A Yeovil woman was preparing to swim across The English Channel as The Clarion went to press.

Wendy Morgan has been preparing for two years, and was waiting for the right sea and weather conditions at Dover when speaking to this newspaper earlier in the week.

The 42-year-old, who works as an A&E receptionist at Yeovil District Hospital, has always been a keen swimmer.

She was a member of Street Swimming Club when younger and is now a member of Goldenstones-based Yeovil Swimming Club.

Swimming across The Channel is something she has always wanted to do. When reaching her 40s, she felt it was time to get going.

Training started under Malcolm Squirrel two years ago but suffered a severe setback when he suddenly died before Christmas.

Wendy decided to dedicate the swim to him, and is also raising money for Weymouth Canoe Life Guards in his memory.

Her new trainer is Edgar Ette, who is famous for running from London to Dover, swimming across The Channel before cycling to Paris.

Getting in shape for the challenge, Wendy has been training for up to ten hours at a time in the sea on a regular basis.

Wendy hopes to complete the swim in anything between 12 and 14 hours, but says it all depends on the conditions on the day.