Swim 4 St Giles
Elizabeth Rees-Gilbert is raising money for St Giles Hospice
Story
I'm swimming for St Giles this summer!
As you might know, St Giles Hospice looked after my much-loved, much-missed Grandad Rees, who sadly passed away in 2006.
Since his passing, my family and I have supported St Giles over the years from Solstice Walks to lottery tickets to volunteering. Most recently, I signed up to volunteer on the housekeeping team at the Whittington hospice. Years back, I was a shop assistant for the Rugeley branch (again, a voluntary role) and the camaraderie and teamwork at St Giles was and continues to be second-to-none.
Hospices are a vital support to folks going through incredibly difficult times, and rely heavily on volunteering and donations:
£76 could pay for one hour of St Giles's Advice and Referrals team
£300 could pay for visits to a patient in their own home by St Giles's community nurses
£676 could pay for 24 hours of hospice care for a patient at the end of their life
The plan: swimming the length of the Channel across the month of July! That's roughly 34,000 metres (34km), which is 1,360 lengths of a 25-metre pool (according to UKFitnessEvents) and I'll blog my progress throughout.
If I don't make it to the target - a very real possibility - I will donate £5 for each kilometre missed at the end of July.
I'd better stop writing this now and drive to the pool...
Thanks for reading and, hopefully, donating - every bit helps!