Hi guys, so I'm setting myself the challenge of swimming the Channel before the end of 2016!
In order to avoid all those horrible jelly fish and sharks and boats and stuff, I'll be doing it in the local swimming pool. There will, however, still be the challenges of floating sticky plasters and lane-hoggers... oh, and it's quite a long way too!

As many of you know, I've had an extended leave of absence from work and general life due to ill health (3 operations in 4 months as my mam is quite fond of bragging!) So I need a challenge to get me back to fighting fit!

During this time, Ward 21 at the QE gave me an incredible amount of support and are constantly fund-raising to make the ward as comfortable and welcoming as possible for the women who spend time there. So I would like to give some of the money to these lovely people who gave just the right balance of bossy caring to get me up and out of there as quickly as possible.

I'd also like to give a little something back to my amazing workplace and colleagues who have supported me through it all. It speaks volumes that 4 parents were willing to swim the actual channel to raise money for this amazingly hard-working group in order to build a multi use games area (MUGA) that is sorely needed. (Seriously - our school field is currently being considered for hosting the 2017 Swamp Olympics). Find out more about them here... https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jackiNXMUGA

I hope you agree that these are both great causes. So please give what you can! It is 35 km which according to my calculations is about 1400 lengths!