A HOPE and Anchor Inn employee has raised £400 for the Hope Cove Lifeboat by taking part in the Great North Swim.

Jess Rigby, 23, took part in the mile-long course in Lake Windermere, Cumbria, along with 10,000 other swimmers on Saturday, June 11, finishing 469th with a time of 33 minutes and 44 seconds.

Jess, who used to swim with Kingsbridge Kingfishers Swimming Club had to give up competitively swimming after going through six operations on her ankle.

‘It was my first ever open water swim’ said Jess, ‘the water temperature was the warmest its been at 20 degrees and I was the second fastest woman and the fifth fastest overall in my heat.’

When she asked why she decided to put herself through the gruelling swim, she laughed ‘I have honestly no idea! I needed something to push me, to prove to myself that I could do it, and I needed a cause to work for.

‘Working in Hope Cove, I couldn’t think of a better charity to support than the Hope Cove Lifeboat, plus the locals wouldn’t have let me live it down if I had done it for anyone else!’

Jess got a ‘shout-out’ from one of the organisers at the event before it started, as his dad had been one of the Hope Cove Lifeboat’s first response team.

Jess has been training for the swim in Bigbury Bay between shifts at the Hope and Anchor, which is a great supporter of the Hope Cove Lifeboat and had collection boxes on the bar.

Graham Philips, chairman of the Hope Cove Lifeboat, said: ‘We’re always amazed and humbled by the way locals and visitors support us. Jess’s feat is another example of the way people think of us and we’re very grateful.’

Chris Roberts, manager of the Hope and Anchor and Jess’s boss, said: ‘Myself and all the staff are incredibly proud of Jess and what she has accomplished. As a team we have an ethos of raising money for local causes, and Jess has done it in style, with a time and position that is admirable.’

If you would like to donate to the Hope Cove Lifeboat through Jess’s fundraising appeal, you can visit her JustGiving page: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jessica-Rigby2.