A team of five 'swimmers' from Gloucester are battling strong currents and seasickness in jellyfish-infested waters as they attempt to swim from Dover to France on a mission to raise funds and awareness for two charities close to their hearts.

An icy-cold Channel swim between September 25 and 30 faces the quintet of intrepid adventurers, who have named themselves 'The Gloucester Dippers'.

You can spot this rather rare breed at your local open water swimming spot in their rather fetching personalised trunks and swimsuit!

All five of the swimmers live in Gloucester and are a mix of former rugby players and coaches, triathletes and cyclists.

Gill, 48 - the only woman in the team - will be joined by Ben Slatter, 45, Dan Knapman, 40, Gary Young, 53, and Rich Molloy, 51. They have been motivated into fundraising action for Anthony Nolan UK and Young Gloucestershire by the inspiring journeys of two of their children and the support their families received.

Gill said: "My daughter, Rose, went through an incredibly difficult time during and after the Covid lockdowns with anorexia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and intrusive thoughts.

"It felt like an impossible battle to get the support she needed from statutory mental health services, and Young Gloucestershire were a huge support - providing advocacy and counselling with a dedicated support worker.

"Churchdown School were also brilliant, especially the Learning Support Hub. Rose is now 16, just finished her GCSEs and is doing really well.

"But I know how hard it still is to access mental health support with waiting lists of at least 18 months. So many families feel they have no option but to give up, and having Young Gloucestershire advocating for us with the professionals was so important.

"This challenge is about raising awareness of children's mental health and stem cell donation and raising £10,000 to split between the two charities to ensure that other families can access their crucial support."

The Gloucester Dippers have all had to massively up their open water swimming game to prepare for the challenging swim and have been put through stringent medical and fitness tests.

Dan Knapman will lead off the first 'leg' from Dover, with each person then swimming for an hour at a time until they reach Cap Gris Nez - covering a distance of around 21 land miles (18.2 nautical miles), depending on currents and conditions.

Swimming off course could see them fail to complete the challenge in their allowed window between 25 and 30 September. They will be guided by a pilot support boat with the swim expected to take around 17 hours.

They hope to swim into their final destination together to mark the end of an emotional journey after a year of preparations.

Gill added: "The biggest challenge for us all has definitely been adapting to the cold water, especially as the couple of the team suffer from Raynaud's Syndrome and we're not allowed to wear wetsuits if we want an official time!

"We've been using a mix of training venues, including the lakes around Cirencester and Clevedon Sea Pool, slowly building up our distances, but it's tricky to completely prepare for some of the biggest hurdles we could face, like seasickness, and the inevitable jellyfish stings.

"And you can't take a break before your hour is up. You just have to swim through it. I can't see us getting a lot of sleep!

"We've all had to spend a lot of time in the gym too, building up strength and resilience. I only had a knee op in April and Rich has rheumatoid arthritis. But we've both been so determined to push on and get this done, especially as these charities mean so much to us."

In October 2022, Rich's daughter, Maddie, had just started a university course to become a nurse, when she started to notice unusual bruising and fatigue. After heading to her GP for a blood test, she was admitted to hospital less than 24 hours later, with tests revealing she had an extremely rare illness, severe Aplastic Anaemia.

Her bone marrow had failed, and she was no longer producing platelets, or white and red cells. This meant weekly transfusions to keep Maddie alive, and with neither of her siblings a good enough match to be bone marrow donors, the situation seemed bleak.

However, the NHS transplant team approached Anthony Nolan - the national stem cell charity - and two perfect matches were found, with a German donor agreeing to donate and the transplant taking place in June 2023.

With Maddie now a healthy 21-year-old with her life ahead of her, the Gloucester Dippers are taking on this epic challenge to support Anthony Nolan to continue their life-saving work.

With around £7,000 raised so far, including £3,500 from a race night at Old Richians Rugby Club, the team are now embarking on their final push to hit their fundraising target.

You can donate and read more about the team, and Rose and Maddie's journeys, at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/channelrelaychallenge