To all my friends and family...

You will all have seen the numerous status updates over the past year painting a picture of how hard I have worked to improve my swimming to a point where I feel that attempting a cross channel swim is achievable.  

I have organised this event for the benefit of a group of committed Army Cadets and adult volunteers.  There are 8 'nutters' involved in this challenge; 4 17 year old cadets and 4 21+ year old adults.  Only 6 can swim on any team so to enable all to swim, some may even be nutty enough to do it twice.

This is no mean feat!  I can assure you that I have trained very hard swimming up to 14km a week.  We are now swimming in the lakes in temperatures as low as 6.3 degrees... Endurance, stamina and a will to succeed have shone through and the Team is a real credit to the Army Cadet Force.

Why Papworth...?  Well, both my Dad and I have been treated there...  My Dad had a heart attack in 1997 and Papworth gave him a second chance...  He was fitted with his own personal defibrillator which is his guardian angel...  He and my Mum have had the chance to live their dream as a result of the work of Papworth and for that and all the other lives that they save I am forever grateful.  This event and the fundraising is my way of saying thanks for the amazing work that Papworth do to give so many people a second chance.

Please dig deep and support the valuable work that they do...  I will upload photos of the journey towards the big day from here on in and I can not wait to get this event underway.

thanks to each and every one of you. xxxx