Nine year old Cherry takes on swimming challenge in memory of her uncle, Delays singer Greg Gilbert

Cherry Gilbert, nine from Southampton, has swum 100 lengths in an hour to raise money for the charity in memory of her beloved uncle, Greg Gilbert, who was a singer for indie rock band Delays. Cherry’s mum, Michelle who is married to Greg’s brother Aaron who plays keyboard in the band, shares with us why Cherry wanted to do something in her uncle’s memory.

My brother-in-law Greg was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in 2016 at just 39 years old and died five years later in September 2021. Greg and Cherry were very close, he’s her only niece and the oldest grandchild in the family. Like her uncle and dad, she’s very creative and took a lot of pleasure in showing Greg her latest drawings. She takes great comfort in listening to the Delays songs, and she was in the crowd, at just 18 months, at their very last performance at the Isle of Wight Festival.

Cherry always knew that Greg was poorly, but it was only a couple of months before his tragic death that she knew the severity of his illness. At his funeral, along with Greg’s two children, she played a key role in baking cookies for the guests – we felt it was important that they were involved in a positive way.

Cherry is very much like me, she wants to help, she wants to do something. We spoke about her skills and strengths, and it was her idea to do a swimming challenge. She’s a very strong swimmer, as she’s had lessons since she was a baby. We came up with the plan for her to swim 100 lengths in an hour - it’s a real challenge for Cherry, but she’s been practising for a few months and I’m so impressed by how quickly she can swim. She’s not even out of breath!

On Sunday 30 September at Jubilee Sports Centre in Southampton, Cherry undertook her challenge with close family and friends cheering her on. It took her around an hour to complete her hundred lap challenge, but by the end the whole building was chanting her name. Aaron and I are so incredibly proud of her.

Cherry said upon completing her challenge: “I felt unstoppable when I did my last length! At first, I thought I can't do this but then I had a positive mindset and knew I could. I am so happy to have completed this challenge and raised all the money!'

She was quite adamant that she wanted to oversee fundraising, she didn’t want an online platform. She directly asks our family, friends and people who me and her dad know and work with – who can say no to her? She’s raised around £1,000, but then Aaron shared on his social channels her challenge and set up a JustGiving page as we were overwhelmed with the sheer amount of people wanting to support her.

Amazingly, the money is still coming through, but we’ve already raised around £5,000 so far. People have been so generous, and we can’t thank them enough.

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