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CCAT (Croydon Community Against Trafficking) has been working for over a decade against human trafficking in its various forms. CCAT's experience has helped other similar organisations in their work in their localities, too.

The six of open-water swimmers, who swim right throughout the year, swam an hour each in rotation from England across The Channel to France,  a direct distance of over 20 miles. Two of the swimmers (plus the reserve - me) have done a Channel Relay before, so we knew what we took on. Inevitably, some of it was during night-time. In the end, the relay set off from Samphire Hoe (between Dover and Folkestone) shortly after midnight on Sunday 16th August and arrived near Wissant, France 15 hours and 34 minutes later. 

(The swim was due to start Friday 14^th August but factors including weather and tide always meant the actual date was quite likely to be different, perhaps by days or weeks or more.)

The team comprised Pip Barry (construction aftercare expert), Alfie Cunnington (GCSE student), Ian Clark (marketing guru), Chris Alexander (financial director), consttruction aftercare expert), Barbara Jennings (insurance company director), and Kathrine O’Brien (family doctor), with me (Richard Chatterjee)(pharmacist) as reserve . We are all members of South London Swimming Club, which swims throughout the year at Tooting Bec Lido and many other places (eg rivers, lakes, and seas) both in the UK and elsewhere. Once the swim started, each swimmer had to complete the allotted swims; further changes aren't allowed.

The team swam with the boat , piloted by the renowned Neil Streeter, part of the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CSPF). The crew and an official observer (Kate) were also be on board, to make sure everything was as it should be and certify the swim. 

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