Young boy’s swim inspires breast cancer fundraiser at Westbury’s pool

Over 200 people came together for a ‘Pink Day’ at Westbury Swimming Pool to raise funds for a breast cancer charity, inspired by a Westbury boy’s 10-mile charity swim earlier this year.

The fundraiser, which took place on Tuesday 7th October, encouraged swimmers to wear pink and donate to Breast Cancer Now, the charity that supported Bratton School pupil Charlie Shelton’s mum during treatment for the disease.

Charlie, aged 9, completed a 10-mile swim in the summer to raise funds for the charity. His challenge inspired swimmers at Westbury Swimming Pool to organise their own event to continue the fundraising effort.

“I used to teach him to swim when I used to work at the pool. I’d seen that he was raising money and thought, ‘he’s done so well, we need to carry this on,’” said Teresa Williams, who organised the event.

Over 200 people joined in the fundraising across three aquafit sessions, three swim sessions and all of the swimming lessons. The event also featured a cake sale and a huge raffle.

Teresa said the success of the event “exceeded expectations” and that she has received a significant amount of positive feedback from attendees.

“It was a brilliant day; people want us to do it annually now!” she said.

So far, the day has raised over £1,000 for Breast Cancer Now.