A WORLD champion swimmer made waves in Petersfield on Tuesday when she visited the open air pool to launch her book series.

Katy Sexton MBE has written the Gogglehedz tales to educate young children and their parents about the dangers of being around water.

The stories have been illustrated by fellow swimming instructor by Oliver Stubbs with the first called Gogglehedz and the Stormy Day.

The launch coincided with World Drowning Prevention Day with dozens of visitors young and old snapping up signed copies of the first book.

Katy’s book has been years in the making so it was a massive coup for Petersfield Open Air Swimming Pool to stage the launch.

“It feels really great to finally hold a copy in our hands,” said the Olympian, who plans to develop more characters and start an outreach programme for schools.

“We’re trying to make being safe in and around the water fun for kids and adults. The key message is to enjoy the water, respect the water and be aware of how dangerous water can be.”

“We’ve tried to recreate scenarios in memorable stories with fun characters that help educate children and their families.”

Indeed the pool partially owes its existence to providing safer swimming as there have been a handful of fatalities on Heath Pond. Three youngsters died after falling through ice on the pond in 1902 while a two-year-old died while padding in 1937.

Copies of Katy’s debut are still available from the pool, for more details about the Gogglehedz series released through Tricorn Books visit www.gogglehedz.com