The speaker at our June meeting was Gill Castle from Chameleon Buddies.
When Gill, a former police officer, gave birth to her son in October 2011, her joy was accompanied with life-changing injuries due to an undiagnosed tear – two weeks later she left hospital with a stoma.
Following this, Gill became a committed and established campaigner dedicated to raising awareness and funds for women affected by childbirth injury both in the UK and in Kenya. During the winter of 2020-21 she swam in open water wearing only a bikini. Last year she completed a challenge to swim the English Channel, a feat which she achieved in 14 hours – ‘The Stoma Swimmer’ is available on BBC iPlayer. Her next challenge is to climb Kilimanjaro in October 2025 to raise funds for a new hospital in Kenya.