MARK BARBER, who has Down’s Syndrome, has been a regular swimmer at Farnham Swimability since 2015.

Each year at the club’s annual meeting he is presented with a certificate of achievement acknowledging the distance he’s swum during the course of a year.

Last year Mark’s total swimming mileage was just over 24 miles, down on previous years because of the impact of the pool closures because of the pandemic.

He enjoys the swimming sessions and they give him something worthwhile to look forward to each week and it keeps him fit.

Mark is an excellent swimmer and ordinarily manages 50 to 60 lengths of the 25-metre pool in the one-hour session on Wednesday afternoons.

Jenny Taylor has witnessed Mark ploughing up and down the pool on so many occasions and said: “Bear in mind that 64 lengths of the pool at Farnham is equivalent to one mile, so swimming close to that sort of distance on a regular basis is quite an achievement, especially as swimming can really make a difference to one’s health, fitness and suppleness.

“Mark comes to the swimming session every Wednesday and he is a lovely, friendly member of the group.”