On the 6th January this year my father, Nicky Ennion, passed away due to bowel cancer. 

He introduced me to swimming, he took me to every single swimming lesson, he was on the side of the pool at every single competition. He supported me when I moved into water polo, and would drive for hours upon hours every weekend just so that I could go to the best training in the country. I remember finishing my first ever swimming gala race, and sticking my head out of the water to make sure he had seen me, before I even looked at the clock or the kids around me. I remember the first time (finally!) I ever managed to beat him in a swimming race, and I remember how proud he was of me.

He loved being on and in the water. He was a sailor through and through, and the sea was a source of joy for him throughout his life. He built boats, sailed yachts, crewed barges, restored and carefully cared for centuries old dredging smacks. He raced dinghys, lounged across the trampoline of catamarans on holiday, and would easily sail circles around me no matter the wind conditions. He was a Ocean Yachtmaster instructor, and he taught me the entire phonetic alphabet so that I could spell our surname to people properly over the phone. When larger boats started to get too much for him, he took up model boat racing and started racing nationally and internationally. He was loved by every sailing club and association that he was part of.

He would take me and my family out to sea, and throw a fender overboard behind the boat so that we could swim along behind as he sailed. He kayaked with me and my sister on our very first ever open water race, when I was 13 and she was only 11. He could hold his breath for so much longer than I ever could, and he could take us for dolphin rides on his back for the entire length of a swimming pool.

I started getting into long distance and open water swimming later on in his life. He saw me complete Jersey to France [https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/amyennion], and knew I had planned to be the first ever person to complete Guernsey to France, but he wasn't able to be with us to watch me make it.

This English Channel swim is the last swim I had planned while he was still alive. It is the last swim he knew of, and the last swim I will be able to do with those memories of planning it with him.

Every single swim I do is for my dad, and that will never change. But on Thursday 16th September 2021, I will swim the English Channel in his memory.

I love you Daddy, and I miss you so much. 

Bowel Cancer UK

We’re the UK’s leading bowel cancer charity.We fund targeted research, provide expert information and support to patients and their families, educate the public and professionals about the disease and campaign for early diagnosis and access to best treatment and care.We’re here to stop people dying of bowel cancer.