Danni explains why she and friends are swimming across the English Channel to raise funds for Child Bereavement UK.

It will be 100% worth it when we arrive on the beach in France to say what a huge thing we have all accomplished and for such an amazing charity.

Last year I decided I wanted to take on a challenge and with that raise money for charity. Child Bereavement UK is a charity that is close to my heart  as sadly my brother and I lost our mum at the age of 17 and 15. She was the absolute life and soul of any room she walked into; her passing was a massive loss to our family and her friends, and something you never really overcome.

To add to the heartbreak our auntie sadly passed away earlier this year, leaving behind two young kids of her own. It's hard to explain how it feels to lose a parent, how isolating and lonely it can be feeling that no one else understands what you are going through. 

I decided to swim the English Channel after seeing my brother and his relay team successfully swim across in 2012, with a second-place record time that still stands to this day. I thought why not give it a go, but there was no way I was going to try and attempt it alone. I’m being joined in the challenge by my friends Kai Adams, Lewis Archer, Ellie Johnson, Sam Johnson, and coach Roger Duncombe. 

Swimming across the English Channel is not an easy challenge to undertake. It's one of the hardest swimming challenges you can do, and certainly one of the most dangerous. You are swimming 21 miles across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, stopping for the ferries and boats that pass you and even worse than that swimming through hundreds of jellyfish. But it will be 100% worth it when we arrive on the beach in France to say what a huge thing we have all accomplished and for such an amazing charity.

We have been putting in hours and hours of training, working hard to prepare for the swim, but it has been tough fitting in the training as the group all work full time. We are being supported by our head coach John Lowe and senior coach Paddy Keeble whilst training in the pool.

We are also being guided by the care of our Channel swimming coach Roger Duncombe. Roger has been alongside us in his kayak, putting us through our paces, whether in the sea or at the local open water venue, Gosfield Lake. In late November, we attempted our first training session in Gosfield Lake, which saw us take on the cold water which was sitting at around four degrees. We conduct two open water swims a week on top of our five weekly pool swims in preparation.

Personally, I feel like I’ve gained a new level of both mental and physical strength from preparing for the challenge. To grit through hours and hours of training even when you don’t want to, develops the resilience you need to be able to take on a challenge like this. 

The fundraising team at Child Bereavement UK has been excellent, sending us materials to support our fundraising efforts and consistently sending us check in emails to see how we are getting on with our training. I’d say to anyone else considering a challenge – go for it.  A cross-Channel swim isn’t for the faint-hearted, but it’s an excellent way of raising money for charity.

To donate to Danni’s fundraising:  https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/halstead-channel-swim-2024?utm_term=5N3dDzBvz

Photo top:  Danni (centre) with the friends who are taking on the challenge with her.