Following the death of my brother Adam last year I have been driven to do something to show him how much I love him. I decided this year that I would swim the English Channel. This venture will raise money for charities relevant to Adam and to my father, who has long suffered from Dementia. These charities are Mondo Challenge Foundation (www.mondochallengefoundation.org) and for Alzheimer's Research UK (www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/).

Mondo Challenge Foundation constructs and maintains schools in the Kalimpong region of India, it is here that Adam worked at one of their schools, New Rise Academy, and enjoyed one of the best times of his life.The money will help provide new teachers, further stationary and books, and also to expand the size of these schools. Currently New Rise only educates children up to 13, however we aim to raise this to 16 and hence to give the children recognised educational qualifications equivalent to GCSE’s. The aim is to alleviate poverty in rural communities and to give the children chances that they otherwise would never have had through providing education.

Alzheimers Research UK is at the forefront of the fight against dementia. The charity specialises in finding preventions, treatments and a cure for dementia. The aim is to defeat dementia through science and innovation. To give some idea to the extent of dementia; there is a new case of dementia ever 3.2 minutes in England and Wales. Dementia affects 820,000 people in the UK. Despite these figures, dementia research is desperately underfunded. I hope to help change that.

My Solo Channel Swim will be in September it is the month we were both born in and conveniently the Channel is warmest then (around 16 degrees!). In preparation for my swim I have been training hard and have recently attended a training camp in Gozo (off Malta) where I trained with former members of the Irish swim team covering 26 miles over 14 hrs of swimming in 15 degree water. Currently I am training at Dover, where the water is only 10 degrees!

The average swimmer covers around 25 miles on a successful channel crossing and no-one can guarantee success. After I have completed a top level of training my swim could still be thwarted by bad weather conditions or hypothermia (only one in three swimmers succeeds and all train hard). Hence I can only promise that I will keep swimming either until I reach France or until my body gives way to unconsciousness or hypothermia. If the latter happens I will certainly try again and again until I succeed.

All money raised will go to both charities in equal proportions. I am personally fronting the approximately £3500 pounds that it costs to do the swim. I will send all donors a letter of thanks to let them know the outcome of my Channel attempt which will take place between the 5^th-10^th of September depending on the tides (complete with a photo!).

Mum and I really hope to see you there and truly appreciate any support you can give.