In May 2012 a friend suggested I enter the Great North Swim, not having done any open water swimming before I was, to say the least scared to death. Training with friend Alex Kirby in Ullswater took swimming to a whole new level, seeing everything from a different perspective. After completing the Great North swim 1 mile and needing a challenge for my rapidly approaching 50th birthday in 2014 the plan to swim the Channel took form.

Alex's brother Steve was the first recruit and following a chance meeting with Kevin Burns at the Great North swim 2013 he and his training partner Scott Creighton came on board, finally Matt Colson completed our intrepid team of 6 swimmers.

After completing the Great North swim in 2012 swimming breaststroke and a time for the mile of 52 minutes, it was obvious some serious training was required. So, as well as swimming everyday and learning how to do front crawl I started working in the gym with personal trainer James Pittam to improve strength and fitness. Open water training last year included mile swims in Consiston, Derwentwater, Ullswater, Windermere and Salford Quays. My time has  improved to 35 minutes for the mile but the rest of the team are all experienced swimmers and are swimming under 30 minutes over a mile so I still have a long way to go to.

We wanted to raise money for a local charity and one we might all need at sometime in our lives. With the team being spread over the north of England the Great North Air Ambulance Service seemed like the natural choice. Relying entirely on public donations the GNAAS team cover the whole of the north of England with "The Pride of Cumbria" providing  emergency rescue flights over cumbria's Lakes and Mountains and "The Guardian of the North" covering the North East.

We will be swimming the Channel as a relay team, each of us will swim for an hour at a time in rotation and are hoping to complete the 21 miles in under 12 hours. We will be guided by experienced pilot Eddie Spelling with his escort boat "Anastasia" On board with us will be an official observer whose job it is to ensure all rules and regulations are adhered to and to record all aspects of our swim. We have an additional two team members sailing with us, Danny Dobson who will be in charge of first aid and motivational support and Angela Murray chief morale officer and cook.

Finbarr Greene and Hamish Marsden are training along side us as reserves should anyone drop out.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.