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Picture the scene; its June 2014, rural Somerset, swimming in the picturesque Vobster Quay around a 750m circuit and there, across the water, you spot someone vaguely familiar! Well it turned out that Ian and Larisa both swam together nearly 30 years ago as part of the GB Deaf swim squad and had not seen each other since, and so started a new swimming partnership.

After a couple of open sea swims in 2014 we were wondering what to do in 2015 …… we needed a challenge! Earlier in the year we heard about the Scilly Swim Challenge that took place in September 2014; a 15 Km sea swim, swimming from island to island around the beautiful Scilly Isles …. hmmm sounds like a good challenge!

Unfortunately in November 2014 Larisa's Dad was diagnosed with cancer in the lining of the bile duct … stage 4 and was inoperable. Larisa's family had great support from the North Devon Hospice during Richard's brief illness. 

Richard died 7 weeks after his diagnosis, just after his 70th birthday.

Following Richard's untimely death we decided to use this challenge to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support to support  the excellent work they do in supporting families and in celebration of Richard Green's life.

During December we learnt that we had been successful in applying for a place in the 2015 Scilly Swim Challenge, which will take place in September and will see 150 swimmers participating this challenge.

Ian and Larisa also understand that they are the first deaf swimmers to take part in this event (and hopefully the first deaf swimmers to complete the event!)

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Open sea swimming is reliant on reasonable weather, should it be 'stormy' it is possible that the organisers will cancel the swim for safety reasons. Should this happen we hope that you will understand if we don't swim (yes we will be disappointed) but be content that your donation will still be going to a very worthwhile cause.

Many thanks for your support

Ian & Larisa