FOUR FitzWimarc School pupils will become splash hits with their own swimming challenge for charity next week.

Henry Dean, 18, will join 17-year-olds Jack Minney, George Nagle and George Coverly to swim the equivalent of the English channel at Southend’s Garon Park pool a week on Thursday.

And the quartet of youngsters will be taking on the 21 mile swim to raise funds for Prostate Cancer UK.

“Prostate cancer affects one in eight men in their lifetime and by taking on this challenge we hope to make a difference,” explained Jack.

“We are swimming as a team of four and we are taking it in turns for time periods to complete the distance.”

The swimmers have already made more than £1,000 via the challenge which they begin bright and early.

“We will start at 7:30 in the morning but will try and get there for seven to get ourselves ready for what’s going to be a long task,” said Jack.

“We are all doing a certain period of time and hope to be able to raise even more money on the day.

“We will have a pot for people to put money in on a table at the front of the centre and we also have the JustGiving page where people can donate.”

Updates from the swimming challenge will be uploaded on social media throughout the day and all four participants have trained hard ahead of the tough looking task.

“We’ve done all we can to make sure we are in perfect condition for this,” added Jack.

“We’ve tracked our diets and we’ve obviously been swimming lots too.”

The four Fitz pupils have followed in the foot-steps of Southend United boss Kevin Maher by raising money for Prostate Cancer UK.

And Maher who, alongside his coaching staff, ran 5km every day throughout October, was pleased to meet the youngsters at Boots & Laces.

“Prostate Cancer UK is a fantastic charity we try and support as much as we can as a football club so it was great to hear what Henry, Jack and the two Georges are doing to raise money for them too,” said Maher.

“It was nice to meet them all and find out more about the challenge too.

“I hope it all goes really well and I wish them all the very best.”

Maher spent time talking with the four fundraisers who were delighted to meet the Blues boss.

“His enthusiasm for supporting our cause, raising funds for Prostate Cancer, and his genuine interest in the community really shone through,” said Henry.

“We are thankful to have him helping promote our event and taking time out of his day to speak to us about our training and the event.”

The swimmers have also received a good luck video from Team GB star Jonny Marshall who swam at the Paris Olympics in the summer.

Jonny’s mum Louise is a former FitzWimarc school pupil.

To sponsor the swimmers click here.