Barnaby Webber fundraiser: Pupils complete Channel swim

Pupils have raised about £13,000 after completing a relay swim in the English Channel.

All of the money will be donated to the Barnaby Webber Foundation, which was set up to honour the memory of Taunton Prep School's former student who was fatally stabbed.

Pupils, aged 12 and 13 from the prep school, swam two hours each, with the feat taking about 15 hours to complete on 27 August.

The school's pupils have been taking on the challenge for nearly a decade, raising about £100,000 for different charities.

Barnaby Webber, 19, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, 19, and Ian Coates, 65 were killed by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham in June 2023.

Following Barnaby's death, his family set up The Barnaby Webber Foundation, with money raised going to young people in need.

Tegan, one of the pupils who took part in the challenge in the world's busiest shipping lane, said the water was "very wavy" to begin with, but it was not "too cold".

Eleanor explained to BBC Radio Somerset each of them swam at least two hours in the water, and said the most daunting part was the "seaweed".

Teagan added there were "a lot of ferries" while they were swimming, and it was "weird" to see them around, despite them being far away.

Headteacher Ed Burnett said a major issue was sea sickness. On his boat, four of the six children were vomiting over the side, before they had to swim.

Mr Burnett said: "It's one of those things you do because it's actually really important for children to have these opportunities and to do something which is a bit of a 'wow'."

The headteacher said Barnaby Webber started at Taunton School when he was in nursery. He remained there until completing his A-levels and "touched a lot of the teachers on the way."

"It was done for something that was quite raw but very important to us as a school," Mr Burnett added.

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