Back in October 2020 (!!) I was planning a sponsored swim to raise funds for preschool, then another lockdown happened! I have been meaning to reschedule it and finally I am.

Max leaves preschool next month, just before his 4th birthday. All of my three boys have attended the preschool and I wanted this to be our last gift before Max goes to school in September.

The first time I planned this sponsored swim, I had access to a private pool. This time, I will have to overcome my fear of the local leisure centre pool and do my laps there. Some of you might find this a good enough reason to sponsor me!!

Over the years, so many of my family and friends have kindly donated time and money to events and raffles that I have helped to organise. You have sponsored the boys’ events. We are oh so grateful for every penny.

So why do I love preschool so much? Why do I spend time and money fundraising for it, in amongst the crazy, busy life of juggling work, running a house, looking after three young boys? Quite simply because I believe in its ethos - providing a fantastic start in life to children locally, regardless of their parents’ financial situation. It is the only preschool locally that does not limit access to ‘free entitlement’ through additional fees or restricted hours structures. It enables children whose families could not otherwise afford access to commercial preschool settings, to access the Early Years Foundation Stage education to which they are entitled.

It can only do this by being a charity and fundraising to ensure it has enough money to cover its costs. As with so many charities, unfortunately during the pandemic, our fundraising efforts were severely impacted.

I am setting myself a target of 20k in a month (ideally I would aim for 30k, but life is busy and I haven’t been swimming for 2 months, so I don’t want to set myself up to fail!) . Usually I do 1.5-2k in a swim. But George tells me “There are bits at the bottom of the pool Mummy” and  Luke tells me “There is dust and it is cold.” So I don’t yet know how far I will be able to swim before running off!

If anything, wish me luck! If you are happy and able to donate - thank you very much indeed.

Love Cat