Takes on swim-a-thon

JONATHAN GEDDES

A Rutherglen woman made a splash recently - and raised money for a good cause in doing so.

Amanda Murray, of Cathkin, completed a swim- a- thon that saw her power through 22 miles in under 20 days, and earn more than £1000 in the process.

The challenge was to benefit Rutherglen community carers, a local group which provides home care respite for families affected by dementia.

Amanda, who has worked with the charity for the past three years as a Befriender, took on the challenge to help raise extra funds.

And the watery effort had an extra significance for the mum of three - because she only learned to swim a couple of years ago.

She explained: “We are hoping to improve the facilities that we currently have, and I just thought a sponsored swim could be fun and worth doing.

“It was to do 22 miles, and each mile is 66 lengths in the pool, which is quite a lot for me.

“There was a lot of support from friends and family for doing it, so I got a lot of donations quickly. I think that’s because dementia touches everybody’s lives in one way or another so lots of people wanted to help.”

Amanda was particularly pleased at completing the challenge quicker than she had expected.

“I was targeting doing a mile a day, so 22 days in total,” she said. “I ended up doing it quicker than that, and getting it finished within 18 days. There was a real sense of achievement at completing it.”

The challenge was particularly tough for Amanda as she had barely swam at all until two years ago, when she decided she needed to learn so she could swim with her children.

She said: “I used to get panicky whenever I was actually in water. The fact I was doing it for a good cause helped me though.”

Rutherglen community carers supports those who care for people with dementia or mental ill health.

The services on offer include home- based respite, carers support, an early diagnosis dementia group, advice and information, and a library.