Hucknall Water Polo Club member to take on open water swim to fundraise for school's Animal Care Unit

A member of Hucknall's Water Polo Club will take on the challenge of swimming from Folkestone to Dover next summer in order to raise money for her school's animal care unit.

Louise Mulvanny attends The Samworth Church Academy in Mansfield near to where she lives. Due to suffering from major anxiety Louise has never found school easy. However, the school's Animal Care Unit has been somewhere that she has been able to thrive due to her love for animals.

Louise's Mum, Sarah Dunsbee, said: "Louise loves working there so much she asked if she could do something to enrich their environment by buying toys to stimulate them, helping with vet's fees when an animal is injured.

"As a family we put our heads together and she decided she would like to use her love for swimming and water polo to do a fundraiser."

The family are heavily involved with the water polo club at Hucknall with Mrs Dunsbee being the chairperson of the committee.

Louise will be supported by her family, including her Mum, in her training over the next few months as well as during the swim itself. As well as continuing to play water polo for Hucknall, Louise's training will involve swimming at Water Meadows Swimming & Fitness Complex in Mansfield. She will only switch to outdoor training once spring has begun, when she will start lake and sea training in preparation for, and to acclimatise to, how the conditions will be in The Channel when she does the real swim.

Louise's target is to raise £1000 for the animal care unit. She said: "The animals help make me feel better and I want to do that for them."

The money will be spent on making the animals' lives even better than they are now by enabling the academy to invest in upgrading cages and equipment to further enrich their environment.

Anyone wishing to support Louise can do so by donating via her just Giving Page which can be found here.