Wirral Hospice St John's is a cause very close to my heart.

Hello 👋 I'm Alison and I am an Occupational Therapist. I work at Wirral Hospice St John's and see all the amazing work that is done there first hand. I understand the importance of fundraising to ensure the vital support provided continues to support our community, service users and families.

Since 2021 I have been a cold water dipper. A bobber that swam with my head out of the water, mainly chatting with my other dipper friends. I watched with envy the swimmers that would pass us effortlessly, head down doing a perfect front crawl. In August 2024 I had my first open water swimming lesson to master front crawl and decided to set myself a challenge... to swim across the Arctic Circle!

"Swim the Arctic Circle" is an open water swimming competition, which takes place in the Torne River in Scandinavia. This event will see me swim 3Km from Finland 🇫🇮 to Sweden 🇸🇪 along the Torne River, crossing the Arctic Circle. My aim is to swim back in time as the race starts at Midnight in Finland and if I can swim the distance fast enough, I will hopefully finish before midnight crossing the time zone to Sweden! To make it more magical and potentially disorienting, the sun does not set in July here, so I will be swimming under the midnight sun.

Not one to do things simply, in addition to the 3km event at Midnight, earlier in the day I will also be completing a 2Km swim which, also crosses the Arctic Circle. So, in total, I will be swimming 5km (over 3 miles). I will be swimming in my swimsuit, no wetsuit (unless the event organisers enforce for safety)

I was recently asked how I was preparing for the event, in which I replied by saying that I have booked my flights... I think they were referring to my training! Joking apart, this self funded swim adventure will be a huge challenge for me and I would love to raise lots of money for Wirral Hospice St John's. If you are able to spare a few pounds to sponsor me, that would be amazing! All sponsorship money will go directly to Wirral Hospice St John's.

Thank you, and wish me luck 🍀

Wirral Hospice St John's relies on donations and fundraising activities to help the charity keep caring for patients and their loved ones at a time of most need. Thank you for your kind support.