A man who hasn’t swum a length in 14 years is going to swim the distance of the Channel for charity.

Tom Clark, 30, of Meadow Walk, has already raised more than £1,000 by agreeing to swim 22 miles between September and December, but says he wants to raise "a lot more". 

The donations will go to Aspire, a charity that supports people who are paralysed by spinal cord injuries.

Mr Clark said: “I started training last week, but I hadn’t swum a length since I was 16. I have very sore shoulders, they are not used to this sort of exertion.

“I signed up for this challenge as I wanted to do something for charity and push myself to complete a goal.

“After seeing what Aspire did for people, I wanted to try and do more for them, and raise as much money as possible.

“I’m already looking at planning some mini-events along the way to help with my donations.”

Tom will be joining 6,000 other swimmers around the country who have 12 weeks to swim 1418 lengths.

Tom will be completing the challenge at Harpenden 1Life Swimming Pool and is hoping to finish before December.

“I want to get through the challenge a lot quicker – I’m so excited about it, it’s one of the first things I’ve ever done for charity,” he said.

If you would like to donate to Tom’s swim please go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomsaspirechannelswim.