Swimming for Home
MORE than 100 sea swimmers braved the early morning chill on Sunday at Havelet Bay, to take part in the first ever Guernsey Cheshire Home Sunrise Swim.
The swimmers gathered in the early hours before entering the water at exactly 5am, just in time for the sunrise a few minutes later.
Phil Trouteaud, vice chairman of the home’s support group, said the event had raised about £2,400, which will go towards the home’s annual running costs.
Having established the Boxing Day Swim at Cobo Bay as a Guernsey tradition, the support group now hopes to bring the midsummer dawn event at Havelet onto the island calendar.
‘The Boxing Day swim has got a very ‘ready-steady-go’ atmosphere – a bit manic – whereas this event was far more genteel,’ Mr Trouteaud said.
‘After the atrocious weather the day before, we were lucky to have lovely weather.
'Some stayed in for just a few minutes and some swam all the way out to the bobbers and back and stayed in for half an hour.
'Then, as the sun came up over the castle emplacement and the clouds separated, the sunrise was absolutely wonderful. There was not much conversation.’
Mr Trouteaud said a lot had been learned from this first event and in subsequent years, the registration procedure will need to change to prevent swimmers being kept waiting.
The support group’s events-based fundraising supplements the money raised by donation and subscription by the home itself.
However, the Covid lockdowns have restricted opportunities for events, meaning the amounts raised fell from about £45,000 in 2019 to £20,000 in 2020. The overall running costs of the home are approximately £700,000.
Any further donations for the event can be made at guernseycheshirehome.org/sunrise-swim/
