Our Aspire Channel Swim team is called The Chatterboxes and is myself, Maggie, Irene and Vijya.  I think the name speaks for itself in more ways than one!  We've all been coming to the Aspire Leisure Centre for various amounts of time. We all swim regularly, that's how we met and became friends. We enjoy our chats, hence the name, and we've been encouraging each other - it's fun doing it as a team. We all started swimming because we have had various ailments.  When I started swimming at Aspire in 2010 I had a frozen shoulder and after swimming it would improve.

This is my 15th year of being a member.  I have always sponsored others, but decided to do it myself this year with these fabulous ladies. Irene is the only one who has completed the challenge solo before. As there are four of us we have signed up to swim 44 miles. I signed us up and then broke the news to the others. I think they're happy!  All the team are good swimmers. I think we're all more confident in the water than we are on land.

We smashed out 11 miles in a week but we wanted to see what we could achieve so I’m hoping to complete it in 5 weeks.  But we've decided that if we do finish it in 5 weeks we're going to still complete the 12 weeks and see just how far we can go.  Hopefully it will get some more donations rolling in.

Personally I love the water and it's an exercise I enjoy doing.  I swim out my stress, I get exercise and it's sociable so it really great for my physical and mental health. Some of the people I have met at Aspire I consider my good friends.

I like the Aspire Leisure Centre because when you walk in the team know you. I miss Chris (former receptionist who sadly passed away) as he would remember everyone's membership number and always have a smile and a joke. The pool team are great. The pool is warm and the staff are friendly.  We all sponsored Tom, Jordan and Ricardo last year for their Aspire Channel Swim team (the Pterodactyls).  Between us we've taken part in many activities including Aqua Aerobics, Zumba, Tai Chi, Mind Mood & Meditate, Yoga, Body Sculpt, Pilates and we use the Gym.

I wanted to give something back to Aspire as the leisure centre is such a friendly place and it's like a family there. It’s fantastic that so far we’ve raised over £1,300. Fundraising can feel like getting blood from a stone, but I am very persistent and resourceful.  We are all asking colleagues, friends and family. I think people give me money to shut me up!  It's always good to ask around payday.  I work in a school so I'll get my form to do something. I know the others have some great ideas to fundraise too.

It's lovely to be able to give back to Aspire. They really do help a lot of people with their rehabilitation and recovery.  I've had friends with spinal injuries and of course we all know and love the legend Joe Gilbert (an Aspire Duty Manager)!

Good luck to everyone who's taking part. Don't forget to sponsor us, or someone else you know.  Our team will also be donating to others taking on the Aspire Channel Swim, skydives, and Tom and Dean who are both running marathons next year and have some quizzes and other fundraising events coming up at Aspire soon.

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