Chris Bond has accepted the mission of swimming the English Channel this September to raise money for the under-floor heating in St Wilfrid's Church.

This is a tremendous feat to attempt, so let's give Chris as much support as we can.

Chris writes, "The straight line distance from Dover to Calais is 21 miles but due to tidal surges and currents, and weather conditions, most swimmers end up completing up to 28 mile swims ... Essentially, I'll need to swim as fast as I can for six hours in order to maximise the tidal surge on the French side and hope I've got enough energy left to get me to the finish .

I'm paying extra for a specialised trainer: Red Top Swim company, who will be feeding me high carbohydrate hot drinks every thirty minutes or more all the way and this will make a massive difference and prevent me cramping up additionally, the boat skipper will need to navigate between the huge cargo and oil shipping traffic which passes through one of the busiest shipping routes in the world I'll have a support vessel with me all the way and an experienced skipper who has a great record of getting swimmers successfully across.

In the water, I'll need to accept being stung countless times by jellyfish and avoid large bits of debris, timber and rubbish if I can only dressed in a pair of swimming trunks, a swim hat and goggles. The only extra ingredient Im allowed is vasoline to stop stubble rubbing on the skin."

Not only will sponsorship encourage Chris in his efforts, but it will also go towards a very worthy cause: the under-floor heating will mean that our church will be consistently warm, damage from the current 'blower' system will cease, and the appearance of the church will be vastly improved.