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Back in 1981, with Margaret Thatcher as UK Prime Minister, between 3-10 July there were riots in over 25 cities across the country, including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Luton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bedford, Edinburgh, Huddersfield and Chester(!), and police used CS gas for the first time to control the disorder; Chris Evert and John McEnroe won the Wimbledon tennis finals; the video game “Donkey Kong” was first released by Nintendo; and British Leyland ended their 12 year production of the Austin Maxi. There were also two notable crossings of the English Channel; firstly by the Solar Challenger, an airplane powered entirely by the sun, and secondly by myself, my brother and four friends from Oundle and Laxton schools, and with my father as team coach; we each swam for an hour before handing over to the next in line and completed the 44 km swim in 9 hours and 38 minutes (only a few hours longer than the plane!).

How things have changed, yet stayed the same - Whilst nobody can predict the political fall-out of the recent UK general election over the next 12 months, although it can’t be that far-fetched to expect the same level of Brexit protests and anti-May sentiment as was shown to Thatcher; or whether Andy Murray might win Wimbledon again (in 2018); or if there will be another computer virus that shuts down the NHS or British Airways; or if Brexit prompts Airbus to close its wing assembly plant to move to Europe; or if Solar Impulse makes another flight around the world; but I can be certain that, after a gap of 37 years, I shall be re-entering the sea at Dover between 3-10 July 2018 with a team of swimmers from the Alexa Trust to repeat the channel relay swim.

The Alexa Trust Channel Relay was setup Howard James, to support parents who have to spend time caring for their children in neonatal wards. Last year Howard James broke a 37 year old record by opening and closing the English Channel swimming season by completing the earliest crossing on 16th May and the latest crossing on 3rd November, beating the record previously held by the legendary Michael Read. I was 15 when I swam the channel in 1981 and will be 52 when we swim next year, so perhaps that 37 year gap is also some kind of record!

Since I have raised the £350 fundraising target for Alexa Trust, I shall also raise money for Freedom from Torture and for the Papworth Hospital Charity, the latter since for 32 of the 37 years since my last swim, my father has been living with a heart transplant, which he had at Papworth, which has to be another record.

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