FORMER Tavistock College student Olly White completed a 56-mile swim last week across the Irish sea for charity.

Olly, 33, who now lives in Exmouth, earned his place in public trials to swim among a celebrity relay team which included Boyzone singer Ronan Keating, ex-Atomic Kitten Jenny Frost and Olympic medallist Steve Parry in 'The Swim', which is well on its way to raising its target of £1 million for Cancer Research UK.

Training alone for swimmer and primary school teacher Olly meant a 15 to 20 mile swim per week, which was not so far from his usual routine, having swum for years in the open water circuit both with Tavistock Swimming Club and at Kelly Swimming.

The already incredibly difficult swim was made even harder by swarms of jellyfish which the team were forced to swim through.

For Olly, who decided to complete the swim without the aid of a wetsuit, this proved particularly treacherous.

Olly said he was proud to have been able to take part in what he described as a 'once in a lifetime experience' which he thoroughly enjoyed.

'Except when you're woken up at 3am and the last thing you want to do is drop into the Irish Channel!,' he said.

Olly also paid tribute to the sheer determination of the celebrity team, many of whom had little experience with swimming, and in particular Steve Parry, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer only 18 months ago.

'The Swim' was completed in 35h 18m from Holyhead in Anglesey and reaching Ireland at 8.18am Thursday, September 1.