FORTY students and their tutors from Kelly College's Newton House will be taking to the water in a marathon swim for charity tomorrow (Friday).

The girls are attempting to swim 68km (42 miles) which is the distance of swimming the Strait of Dover there and back! 

They will be swimming a total of 2,688 lengths in the Kelly swimming pool — and are aiming to complete this mega distance in just one hour. 

The cause they have chosen to support this year is the 'Cots for Tots' appeal, run by the regional charity Wallace & Gromit's Grand Appeal. The campaign is raising money to support the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at St Michael's Hospital in Bristol. 

The appeal has a special significance for the students at Kelly.

Gary and Debbie Collard, both design and technology teachers at the school, finally have their son Jack at home with them, after he was born very prematurely.

He spent 421 days and two Christmases at St Michael's Hospital.

Jack, who was born in November 2008, weighed just 1lb 10oz when he was born — less than a bag of sugar.

He was kept in an incubator for six months and had to fight for his life every step of the way, spending more than a year in the intensive care unit.

The campaign aims to raise £1 million for the Unit to provide a new suite of four intensive care cots to help save the lives of premature and critically ill new-born babies across the South West of England.

The unit currently needs more cots in order to meet the demand for the high level care that the team provides.  Money raised will also provide a new home-from-home family accommodation unit. 

Anyone who would like to sponsor the swimmers at Kelly should go to http://www.justgiving.com/NewtonHouse-KellyCollege">www.justgiving.com/NewtonHouse-KellyCollege