It’s a good idea to break up a big, daunting task into small, manageable steps – and that’s how two Buckfastleigh friends are doing the equivalent of swimming across the English Channel.

Tracy Dommett and Sue Kerswell are completing the 21.3-mile distance by swimming 1,609 lengths of Buckfastleigh Open Air Pool.

They’re doing it to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support and expect to finish by mid-July, having started on June 1.

Tracy said: “I work as a Funeral Arranger for Gill & Eales Co-op Funeralcare in Buckfastleigh, so I sadly hear so many times how cancer has touched the lives of so many families.

“I too have lost family and friends to cancer, so this challenge really called to me to help raise money for a great charity.”

Tracy learned to swim at the Buckfastleigh pool as a child, and has taken it up again after befriending fellow swimmer Sue at Slimming World.

Tracy joined the Buckfastleigh group with her husband Dave in June 2025 and as well as losing two and a half stone each, they became good friends with Sue and her husband Malcolm.

She said: “One evening I joined Sue at Buckfastleigh open air pool for an aquafit class - we later started lane swimming and our friendship grew.

“Sue is doing every swim with me, we boost each other on. Our love of swimming has bonded us and I know we will be friends for life.

“So far we’ve swum 792 lengths which equates to 10.33 miles. To help us see the distance we are swimming, rather than think ‘we’re in the middle of the sea’, we researched, and the distance from my house in Buckfastleigh to the Barbican in Plymouth is 21.3 miles.

“When we complete the challenge we’re going to go for a meal down there to celebrate.”

To donate to Tracy’s fundraiser for Macmillan Cancer Support, visit her page in the Swim It section of macmillan.org.uk