A Yeovil manager who began his career as a Leonardo apprentice is preparing to swim the English Channel this September to raise money for a charity helping children gain lifesaving water skills.
Matt Read, Early Careers Training Manager at Leonardo in Yeovil, will take part in a Channel relay crossing in early September, in support of Swim Tayka, a charity dedicated to preventing drowning through swimming education and water safety programmes for children. 
Born and raised in Yeovil, Matt attended Buckler’s Mead School before studying engineering at Yeovil College as part of a Leonardo apprenticeship programme. He later completed a Mechanical Engineering degree at Plymouth University and now helps develop graduates, apprentices and industrial placement students entering the business.
Matt said: “Swimming has given me so much over the years. Supporting Swim Tayka is an opportunity to help children develop skills that could one day save their lives while giving them confidence in their own abilities.”
Preparing for the challenge has required months of training in Lyme Bay and at Vobster Quay. Matt trains up to five times a week and has just completed a demanding two hour cold-water qualification before the crossing. Recent heatwaves made that harder than expected, forcing him to travel to the Menai Straight in North Wales to swim in waters below the required 16°C. The warmer waters have also brought another challenge.
Matt said: “We’re not allowed to wear wetsuits during the Channel swim, so I’ve had plenty of encounters with jellyfish this summer. You learn to treat the stings like nettle stings – acknowledge them and keep going.”
Matt hopes to raise £1,800 through the challenge to support swimming lessons and water-safety education for children. This sum will fund comprehensive community programmes that will prevent drowning and foster clean-water stewardship.
This will include survival swimming skills, teaching children from the ages of 4 to 14 how to float, tread water, and swim to safety in open-water regions like rivers, lakes, and oceans.
Matt said: “Whether it’s the English Channel or a local beach, water is unpredictable. Even with all the training, I always remember the RNLI’s ‘Float to Live’ guidance. If you ever get into trouble, fight the instinct to thrash around. Lean back, control your breathing and float. That is the kind of livesaving awareness we are trying to build with Swim Tayka, because knowing how to stay calm in the water is the first step to survival.”
The team is expected to depart from Dover during a swim window between September 4 and 8.
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