Splashing the cash

Sunday 05 August 2018

A two-way non-stop English Channel swim has raised more than £6,000 for the RNLI.

Veteran swimmer Sally Minty-Gravett - who’s successfully tackled the crossing every decade of her life since she was a teenager – took 36 hours and 26 minutes to complete her double in August 2016.

She handed over a cheque for the money she’d raised to the island’s RNLI Chairman Roy Bullen and Lifeboat Operations Manger, Nigel Sweeny, at the RNLI’s St Helier station.

Pictured: Sally is the only person in the world to have swum the English Channel in five consecutive decades, and the oldest woman to complete a two-way non-stop swim.

Following the swim, Sally – a much-loved island swimming teacher – was recently officially deemed the world’s oldest person to complete a two-way English Channel swim, and the only person in history to have crossed the Channel five times over five separate decades.

It is now listed as an official record on the Guinness World Records website.

Commenting on her donation, Roy Bullen said: “The monies raised by Sally from her amazing double-Channel swim are extremely gratefully received by RNLI Jersey. It costs over £300,000 a year to operate the two lifeboat stations in Jersey, and Sally’s fund-raising will help ensure that the RNLI is able to continue to maintain its lifesaving service around the island.”

Sally's swim also raised money for Jersey Cheshire Home.