A COMPANY boss is preparing to take the plunge in a bid to raise cash for a local charity.

The Great North Swim is a one-mile open water swim taking place in Windermere on Saturday, and one of the competitors will be Jonathan Hutchings, managing director of Uniwell UK, Greenbank Technology Park, Blackburn.

The event is the first of it's kind in the UK with over 2,200 swimmers of all abilities expected to take part.

Mr Hutchings is raising cash for East Lancs Hospice after it cared for a friend’s father as he finally lsot his battle with cancer.

Mr Hutchings, 40, of Wilpshire, said: “I’ve been doing abit of swimming at Clitheroe pool to prepare for this. I can definitely swim a mile but the cold water might make it a bit more interesting. I’ll be swimming in a wet suit so the cold doesn’t affect me as badly.

“It seemed perfect to raise the money for East Lancs Hospice and I’m looking forward to it.”

Some of the biggest names in swimming will be participating in the event with eight times world record holder, Mark Foster, who was Team GB's flag bearer at the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing, taking part.

Anyone who would like to help Jonathan raise money for the East Lancs Hospice can click http://www.uniwell.co.uk/news/2008/august/great-north-swim.html Uniwell Systems UK is a distributor of point of sale (POS) systems, serving the hospitality, catering and speciality retail sectors for over 20 years.