushington firm were first across the finish line on the Thames at Reading for the second year in a row Cash raised by the 25 sponsored rafts in the race – £45,000 and rising – will help communities in Bangladesh and other third-world countries gain access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation. Since 2011, Thames4Bangladesh has raised more than £2.1 million for WaterAid.

Trant, which employs 850 people in the UK and internationally, broke last year’s time by finishing in less than 15 minutes dressed up as members of England’s 1966 World Cup winners.

Richard Johnston, project engineer at Trant, said: “We expected to be slower because our ‘blue riband’ vessel had to be modified with a lid, at the request of the judges, so that we sat on it, rather than in it, which made paddling a lot tougher.

“On a serious note, WaterAid is close to the hearts of us all here at Trant Engineering, particularly given the fact that a lot of the work we do is for the water industry.”