A CHURCH minister is set to tackle a 2.5km Easter Sunday swim in aid of the town's Marie Curie hospice.

Sue Fender, 52, who has been minister at Elfed Avenue Church in Penarth for the past five years, will take on the Swimathon 2017 as part of the nationwide swimming challenge.

The event will take place across the weekend of April 7-9 as Swimathon celebrates its 30th anniversary but Rev Fender will be doing her swim at Penarth Leisure Centre on April 15.

It will be the second time she has taken on the challenge – the first being back in 2012, when she managed to raise £850.

"It went much better than I thought, a little thing called adrenaline kicked in,” said the mum-of-two. "I really did enjoy it, and I’ve wanted to do it again and for various reasons not been able to.

"I also wanted to wait until it was in partnership with Marie Curie again."

It was during a visit to the Cardiff and Vale Hospice in Penarth that she first found out about the challenge.

A number of church goers have been cared for at the hospice.

"It’s about giving people the best end of life care and doing whatever we can do to make life more comfortable.

"I am driven by that because I’ve seen people who have died painfully and lonely or not pleasantly and then I find myself wishing they could have had the opportunities that somewhere like this can give.

"That’s motivation enough for me," she said.

As well as fundraising for the charity, the swim is a personal challenge for her as she lives with Fibromyalgia which is a long-term condition which causes pain all over the body.

"I’ve always been a swimmer, so I knew it is something I can do," said Sue.

"I didn’t think there was much point in doing something that I could just crawl out of bed and do, so I wanted that personal challenge and that’s part of my motivation for this year as well."

Speaking about the last time she took part, she said: "It was really lovely, there was such a nice, friendly atmosphere."

She trains twice a week and increases her lengths by two each week as part of her training.

She says getting up early in the morning is the worst part of the training – but that it gets better as the mornings get lighter.

"The best part is walking into the hospice, knowing that my small contribution of £850 – in financial terms, it seems so little - has done some little tiny something to help somebody’s end-of-life care be that little bit better. And if I ever need it, it’s here for me."

Visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/swimathon-2017-Suefenderswim to donate.