I’m training hard to prepare for the greatest physical and mental challenge of my life.

Over the past few years I have begun open water swimming in lakes, rivers and the sea. I have swum in the River Thames, to the Isle of Wight, around the Isles of Scilly, an English Channel relay and the length of the three longest lakes in The Lake District: Coniston, Ullswater and Windermere I have spent hours doing laps of Dover harbour and the Durley coastline and have prepared by swimming Jersey to France and a two-way Windermere.

Now it is time to take on the ultimate swim marathon … an English Channel solo.

Thank you to everyone who has helped, supported, encouraged and talked to me about my dream over these past years. I so appreciate you.

I’d like to help other people through my swim challenge. My husband is a volunteer for Surrey’s Search and Rescue team. If you can donate to support their important work, we would be very grateful. Surrey Search & Rescue is a voluntary specialist search team which assists the emergency services. Primarily to help find missing people, they also support in-water rescue incidents and wildfires. They are on-call 24 hours a day, with a team of 70+ people and search dogs, to respond across Surrey and surrounding areas.

I am swimming just in a swim costume, with one hat, ear plugs, goggles and Vaseline. No wetsuits are allowed, so I am likely to get very cold! When I stop to drink, I must not touch the boat or anything else, and need to be quick, as the current will drag me backwards and I will have to re-swim the distance. I hope it will take me 15-17 hours, but there are no guarantees with Channel swims. Please do follow my progress on the Sea Leopard (Channel Swim Association boat) tracker. There are likely to be lots of jellyfish and yes, they do hurt when they sting you! People often ask me what I think about on long swims … I sing songs in my head, play games, watch my boat crew and try and enjoy every moment of the experience.

If you can give some money to help spur me on, when I am feeling worn out, and to help SSAR to continue saving lives, that would be so kind. Thank you.