Pride of Britain 2021: Meet Regional Fundraiser of the Year finalist Frank Rothwell
Frank Rothwell shares his fundraising story with Zoe Muldoon.
It is that time of year again where we celebrate those from our communities who have given their time to raise thousands of pounds to help others.
We've been searching for the Granada Reports Pride of Britain Regional Fundraiser of the Year, and have whittled it down to four outstanding finalists.
One of them is Frank Rothwell.
The 70-year-old from Oldham took on the biggest challenge of his life when he rowed three thousand miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
He originally set himself the target of raising £500,000 for charity, but ended up raising over £1 million for Alzheimers Research UK.
He's the oldest person to complete the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, known as "the world's toughest row". But Frank is not hanging up his oars just yet, he plans to do the challenge not once, but twice, next year.
Frank said: "I'm going to make it twice as hard. I'm going to do the challenge twice in one year. The boat is going to be called 'My Valentine'. My valentine is my wife Judith, we've been together for 51 years."
Frank hopes that he will be able to raise even more money for Alzheimers Research UK when he does the 'My Valentine' challenge next year.
All this week on Granada Reports, we'll be sharing the stories of our four shortlisted nominees.
The winner will be revealed on our programme at 6pm on Friday. They'll be invited to attend the Pride of Britain ceremony in London.
What is Pride of Britain?
Pride of Britain Awards celebrate the achievements of truly remarkable people who make our world a better place.
Nominated by the public, the winners are from all walks of life, of all ages, and from all over the country. Their achievements are awe-inspiring and a lesson to us all. They say they are ordinary people, but their acts are truly extraordinary.Since the first Pride of Britain in 1999, royalty, prime ministers, and hundreds of leading figures from showbiz, sport, politics and the arts have all taken part.
Hosted by Carol Vorderman, the Awards attract an audience of around five million viewers every year in a primetime slot on ITV - making it the highest rated awards show of its kind on British television.