A team from Trethowans – Andrew Mercer, Emma Wilders-Pratt, Laura Trapnell, Jennifer Bowes, Amy Croxford, and Taylor Anderson – is gearing up for an incredible challenge this August 2025: an English Channel relay swim! We're taking on this iconic swim to raise vital funds for Aspire, a national charity that provides life-changing support to people with spinal cord injuries.

Meet our swimmers:

Andrew Mercer

Age: 59 (60 in July – before the swim in August)

I will have been with Trethowans for 30 years in May. I have enjoyed a successful legal career with Trethowans and want to give something back before I retire. Our PI/ Clinical Negligence Team assists those unfortunate enough to suffer with a spinal injury, and Aspire provide much needed practical support to those who are now living life with a spinal injury.

Personally, when 16, I swam the Channel in a relay for the Dover Lifeguards Club, where I had trained for many years, raising money for the RNLI. In doing so we broke the World Record for the fastest crossing by a mixed gender team. A record time that still stands today. I will be 60 later this year and have always had it my head that I must do this swim again (44 years apart). A serious challenge and focus as I move into retirement.

Training:

Currently pool training with distance and technique. Challenge is age. Body not as flexible and certainly not as agile. So it will be a considerable challenge to succeed with this amazing team, all from Trethowans. (Who are younger fitter, and much faster!). I’m very pleased and proud for their willingness to join me in this madness.

Occupation: A family lawyer/Partner at Trethowans

Amy Croxford

Age: 40

Swimming the channel has always been a bucket list endeavour for me, so when offered the opportunity to take part in this epic challenge I jumped at the chance, particularly as it is to raise funds for Aspire. Aspire is a wonderful UK charity that provides practical help and support to people that have suffered life changing spinal cord injuries. I am a keen horse rider and know that it is, sadly, relatively common for riders to suffer life changing spinal cord injuries because of bad falls.

Training: I am presently training at Parkwood Gym and Five Rivers in Salisbury but intend to venture into open water from March onwards. The cold terrifies me!

Occupation: I am a Partner at Trethowans specialising in Contentious Wills, Trusts & Probate and mummy to Rowan and Lyra -aged 6 and 4 years.

Laura Trapnell

Age: 53

I’ve always been a swimmer and I love the sea – so out of all the epic challenges, this one seems most appropriate. Like Amy, it’s always been on the bucket list and when told, my friends all reply ‘of course you are’! I’m terrified, it’s a huge challenge and one that I hope I am up to. I am determined not to let my colleagues down and Aspire is a great charity to raise funds for. I can so clearly picture us all on the beach in France, in tears, having completed this epic adventure.

Training: Well it’s February and the sea is around 7 degrees, so long swims are out! I’m in the pool three times a week building strength and stamina and I’m in the sea once over the weekend for a dip! My challenge (apart from my age!) are my shoulders – I’ve had life long trouble with tendons/rotator cuff injuries and have scaffolding in my left shoulder. Maintaining strength until August and building up slowly is absolutely key.

Occupation: I am a partner at Trethowans and I am an intellectual property and technology lawyer!

Emma Wilders-Pratt

Age: 47

I have always loved swimming, but had not experienced the exhilaration and mood boosting benefits of open water swimming, until my Husband introduced it to me. That said, my open water experience has always involved a wetsuit, neoprene gloves, socks and hat and anything else I can wear to keep me warm; I hate the cold! The prospect of swimming in the sea in the middle of the night without my wetsuit terrifies me!

My Husband has swum the Channel before in a relay. We regularly swim together. He would often comment on how great it would be if, one day, I could swim the Channel with him. It now looks like I am!! Note to self: Listen more before you say, “yes dear”.

I take huge comfort in the knowledge that I am part of a brilliant team and, most importantly, we are doing this for a phenomenal charity, Aspire, who provide life transforming help to people who have been paralysed by a spinal cord injury.

Training: Pool drills are my focus at the moment, so that I can improve my speed, which is currently the equivalent of a slow Sunday stroll. The dreaded wetsuit free outdoor swimming beings in the 1st April.

Occupation: Partner & Head of the Family Law Team at Trethowans.

Jennifer Bowes

Age: 41

Why you are doing the challenge: I love swimming but have always confined this to the swimming pool. I am a keen sailor and have crossed the channel (and many other seas) by sailing boat, but would never have thought of swimming it! I am a massive advocate for the benefits of swimming (having previously worked as a swimming teacher and coach) and its role in rehabilitation, and Aspire is a great charity to raise money for. When the opportunity came up I would say it was a no brainer, but now that the reality of the training and the enormity of the challenge is dawning on me I am starting to wonder whether this was a good idea!!

Training: I have been putting in the lengths at the pool, but my real challenge is going to be tackling the cold of the sea, as a I have poor circulation. I have just come back from a family holiday in Lanzarote, and in between the customary ice cream eating and sandcastle building with my family, I managed to get some sea swimming done which has helped boost my confidence a bit. I managed half an hour before my hands and feet started to go numb!

Occupation: I am a partner in Trethowans in the commercial litigation team.

Taylor Anderson

Age: 29

Why you are doing the challenge: To raise important funds for Aspire to continue with the vital work they do in the community. I also hate swimming (because I’m not very good) and the idea of swimming the channel and training for it brings more of a challenge for me which I am keen to overcome.

Training: At the moment, lots of time in the pool with the occasional pre-work cold water dip in the sea.

Occupation: Solicitor in the commercial litigation team at Trethowans.

Thank you for taking the time to donate!