The Body Shop® take the plunge for our projects

Despite reducing the event from three days to one, as a result of extreme weather throughout the region, the British Gas Great North Swim still saw over 5,000 swimmers take on half mile, one mile or two mile distances at Lake Windermere in Cumbria on June 24th.

To make sure they are really “walking the talk” when it comes to their slogan ‘Beauty With Heart’, a small team from The Body Shop® joined these thousands of brave swimmers to raise money for our projects. The team was made up of Clare Judic, Gemma Glenister, Becky Taylor, Liz Harrington, Sam Thomson and Steve Middleton who all swam an entire mile in Lake Windermere, despite the previous storms.

On the day, the Lake District was flooded and trees had fallen down with the high winds, yet the team pressed on to the start line via a ferry, and a miles’ walk. They arrived a little flustered because of the need to change into their wetsuits very quickly. Appropriate lashings of Body Shop body butter (recommended by the wet suit hire company) helped enormously to get the wet suits on with the added bonus of soft skin after the swim!

After donning swim caps with a timing chip attached they headed for the start line and 'acclimatisation' in the water before the official start. Liz described the experience; “Wow that's cold!!! Even with a wetsuit on, you needed to keep moving to keep warm”.

After best wishes from well known swimmer Duncan Goodhew, they started their 1 mile swim. All the team did brilliantly (despite the lifeguards mistaking Liz’s back stroke for a help signal!) and have already raised over £2,000.

We’d like to say how grateful we are to these brave swimmers for completing this challenge to support our work. You can still donate at their justgiving page and if you’re interested in taking on your own challenge for Children on the Edge then get in touch! 

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