Four friends are embarking on a "once in a lifetime opportunity", challenging themselves to swim the English Channel and raise more than £40,000 for the spinal cord charity Aspire.

One of the group's stepfather lost his life to a spinal cord injury, and so the group are motivated to help make a significant difference to those who have been paralysed by the injury.

James Jackson-Stops, Director at Blue Bear Self Storage which has storage facilities in Huntingdon and St Ives, said: "We had flirted with the idea of doing the Channel for a really long time and finding people mad enough to do it with you is quite difficult!"

“So when a group of four of us came together, we jumped at the opportunity.”

The group will set off from Dover to Calais at 2 am on August 18, swimming in hourly rotations in water as cold as 10C and navigating busy shipping lanes.

They hope to complete the relay swim in roughly 14 hours and have been supported by Aspire, the charity itself, to help them do it.

If you would like to donate, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/swimfordavid.