Sunday, October 16, 2011

Target reached - - and some wonderful pools

Some of you were kind enough to sponsor me when I did the Great North Swim back in June. The contributions from this - over £500 - helped towards my friend and colleague Sally Womersley's bid to complete the funding to buy a “Zeiss ApoTome” imaging system: a state-of-the-art microscope to help with the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.

Sally herself has organised two Charity Balls and a zip-wire ride towards it and raised many thousands of pounds. The machine costs £80,000 and when I met Sally this week she told me that the zip-wire ride has completed the funding needed and the machine can now be bought.

So I'm delighted that my swim helped towards it and am very grateful to everyone who sponsored me. Although MS perhaps doesn't receive as much publicity as some long-term illnesses, I know several people who have it and it's a cause dear to my heart.

So a very big THANK YOU! And congratulations to Sally for all the very hard work she's done in fundraising for this machine.

I'm still swimming of course! I haven't been able to swim for a couple of weeks because I've had a cough but it's finally gone so I went swimming this morning. I've been quite tired recently - possibly because of the cough, and I know I've been working hard as well, and I know that diabetes is supposed to make you more tired.

So I got up at half-past seven, grumbling and wanting to stay in bed, but repeating my little mantra to myself which is "Daphne, you have never regretted going swimming so just get on with it!"

The pool opens at half past eight but I need to get up an hour earlier in order to eat a very large bowl of porridge to give myself energy to swim!

It only takes about eight minutes to drive to the pool on Sunday morning. As soon as I'm in the water all tiredness goes and today I swam my usual seventy lengths with no problem at all.

The first ten lengths or so are not exactly difficult but always harder than the rest: and after that my body seems to go "Ahhh SWIMMING! THAT's what I'm doing! Why didn't you SAY so?" and the rest is really enjoyable.

Of course I don't imagine I'm in Fearnville Leisure Centre, oh no.

In my daydreams I might be in this pool, in Buttonwood Bay, Florida, which I swam in during our holiday in November 2008:


Or I could be at our friends Graham and Christine's glorious place in Burgundy, which we've visited several times now, including this summer: do look at their website: Maison Creme Anglaise:

Here I am in their pool:

and another one:

or in this beautiful pool at Mas Pichony, the farm where we stayed in Provence this summer:

Oh I've been lucky to have swum in some lovely swimming pools this year, not to mention the sea and Windermere!

But for everyday swimming, I'm still very, very grateful to have a municipal swimming pool very near to me. And thanks again to everyone who sponsored me.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Risa said...

I would have sponsored you for a great cause like that, but I didn't know anything about it. Congrats on all your hard work. Well done!! xxxx

8:35 pm  
Blogger JeannetteLS said...

What a wonderful feeling, to know that your swimming helped make such an important piece of equipment possible. We are forever on the lookout for MS in my physicals. It is a wonderful cause and for those who have MS, I would think it is always important to know there are people out there willing to work, to run, swim, jump, dance, whatEVER for the research.

I remain so very glad I found your blog awhile back. Take care.

9:21 pm  

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