Island Cruises Swims Channel

Tom Brett, head of marketing at Island Cruises, has taken the plunge and completed a gruelling - and chilly - Channel swim to raise money for a leading transplant charity. Brett, 32, egged on by his brother, joined five others to complete two one hour legs of the cross Channel event, raising a total of £1,100 for The Transplant Trust .

His ‘Team Chum’ (’chum’ being slang for ’shark bait’ as well as ‘friend’) set off from Dover at 700am and reached Cap Gris Nez at 7.00pm. There were no sharks to contend with, but at least one Spanish tanker had to be kindly asked to divert its course to avoid the swimmers.

Says Brett: “I’d have much rather been swimming in the Med or the Caribbean alongside one of our cruise liners, but I don’t think many people would have been putting their hands in their pockets to support me, so I had to do it the hard way.”

Following the event Brett got to add is name to the successful role call of Channel swimmers in The White Horse pub in Dover. He also confesses that the swim was far tougher than he’d expected - and that he is more than a little susceptible to sea sickness - but that it was, finally, worth it - not least to raise some vital funds for The Transplant Trust.

Official Press Release Island Cruises dated 15th August 2008.