Greencore Financial Controller, Richard Longley, will participate in a relay team in swimming the English Channel from Dover to Calais next week to raise thousands of pounds for refugees.
At the same time, he also aims to raise awareness of Action Foundation, a charity which seeks to achieve a fairer asylum system for those seeking sanctuary in the UK.
Richard said:
“I’m looking forward to taking on this challenge to swim from England to France and hope to raise awareness of the individual lives that are at stake and to help raise funds for Action Foundation.”
Richard will be part of a five-strong team, who have done months of training in preparation for the crossing.
Each member of the team will swim for an hour at a time and if they get near their target pace of two miles per hour, that will mean each person swimming three or four legs. Under the right weather conditions the crossing should take between 16 and 18 hours.
Money raised by the swim will go to Action Foundation which supports refugees and asylum seekers in the North East with housing, free English teaching, digital inclusion and drop-in advice. Ten per cent of the proceeds will also go to the RNLI in recognition of their amazing work rescuing people from the Channel.
Anyone wishing to donate can do so at https://actionfoundation.enthuse.com/cf/swim-for-refugees
