Great East Swim - 1 mile in Alton Waters on 19th June 2010. 

http://www.greatswim.org/events/British-Gas-Great-East-Swim/

Firstly - surely the profile picture is worth £1 in itself?!  If I'm that red after getting into my brand new wetsuit, heaven help my blood pressure after swimming a mile.

Is it a challenge?  I've not done anything this 'physical' since leaving high school.  Yes I can currently swim a leisurely half mile in the pool.  Can I swim a full mile in cold open water?  Physically I hope so - mentally it may trigger the old 'nearly drowned in a  rip-tide' panic attacks and that's the bit that scares me.

Why do it?  Well, I gave up 'excuses' for Lent and could think of no good reason not to apply when my colleagues at the Daily Mirror offered a free place in the race.    Then a well-timed Sport Relief and Eddie Izzard tipped me over the edge of sanity.

And finally who is it for?  My Grandad - Maurice Stammers.  A man who never swam a stroke in his life but who apparently could paddle very well.  He would have loved the craziness of this idea, and coming from a man who used a toaster as a mouse trap, I am pleased to carry on the lunacy genes.  This is the poem I wrote for his funeral incase I've still not convinced you to sponsor me:

At heart he was a gardener,
he did his very best:
his leeks the size of pencils and
his spuds weighed even less.
 
Armed with hoes and shovels
he beat weeds into submission,
but woe betide the man who took
his tools without permission!
 
Think of him outside in winter -
"Lots to do" when nothing grows,
stomping around in his thick leather coat
with a drip on the end of his nose.
 
Overalls, Wellies, pipe and hat -
the Lord of our Glengally.
His wheelbarrow full of plants
and, one time, full of Nanny.
 
The summer days of cricket,
racing mowers on his grass,
watching him run around a pole
and falling on his.... Bottom.
 
The poor mouse in the toaster,
Grandad's one triumphant day; for the moles,
they were elusive, and the doves,
they wouldn't stay.
 
We always had a giggle as he
skipped his way to bed,
dressed only in his long johns
with fresh hairspray on his head.
 
The things he loved, that's easy.
Cornettos.  Potatoes.  His van.
But the one he cherished most
was our beloved Nan.
 
Of course we'll miss his laughter
but there should be no regret,
for we have a life of memories...
See you Grandad, cheerio pet.

All donations gratefully received.

And for those of you who still have Grandads, buy them a cornetto from me :-)

Thanks

Mel

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