A GWENT woman who is swimming the width of the English Channel for an Alzheimer's charity got a huge boost when the lead singer of rock band Bastille made a donation.

Elin Gould, from Crumlin, said: "I set my original target at £250, which I hit before the swim started in September.

"I then had a wonderful huge donation from Dan Smith, the lead singer of Bastille, which pushed my total to over £550.

"It was lovely. I'm a huge fan of the band and have seem them a few times live.

"Dan Smith saw something I put on Twitter about the swim and he messaged me and asked for the link to the donations page. He didn't make a fuss about it and just quietly donated £250."

The 24-year-old said: "I decided to take on this challenge and raise money for Alzheimer's Research UK because I have a wonderful Grancha who has dementia and I wanted to raise as much money as I can for a charity working to get a breakthrough in both treatment and finding a cure.

"I have seen multiple people with multiple forms of Alzheimer's and it's so cruel and relentless and the more money and awareness raised, the better the outcome."

Ms Gould, who used to be a member of a local swimming club, said she decided on the swimming challenge after being inspired by the Olympics this summer.

She set herself the task of swimming 22 miles - the width of the English Channel from Dover to Calais.

She said: "I did the challenge between September 1 and the end of October but I am still swimming regularly at my local leisure centre pool and at my gym's pool.

"I swam and still swim roughly around one to three kilometres every session building up my total distance and have absolutely loved every minute of it."

If you would like to donate go to: swim.thetreblechallenge.org/pages/elins-channel-swim-for-alzheimers-research