A TEACHER will today brave notoriously treacherous waters off the Northumberland coast in an attempt to swim to the Farne Islands.

According to fishermen at Seahouses, there have been many attempts over the years to swim from the town to the nearby islands, but nobody has achieved the feat.

But teacher Sol Walker, head of physical education at St Leonard's RC School, Durham, is to try to complete the feat to raise money for the school.

At 10.42am, Mr Walker and former paratrooper Stuart Dowding will leave Seahouses harbour to try to swim to the islands, which are famous for their seal colonies and as the place where St Cuthbert lived in solitude during Anglo-Saxon times.

Although the islands lie about a mile-and- a-half out to sea, the swimmers will have to cover nearly three miles in a circuitous route, to avoid dangerous currents. They will also have to beware jelly fish.

Mr Walker said: "The tides and currents are absolutely critical. We have to go at a specific time. We have to leave at 10.42am, then take 40 minutes to get out one mile so we hit a certain current that will take us to the islands."

The swimmers, who will be accompanied by a doctor and navigator aboard a support boat, hope to raise money for floodlights for St Leonard's rugby ground.