In June 2020, my wonderful Mother tragically took her own life. The world is not the same without her and I miss her every single day.

In her memory, my family and I have set up The Rose Paterson Trust, a charity dedicated to raising funding and distributing grants to UK charities tackling the suicide epidemic head-on.

We estimate that our amazing grantee charities used the first year of funding (worth a combined total of £131,000), to save at least 231 lives. In this our second year of grant-giving, we doubled down, granting over £213,000 to an increased number of suicide-prevention charities who are all putting that money to work right now. We are incredibly proud of this work in our first 2 years of operating and believe it proves that suicide truly is preventable. But winning the war against suicide is going to require considerable time, persistence, and funding...

I am therefore asking for donations to raise more money for The Rose Paterson Trust by swimming 11 miles (18km) continuously on 2nd August 2024. I plan to swim two full solo lengths (5.5 miles each way if the wind is favourable, with no break in between) of Coniston Water in the Lake District.

To put that into context...a marathon swim is 6.21 miles / 10km, so at almost double that distance, this challenge will far surpass the ultramarathon mark. I expect this to take around 8 hours, in which I will remain in the 10-15 degree water throughout, wearing no wetsuit. Notably, I have never done any proper open water swimming (or indeed any endurance activity of any kind!) before, so the rigorous training routine I commenced back in October will be crucial. I'm swimming 4 times (between 2 and 5km per swim) and doing 2-3 weights sessions a week - this will continue for the best part of a year.

Needless to say, this challenge will take me far beyond my comfort zone, both physically and mentally. It is a purposeful reflection of just a fraction of the misery the suicidal suffer every day; I will be alone, largely in the dark, stuck in my own head, overwhelmed and exhausted to the point of hopelessness. But throughout, I'll know that it's for a compelling cause, a cause that could directly save lives.

Thank you very much in advance for any donations, it really is appreciated and will most definitely do some good.

If you would like to learn more about The Rose Paterson Trust and our amazing grantees, please go to https://www.rosepatersontrust.com. Our latest report can be found here: