Lambourn man prepares for mammoth swim

Dale Pedder has been training for weeks for his 24-hour swim in aid of charity

A LAMBOURN man is preparing to take on a mammoth, 24-hour swim in aid of charity.

Eighteen-year-old Dale Pedder, a full time lifeguard at Hungerford Leisure Centre, has been training for weeks for his epic fundraiser, which kicks off at the centre at 6.30pm on Thursday.

He is raising money for the Make A Wish Foundation UK.

Mr Pedder said: “I've always been a keen swimmer and just felt I wanted to give my time and effort to raise some money for a good cause. I plan to allow myself a five minute break every hour, although I'll be able to accumulate it so, for example, I can swim for four hours and take 20 minutes or swim for six hours and take 30 minutes.

“Even so, it's quite a challenge and I've been training hard by swimming, running and going to the gym whenever I can.”

Mr Pedder, who lives at Beales Farm Road, will use a mixture of breast and back stroke and reckons he may swim around 12 miles during the 24 hours.

He said: “I'll be going quite slowly but someone will be keeping a record so it'll be quite interesting to see how far I swim.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation UK grants wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses. Since being established in the UK in 1986, it has granted more than 7,000 wishes.

Mr Pedder has invited people to sponsor him and, if you would like to give him a boost by supporting his efforts, there are three ways to do so.

Sponsors can either turn up at the leisure centre in Priory Road and fill in a sponsorship form or sponsor Mr Pedder by mobile phone via text or online.

To sponsor him by phone, text CCME83 followed by the amount, to 70070.

To sponsor Mr Pedder online, click on the link below to visit his page on the Just Giving website.

And to find out how he got on, pick up a copy of next week's Newbury Weekly News.