Boyhood dream now a reality for swimmer

A FORMER Buckie man has completed a swim of the English Channel for charity.

Chester-based pharmacist Neil Stewart (37) braved the chilly waters of the channel last month and raised £3000 for Pharmacist Support.

A chance comment at children's party saw Mr Stewart and a colleague start doing river swims. One evening Mr Stewart suggested swimming the channel and the idea took off, the pair later being joined by another Chester-based swimmer. The trio of Mr Stewart, Dawn Llewellyn and Sophia Fitzpatrick dubbed them themselves the Fin-ternationals.

The task of swimming the 21 miles of sea between Folkestone and France was in reality more daunting due to factors such as the wind and tide.

Mr Stewart said: "One ambition we did have, apart from doing the swim itself and raising money for charity, was to complete it in 12 hours or less. The problem here is that you're at the mercy of the sea and the weather, they're factors you can't control.

"One thing the swim did demonstrate was the power of the sea. There were times when you couldn't see the safety boat because you were going into another wave, even though it was never more than about 20-25m away at any time.

"In the end we did it in 11 hours and 58 minutes, which was a massive achievement. When it came to the last 400 or 500m we knew we were going to beat 12 hours."

The three swimmers took it in one-hour turns to swim while the other two rested on the boat. Mr Stewart took point but his time on the boat was not much respite.

"I was horrifically sea sick," he recalled. "I couldn't wait to get back into the water.

"By the time we finished at 9pm I'd been up over 12 hours, swum 16.5km and had nothing to eat. We still had another two-hour trip back to Folkestone to go, as well."

Looking back, Mr Stewart said it had been a very powerful and emotional experience.

"The funny things is when you've finished your swim, that's it, there's no welcoming committee or someone standing there with medals, you just turn around and go home.

"Once you're out there it felt amazing, it was very emotional: this was the end of a year-long journey of hard training."

Mr Stewart thanked his employers for giving him time off to train and undertake the swim.

However, this is not the final chapter, with Mr Stewart revealing his ultimate goal is to swim the channel solo, hopefully in 2020, the year he celebrates his 40th birthday.

He added: "It's a dream I've had since I was swimming lengths in Buckie swimming pool inspired by the queen of the channel, Alison Streeter."

To donate to Mr Stewart's charity, go to www.justgiving.com/echocharlie18