How bonkers am I??

In July 2025 I'm taking part in a challenge to raise funds for an amazing charity, Swim Tayka. The challenge is to relay swim the English Channel in a team with 5 friends which involves each of us swimming in 1 hour rotations. The crossing will take anywhere between 12 - 18 hours, depending on the weather conditions, currents and tides. We are only allowed to wear an ordinary cossie, goggles and a swimming cap; no wetsuits, gloves or boots.

I'm pretty addicted to open water swimming, but generally the type that involves head out breast stroke and nattering to mates as I swim. For this challenge, I'm having to learn to front crawl, building up technique, strength and stamina; it's already really hard work and I'm only training in a pool at the moment. When we do get into the sea, we will be battling with the current, tides, choppy water, ships & possibly jellyfish! As I said at the beginning, bonkers right!

So if it's such hard work, why am I doing it?

Well - anyone who knows me knows that I haven't gone through life doing the 'expected'; I've always loved a challenge, something to strive for. On top of that personality trait, surviving breast cancer in my 30's and more recently having a double mastectomy, have strengthened my resolve to make the most of my life and do physical things whilst I can. So when a friend approached me about joining a relay team, my question was, "for which charity?" When I learnt that the mammoth swim was in aid of Swim Tayka, how could I refuse? I was in!

You may not have heard of this small charity; it's definitely unique. Drowning is the 3rd leading cause of unintentional deaths worldwide and children aged 1 - 4 years are most at risk. Swim Tayka aims to give disadvantaged communities around the world, particularly those who live along the earth's open water (rivers, lakes and oceans) access to swimming teachers so that they can be taught this life saving skill. In this way, lives are being saved and a swimming legacy is being created as they will grow up to teach the next generations. In 2022, the charity worked in numerous locations around the world including Peru, Brazil and Mozambique - countries where children in rural locations may not have access to a school, let alone swimming lessons.

Swim Tayka 'speaks' to the open-water obsessed teacher in me, and so it's a cause I really want to support. I know that times are tight for people, but any pounds and pennies you can spare to help me get to my fundraising target would be very much appreciated. And if you can't spare any, then words of encouragement and perhaps the odd cake or two in donation to support my post training re-fuel would be much appreciated :)

Thanks for reading. Much love

Alison

x