St Albans swimming teacher makes a splash for charity

SWIMMING teacher Jan Morse took the plunge and organised a host of sponsored events in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Jan, 59, who lives in St Albans and works at the Nuffield Health Club, was recently honoured by the charity after having raised over �32,000.

She was invited to the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre to witness the unveiling of the charity’s fourth Challengers’ Wall, which displays hundreds of names of people who have raised �1,000.

At the ceremony Jan had the chance to look at her name on the wall as well as taking a tour of the centre to see how the donations are being spent.

Jan first took up the challenge of raising �1,000 for Breakthrough after a friend was diagnosed with cancer. Through her job she was able to hold her first sponsored swimming event which raised �7,000.

A few years later she held her second event and more recently a third in memory of local girl Georgie Robinson who died in a car accident while travelling in South Africa. That was launched by rugby star Kyran Bracken and proved to be the most successful yet, raising more than �13,000.

One hundred and fifty people were involved in the event at Nuffield Health swimming club and undertook different challenges, including swimming in rugby shirts.

Jan said: “After seeing a friend suffering from breast cancer I felt that I could offer my support by raising money for a charity which is trying to find new treatments for the disease. After completing my third fundraising event I am so pleased at the amount I have raised.

“It’s a great achievement and I would encourage everyone else to take part in Breakthrough’s �1,000 Challenge.”