Swimming for the Rainbow
Ryan Davies has lived in Pembrokeshire most of his life and many of us will know him in his role as one of the veterinary surgeons at Fishguard Vets.
After organising and undertaking a successful fundraising swim for the Sea Trust in Goodwick in 2019, when he raised £2,500, he has been looking for a new challenge. The 2019 event consisted of swimming from Newport to Goodwick which took him just under eight hours to cover a distance of about nine miles.
Now Ryan has decided to follow a different course along his favourite section of the Cardigan Bay coastline, and he has come up with another charity that has impressed him.
“The Rainbow Ward is the unit for children with cancer and leukaemia up to the age of 13 at the Cardiff hospital,” he said. “After visiting the Rainbow Ward myself and seeing what fantastic work they do, I really wanted to put my efforts into making my contribution.”
Ryan is hoping to raise £15,000 to purchase iPads for all the children on the Rainbow Ward at the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff. This will allow the children to keep in touch with families and have access to entertainment and school work.
The swim is with the LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity Sea Swim 2021.
Interestingly Ryan says he is not a particularly keen swimmer. He explained: “I believe if you set yourself a challenge in life it should be something you are not comfortable with, and something you have never done before. I like to think I can make my own tracks and not just follow in the footprints of others.”
Undoubtedly, though, Ryan is looking forward to sharing some of the sights along the way, which will include the Witches Cauldron near Ceibwr Bay, the River Teifi including the beautiful coastline at Gwbert, the jaw-dropping beaches of Mwnt, Aberporth, Penbryn, Llangrannog, New Quay………and some secret spots too.
He will be undertaking the 30-plus-mile trip in six stages accompanied by the Latch Teddy bringing you live sightings of the most stunning coastline and wildlife that Wales has to offer, including Europe’s largest population of bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic grey seals, jellyfish, puffins and gannets.
Ryan is planning to complete the final stage and arrive on New Quay beach with the LATCH Teddy on August bank holiday Sunday (29) or Monday (30) around lunchtime, but you can donate now.
Pembrokeshire.Online and the children of the Rainbow Ward are hoping you will follow Ryan on this amazing journey and contribute generously. You can see his video and read more about the project on the Latch Wales website. You can donate on his just giving page and also find him on Instagram. All details below.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/latchseaswim
Instagram: #latchseaswim2021
Good luck, Ryan, we will be watching.
