Secondary school student completes 10k swim for animal welfare charity

Holly Counsell decided two months ago that she wanted to raise money for the Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, located in Ringmer.

She said: “I do a lot of swimming and I really enjoy it and I rescued two gerbils from Raystede before, so it was the charity I wanted to do it for.”

The 14-year-old took on extra training for the marathon swim, alongside her usual two training session for the Lewes Swimming Club, taking part in early morning 5k and 7.5k swims at Lewes and Uckfield swimming pool.

Holly completed the swim on Sunday, November 13, at the Triangle in Burgess Hill, clocking in a time of 3 hours and 43 minutes and raising £1,070.

Holly said: “In the middle I felt it got harder, but then I had people come and support me at the end which helped.

“My mum, my dad and my brothers were there counting the lengths and my cousins and aunties came as well. It definitely spurred me on.”

Raystede, the charity Holly was raising money for, says it is struggling to cope with the increasing number of animals coming into their care.

The animal centre said as more people are looking to give up their pets because owners are experiencing cost-of-living pressures, as well as changes in their circumstances, meaning they are not able to cope with their lockdown pets.

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The charity also said it is experiencing rising costs in caring for the animals, particularly in heating and lighting.

Holly said: “Animals are very important to me, the charity is a great charity and they do such a brilliant job. When I’m 16, I want to volunteer for Raysede.”

Holly’s mum Loraine Counsell described her daughter as an ‘inspiration’ to her family.

Lorraine said: “She’s been an inspiration for all of us. She decided off her own back that Raystede is really important to her, that she wanted to design a challenge she could do.

“She prepared all her own training and has gone ahead and done it off her own back, which has been amazing.”