Croydon Guardian:

FIRST Little Britain comedian David Walliams swam the English Channel for Sport Relief. Now a charity fundraiser from Redbridge will attempt to cross the channel - underwater.

Colin Osbourne, from Hainault who founded the men's cancer charity Orchid after he nearly lost the battle against testicular cancer in 1996, is attempting to become one of the first people to cross the Channel as part of a underwater relay team.

The 24-hour relay will see the seven divers taking turns to swim for half an hour each at a depth of 10 metres and while the diver will have radio contact with the support boat the dive will essentially be a solo one. ...more ---> ...

| Swimmers' Tales | 4 August 2006; 2:04:20 PM |# | | Discuss |

The Independent, August 4th:

He came into view under Lambeth Bridge, swimming into the teeth of a 30mph head wind, a tiny white dot dwarfed by the slate grey expanse of the river Thames running at full flow.

His supporters assembled on Westminster Pier let out a roar. But for Lewis Gordon Pugh, a 36-year-old lawyer turned polar explorer, endurance swimmer and now environmental campaigner, coming ashore was to be none too easy.

First he had to cut cross the six-knot tide, tough for even the strongest swimmer, making a diagonal tack into the slamming waves. Then he had to pick his way through the scrum of cameras that had come to record the 17th day of his attempt to become the first person to swim the 203-mile length of the Thames. ...more ---> ...

| national news | 4 August 2006; 1:28:45 PM |# | | Discuss |

LITTLE Britain star David Walliams is being asked to back the Save Our Sportscentre (SOS) group fighting to save the Merland Rise swimming pool where he was once a lifeguard.

Proud mother Kath spoke of her son's achievement for Sports Relief. She said: "It's amazing. Not only is he one of only 50 people in the world to have swum the 21 miles in 10 and a half hours, he raised £1 million for Sports Relief.

As part of a review of leisure facilities across the borough, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council was looking into providing a new shared sports facility to be built at Beacon School, and the closure of the Banstead Sports Centre.

A spokesman for SOS said: "It would appear there's not an awful lot wrong with the Merland Rise pool. We would think to keep it - especially a pool three metres deep of that quality - would make a more sense than a new one. The Merland Rise pool was certainly good enough for David Walliams and we are all so proud of him" ...more ---> ...

| pools at risk | 4 August 2006; 1:02:00 PM |# | | Discuss |