A fantastic five from Gloucester will be taking on one of the greatest challenges of their lives tomorrow morning.

At a time when the rest of us will still to be tucked up in bed, Ben Slatter, Rich Molloy, Gary Young, Dan Knapman and Gill Parry will attempt to swim the English Channel.

Calling themselves the Gloucester Dippers, they will set off from Dover at 4am with the hope of arriving in France some 12 to 14 hours later.

“We’re swimming in relay,” Slatter told The Local Answer today. “Because of the currents it will be about 24 miles. We’re not sure exactly where we’ll finish but we’ll all swim about five miles.”

All the swimmers are aged 40-plus – two of them are more than 50 – and Slatter continued: “We’ve been training for 12 months – cold water therapy, swimming in lakes, pools, open water.”

Slatter has never swum more than five kilometres in one go before and he will be the third of the five swimmers in the water.

Knapman will be the first, followed by Molloy. Parry will be the fourth and Young will be the final swimmer.

“There will be eight of us in the boat,” explained Slatter. “We’ll have a pilot and an observer and Rich’s wife Hayley will also be on the boat cheering us on, she’s got the most important job!”

The swimmers are raising money for two charities – Anthony Nolan and Young Gloucestershire – and their swim should have taken place at the end of last month.

“It was postponed because of the bad weather,” explained Slatter. “We were only told about tomorrow’s swim at 5pm yesterday!”

And what was Slatter’s reaction when he was told?

“Oh god, it’s on!” he laughed.

The swimmers’ original aim was to raise £10,000 for the two charities but they have now reached just under £13,000.

“The money is important but it’s all about raising awareness,” said Slatter.

Anthony Nolan works in the area of leukaemia and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation while Young Gloucestershire supports young people who are facing challenges in their lives.

To support the charity swim, visit https://channelrelaychallenge.co.uk/