SWIMMERS of all abilities proved there is no age limit on raising money for charity as they took a dip at the weekend.

Dozens of people took part in the Swimathon Weekend at Highworth Recreation Centre which was one of 645 pools across the country taking part in the event which saw thousands of swimmers complete 5k, 2.5k and Team 5k distance challenges for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Swimmers also took in the new Big Splash Mile for Sport Relief.

Assistant manager at Highworth Rec, Cheryl Pottinger, said: “We had a few swimmers requesting we did the Swimathon last year so we thought we would really go for it this year.

“Our youngest and oldest swimmers were part of a team of seven that completed the 5k challenge, which was a total of 200 lengths between them. The youngest was about four and the eldest was probably in their 60s.

“We had a lot of people taking part who swim regularly so they have been training hard for it, and then we had people like myself who haven’t swam for about five months and decided to take part on the day.

“You don’t have to be an amazing swimmer to take part.

“It is good for the competitive swimmer that wants to give themselves a challenge and raise money at the same time, but then it is perfect for the younger children or the older ones who want to take part and just swim as much as they can as part of a team, they are still achieving a great goal.”

The money raised by taking on the Swimathon Distance Challenges for Marie Curie Cancer Care will help support Marie Curie Nurses who provide free nursing care to people with terminal cancer and other illnesses, in the place of their choice. Money raised by the public for the Big Splash Mile for Sport Relief will be spent by Comic Relief to help people living incredibly tough lives both here in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries.