12 year old girl proves Foxes can swim

Last updated 29-May-09 11:24

A Palmers Green schoolgirl has shown her gratitude to staff at Chase Farm Hospital by raising £80 for the service that saved her grandmother's life.

12 year old Josephine Fox, of Ashmole Secondary School, swam 100 lengths at Southgate pool in support of the Intensive Treatment Unit, where her grandmother had been nursed back to full recovery after a recent admission. Josephine says her first thought on finishing her swim was the thrill of knowing she would be saving lives. She insists there was no doubt in her mind that she would complete the lengths, later telling hospital staff "I knew I had to do it."

A swimmer since the age of 4, Miss Fox completed the distance in just 75 minutes but has no ambitions to become a professional swimmer. However - while admitting she admires Rebecca Addlington more than Paula Radcliffe - she hopes to raise more money for local healthcare by competing in the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust Fun Run later this summer.