Raises money for legal charities
A BPP University Law School student has completed 200 lengths of her local swimming pool — all while wearing a plastic mermaid tail.
Halo Garrity’s aquatic efforts formed part of the London Legal Walk’s 10xChallenge, a more social distancing-friendly version of the annual 10km charity jaunt round the streets of the capital.
Although the pandemic forced organisers to cancel the official walk, members of the legal community were this week encouraged to complete an activity of their choice based around the numbers 10, 100, 1000, etc — whether that’s walking, running, cycling or in Garrity’s case, splashing around her local pool.
Garrity, who is studying towards a LLM at BPP’s Birmingham branch, is raising money on behalf of the London Legal Support Trust (LLST) and Citizens Advice Havering.
“In previous years I’ve fundraised for the walking challenge in Birmingham, but this year offered the opportunity to do something different,” Garrity told Legal Cheek. “There’s not been a lot of fun to be had under lockdown so I wanted to do something that made people smile, whilst still providing a decent challenge for people to sponsor.”
She continued: “I managed 200 lengths over four sessions. Hard work, especially with the tight turns at the ends of the lane, but great fun.”
Garrity worked in project management before pursuing a career in the circus as a self-styled “professional mermaid”. Now on the path to becoming a solicitor, Garrity says “there’s an obvious dad joke to be made here about specialising in FinTech — but I’m trying to be better than that”.
Over 4,500 participants from across the legal sector took part in this year’s 10xChallenge, according to event organiser LLST, raising a whopping £430,000 for local advice centres in the process. Other eye-catching efforts included 10,000 spins of a hula hoop, a team walking 10km dressed as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and running 10km while kicking a football.