A woman celebrated her 50th birthday by swimming more than a mile across the English Channel to raise money for a charity fighting heart disease.

Rachel Caterer, from Rickmansworth, swam 1.4miles from Bournemouth Pier to Boscombe Pier in 47 minutes on Sunday, July 15.

She was joined by her cousin Laurence and her friend Roisin in support of the British Heart Foundation.

Ms Caterer wanted to take on the challenge as the charity has helped many of her family and friends over the years.

She said: “During my 50th year I have been setting myself various challenges and for this event I was raising money for British Heart Foundation as many of my family and friends over the years have been affected by heart conditions, so I guess I may well be investing in our future well-being.

“Growing up around Harefield Hospital made me aware from an early age of the amazing work done there in terms of heart transplants and so this was a cause I was interested in doing a challenge for.

“It was a wonderful event and Roisin and I swam the entire way side by side in 47 minutes which we were very pleased with. We returned home tired but very happy with our achievement.”