Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Since March 2020 I have had the privilege of working as a Non Executive Director at the amazing district general hospital that is Dorset County Hospital (DCH) - located in Dorchester, West Dorset.

One of the roles that I perform on behalf of the DCH Trust is to chair their Charitable Funds Committee and in August 2023 our Charity launched a £2.5million Emergency and Critical Care Appeal.

The Charity’s three-year appeal is funding major enhancements to the new Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit currently under construction at Dorset County Hospital. The Appeal will fund extra facilities for the new Critical Care Unit such as relatives’ overnight accommodation and a patient garden as well as rest accommodation and welfare facilities for clinical staff. Additional facilities will also be funded for the new Emergency Department.

In summer 2024 an inaugural DCH 100 challenge saw an intrepid group of walkers and runners led by the amazing Michael Dooley raise over £100,000 for our Appeal, by walking or running a range of distances up to and including 100km over a single weekend in May 2024.

This hugely successful event will be run again over the weekend of 17/18 May this year - and this year I want to play an active part - but not by running or walking - my DCH Challenge will be to swim 100km between 18th April and 18th May - hopefully completing my last swim at a pool in Bridport in time to greet those completing the 2025 walking & running DCH 100 Challenge!

My preparation for this challenge has already started and whilst swimming the average of 3333m for 30 days in a row may seem somewhat leisurely - I can assure you that it does not feel that way to me😉

So if you can support us by donating to my just giving page on behalf of the DCH ED & ICU Appeal I will be hugely grateful👍

Dave Underwood 5/1/25

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Day 1 Done (Woodbury Park)

3600m in 75 minutes and 18 seconds - only another 29 days to go👍

Day 2 Done (Woodbury Park)

3600m in 77minutes and 12 seconds - slacking today😉 28 days to go 👍

Day 3 Done (Sherborne Oxley Leisure Centre)

3600m in 79 minutes and 20 seconds) - 27 days to go! 👍

Day 4 Done (Woodbury Park)

3600m in 76 minutes and 11 seconds.

Day 5 Done (Woodbury Park)

3600m in 75 minutes and 42 seconds.👍

Day 9 Done (1610 Dorchester)

3600m in 75 minutes 24 seconds - beautiful pool👍

Day 14 (Woodbury Park) another 3600m and I am now over half way at 50400mm done👍🥳

Day 15 (unexpected visit to Sidmouth😉) turned up 0600 at Woodbury Park and the whole place is shut due to a power failure - so plan B needed and off to Sidmouth Pool to complete my daily 3600m

Day 17 Ferndown Leisure Centre and another 3600 m swim completed - bringing my challenge total to 61200m - Thank you to all who have supported me thus far - £525 raised on Just giving and more than £140 in cash donations - so closing in on the £1000 target sum for the Dorset County Hospital ED and CCU appeal.

Day 18 Bank Holiday Monday but still at Woodbury Park for 0600 and knock out another 3600m to bring the total to 64800m - almost 2/3 of the way to completing the Challenge 👍

Day 22 (Friday 9th May) and the total stands at 79200m done 20800m to go. Thus far I have raised £535 through just giving and another £170 in cash donations - but I would really like to get through the £1000 target set on Just Giving - so please if you can afford to do so it would be brilliant if you could support the Dorset County Hospital ED & CCU Appeal.

Thank you

Day 27 and the total distance swum is 97200m - so almost at my challenge target of 100km - but with 4 days left it looks like I may exceed 110km by the final day on 18th May👍 picture below was taken at 0550 this morning outside Woodbury Park pool in East Devon.

Day 31 - Bridport Leisure Centre culmination Of my swim Challenge - after 31 days, 781 miles of driving, 39 hours 5 minutes and 19 seconds of swimming in 9 different Swimming Pools - I am delighted to say that I have completed 110kms of swimming 👍 on behalf of Dorset County Hospital Emergency Department and Critical Care Unit Appeal - hence the beer with my Brunch. To all those who have supported my fund raising - thank you soooo much! Your contributions will help us make the new units a far better place for patients, their families and the dedicated staff who care for them.

All the best

Dave

Day 31 Bridport Pool and my challenge is complete - 39hrs 5minutes and 19 seconds of swimming in 9 different pools across Devon and Dorset - driving over 780 miles and smashing my 100km target by reaching 110kms by Sunday 18th May. Thanks to all those who have donated so far👍

This shot was taken just after I finished the swim at Bridport - thank you to the charity team for all their support.

and this shot was taken 30 minutes later at the watch house on the beach at West Bay where brunch was definitely calling👍