Last weekend, one of our newest members of staff, Mr Chestnutt, swam the English Channel with his five relay team members to raise over £23,000 for ASPIRE, the charity supporting those with spinal chord injuries. Initially scheduled to take place in August, the swim was delayed due to bad weather (thanks to the good old British summer) and the team then only received 48 hours’ notice that the swim was to take place on Sunday 5 September! At 10.27pm Mr Chestnutt walked into the English Channel off Samphire Hoe beach in Dover, having the privilege of leading out the team of six in their relay attempt. Against the odds but ‘Determined to Achieve’ they fought the cold, the jellyfish and the dark, unusually having to do a large portion of the swim at night. They successfully reached France after 13 hours and 31 minutes, landing just off Cap Gris Nez. In total, the team swam just over 33 miles due to the strong currents even though the point to point distance is only 21 miles.