Last updated at 17:11, Wednesday, 22 August 2012

A BUDDING star of the pool got an Olympic treat after raising hundreds in a mammoth charity swim.

SPECIAL TREAT: Eden-Joy Light and her mum Michelle with Olympic silver medallist Michael Jamieson

Eden-Joy Light, 12, raised more than £500 for charity Alice’s Escapes when she swam for five hours in the pool at Lakes Leisure Ulverston last month.

Eden-Joy, an avid reader of swimming magazine Aquazone, wrote a letter to the publication about her efforts.

Delighted Eden-Joy, of Mountbarrow Road, was ecstatic when the magazine invited her to meet top Olympic swimmers at an event in Liverpool on Saturday.

She and friend Eden Stoller, also 12, of Ulverston, were given the chance to train with aquatic legends including breaststroke silver medallist Michael Jamieson.

The lucky Ulverston Victoria High School pupil even got to have a spot of dinner with top divers, swimmers and the British waterpolo team behind the scenes.

Eden-Joy – a keen competitive swimmer herself – said she managed to pick up some top tips from them. She said: “It was really good and time went so quickly because I was enjoying it so much. They gave me quite a lot of tips. They were really nice, it was like they were talking to their best friend.”

The event was part of the British Swimming Heroes Tour, which is taking members of the British swimming, diving, synchro and water polo teams around the country to pass on their skills to children.

The 14km swim Eden-Joy completed raised £550 for the Alice’s Escapes was set up by cancer sufferer Alice Pyne and aims to organise holidays for seriously ill children and their families.

Eden-Joy’s mum, Michelle Light, said she hoped the story might inspire other children to similar feats.

She said: “It was her reward for doing something so fabulous. It is certainly something I won’t forget for a while.”

First published at 16:33, Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk