When someone says open water swimming, this normally means in a lake, a river or in the sea along the coast… we, however, have decided to swim from Europe to Asia!

The plan is to swim the Dardanelles. A cross continental swim across the strait between Europe and Asia in the West of Turkey.

One of the busiest shipping lanes in the world... but on the 30th August 2018, the strait will be closed for a few hours to allow the swim to take place.

As many of you know we both enjoy swimming in the pool and the occasional lake but this is very different - the distance from land, the visibility, whatever is swimming alongside us in the sea (!) and the 4.5km distance are all things which make this an exciting, but likely to be an extremely difficult, mental and physical challenge.

We know there is a lot of fundraising for different events going on and, whilst we don’t wish to add to any fundraising fatigue, as this is such a challenge, Laura’s first open water event and we’re not sure when we will be likely to be doing something so challenging again (if ever!) we thought this would be a fantastic opportunity to raise some much needed funds for a wonderful not for profit organisation - Right to Remain.

Right to Remain is a UK-based human rights organisation with only three full-time and one part-time member of staff. But that doesn't stop them from having a huge impact across the UK. They have worked hard to prepare invaluable, accessible materials to assist people to navigate the extremely difficult and hostile immigration and asylum system and are always travelling up and down the country working with other organisations and community groups, raising awareness and providing training. Some of you may have heard of the current campaign "These walls must fall" working to raise awareness and bring an end to the inhumane practice of indefinite detention in the UK (it not please check it out - http://detention.org.uk/) .

As with a lot of small not-for-profit organisations they are reliant on individual donations and charitable grants which are often provided on a restricted, time-limited basis. Laura has the privilege to be a (voluntary) Committee Member of Right to Remain so knows just how invaluable your donations are to enable them to continue the fantastic work they are doing.

Please help us to help them continue to carry out the invaluable work they do which is so important, particularly in the current hostile environment.

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In line with this, we would like to dedicate this swim in memory of those who have lost their lives trying to find safety and to treating all individuals first and foremost as humans with the dignity and respect that they are entitled to.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. (Article 1, Universal Declaration of Human Rights)