A Methodist minister with a spinal cord injury has swum to France for a second time, 15 years after she first completed the challenge. Eleanor Reddington, 71, who lives in Colwyn Bay, completed a six-person Channel relay in 2009, having been injured in two separate car accidents. Her team landed in Dover after more than 16 hours at sea and raised more than £10,000 for the spinal injury charity Aspire. As a result of Eleanor’s bravery, Aspire has organised Channel relays ever since and has raised more than £2 million from Channel swimming.

On Sunday 4^th August 2024, Eleanor joined Aspire’s 100th relay boat in an attempt to repeat her original feat. She had to swim in the pitch dark, in cold, churning seas (the team are a few pounds lighter in weight this morning) and dodged jellyfish all the way to France. On top of this, Eleanor had to climb on and off the Channel boat in rolling seas and at one stage did this in the pitch blackness of night. It is a terrifying experience for anyone and so doing this with a spinal injury required huge bravery. The six strong team finally touched down at Cap de Gris Nez on the French coast after swimming for 12 hours 59 minutes.

Eleanor said of her achievement, “Swimming the Channel in 2009 was one of the hardest challenges I had ever undertaken and to return 16 years later seemed almost beyond me. But I believe that age doesn’t have to be a block to living an exciting life and so, when I was offered a place on the boat, I decided I had to return and help Aspire.

“The support has been incredible. When they heard about my attempt to swim the Channel again, a Derbyshire based company called Mobility in Motion decided to underwrite all the costs of the challenge. This has meant that every penny we have raised will help people who have been paralysed.”

Eleanor has been swimming for Aspire since 2003, when she first took on the Aspire Channel Swim, and has personally raised more than £20,000 to support other people with spinal cord injuries.