John goes Forth in his bid to swim the Channel

MOST people would have to be intoxicated or at the wrong end of a bet to go swimming in the Forth at midnight.

But in the case of aquatic fundraiser John Young, the ritual is far from a dare.

He and three friends have been spotted swimming off the coast of Portobello as darkness falls, and even out as far as Bass Rock.

They are preparing to swim the English Channel next month in memory of his daughter, eight-year-old Edinburgh girl Verity Young, who died of cancer in 2009. Mr Young said they hope to make headway towards a 100,000 fundraising target for her charity, the Teapot Trust, to hire play therapists for children's hospitals.

The 46-year-old writer said: "We need to recreate conditions as best we can and, because we'll be setting off at three in the morning, it will be pitch black.

"We've been swimming out from Portobello up to a mile offshore and out from Gullane round Bass Rock and back. It's a bit of a strange feeling swimming in the dark, but one advantage is the Channel won't be as cold as the Forth."

The quartet - which includes Mr Young's friends John Hobbs, Jennifer Cohen and Diana Dawson - will swim the world's busiest waterway in a relay format in rotas of an hour.

They set off on August 7 and expect the challenge to take around 16 hours.

The motivation for Mr Young, both during training and for the event itself, is the memory of his daughter. Even as she fought ill health, and despite her young age, Verity was passionate about blood donation, insisting that sessions were held to encourage people to come along.

She was even given the very rare posthumous Blue Peter gold badge.

Having spent so much time in the Sick Kids hospital in Edinburgh fighting both cancer and lupus, she got great pleasure from the play therapist who came round. As a result, Mr Young and his wife, Laura, set up the Teapot Trust, and have staged several blood donor days.

"Certainly when I'm getting tired or a bit cold, I just think of Verity laughing and telling me not to give in," said Mr Young.

"She would have enjoyed the idea of this."

There are a few uncertainties facing the group, who said they were fortunate to find a slot for the popular bid.

More people have successfully scaled Mount Everest than conquered the Channel.

"It does depend on the weather and we need to catch the tide, which is why it sets off at 3am," he added. "There are all kinds of rules from the order of swimmers being adhered to down to the size of your Speedos."

"There are also the currents. Sometimes people can get to within 200 yards of France, put their head down and next time they look up they're four miles away and have to give up."

To donate, to the charity visit www.teapot-trust.org

[email protected]