News Release

Grandmother Swims 250 miles for The Hearing Fund UK

A 56 year old grandmother is involved in the challenge of a lifetime as she swims her way from Doncaster to Edinburgh in a bid to raise money for The Hearing Fund UK, a charitable organisation offering musical tuition to deaf children.

A former swimming instructor, Linda Carlo, got the idea to swim 250 miles in twelve months after The Hearing Fund UK director, Justin Osmond, ran 250 miles in eight days in May last year. 

A convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1976, after first hearing about it through the famous Mormon singing group, The Osmonds, Linda says, "I feel a need to give something back to this lovely family who have meant so much to me over the years." 

Having started her challenge in August last year, Linda plans to complete it on 6th August, and is thrilled that two of the Osmond family will be at the poolside to witness her complete her 250th mile. 
Linda swims on average one mile a day, five days a week, and by the time she finishes her challenge, she will have spent almost 200 hours in the water and will have swum 16,000 lengths. 

The Hearing Fund UK is a charity which relies on fundraising to help deaf children gain confidence in the hearing world by discovering and developing musical talents. 

"My initial aim was to raise £500, then I increased it to £2,500 and now I just want to raise as much as possible," Linda explains. "My dad used to say, 'Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might!' I know that if you want something badly enough, and you're prepared to work extremely hard and not give up when things get tough, then you can accomplish anything at all."

Linda's progress can be followed on her blog https://carlolinda.wordpress.com

Style Guide Note:When reporting about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, please use the complete name of the Church in the first reference. For more information on the use of the name of the Church, go to our online Style Guide.