Two-year-old's pool feat for Shropshire sponsored swim
Little Jackson-J Evans amazed organisers of a Shropshire sponsored swim by completing four lengths of the pool – at just two years old.
The youngster was the youngest participant in the Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital League of Friends annual sponsored swim.
Having completed only a width beforehand, Jackson-J, from Oswestry set off, with his dad, Andy, and grandad, Steve, alongside him for encouragement.
And he kept going for four lengths of the 17m pool.
His feat was rewarded by raising £130 for the League of Friends' funds.
Helen Hughes from the League said: "The little boy is just two-and-a-half and to have swum four lengths is a wonderful achievement."
She said Jackson-J's grandmother, Sandra Evans, works in the physiotherapy department at the hospital.
Grateful
"Jackson-J was our youngest swimmer and we had several senior citizens who swam for us as well as people of all ages in between. We are very grateful to each one of them."
The pool was built with the help of funding from the League of Friends to replace the hospital's original swimming baths.
The therapeutic swimming pool was opened in August 2005 following large amounts of fundraising by the League of Friends and staff.
The "Make A Splash" appeal was the League of Friends largest project ever at the hospital. It was started by a generous legacy of £403,000 from the late Samuel Hughes Pennill of Whitchurch. The pool cost over £1.5 million, with the League of Friends contributing more than £1.3 million to the building costs.
It is used all day, everyday by different groups of patients and also hosts a swimming club for people with disabilities.
