This summer will see the first ever disability swimmer attempt the Tenby harbour to Caldey Island swim.

Richard Young, 24, who lives in Penally, has started sea training and aims to complete the crossing to Caldey in August.

It was reported last month that Kiln Park in Tenby had funded Richard with a wetsuit for his training. In addition, another company, BAS Components, have since come up trumps to aid Richard's fund-raising campaign.

Richard was invited to BAS in Pembroke Dock last week to be presented with a cheque for £300 from director, Lee Timbrell, which was raised by a collection from employees, together with a donation from the company who are owned by TT electronics Plc.

The cheque was made out to Wings over Pembrokeshire, which is one of the charities Richard is raising funds for from his swim.

Lee Timbrell said: "We were very impressed when we heard how hard Richard was working with his training; he told us about Wings over Pembrokeshire, a unique group that creates music and performance opportunities for people with learning disabilities all over Pembrokeshire, and we are very pleased to support them and encourage Richard to complete his swim."

This has certainly given Richard a morale boost with his arduous sea training programme.

It has also strengthened his pool swimming, so much so that after receiving the cheque, he travelled to Reading to compete in a Special Olympics regional competition held over the weekend, and returned with two gold medals.

He has also been nominated to represent Great Britain in the 1,500m open swim at the Special Olympics 2011 world games in Athens.

If Richard is successful, the Caldey swim will have been a useful start to his training.

Richard has competed in disability sport for most of his life since joining the Special Olympics in 1996 at the age of 11.

Since then, he has trained continuously in many disciplines, including athletics, basketball and swimming.

He has competed and been successful in numerous competitions all over the country from Glasgow to the Isle of Wight.

Last year, Richard was the only Pembrokeshire swimmer to represent Wales at the Special Olympics national games held in Leicester, where he won two bronze and one gold medal.

He was also nominated last year for the Sports Pembrokeshire awards, possibly the highest sport acknowledgement in the county. They were held at Folly Farm and he was very proud to be the winner of the disability sport award.

Richard, who has downs syndrome, has a busy life.

When he is not training, he can be found at the Mencap gardens in Stackpole digging his vegetable patch, helping out at the Manor House Wildlife Park, or learning new skills at the Avenue Centre in Tenby.

He is very outgoing, too, and enjoys taking part in music workshops and concerts held by Wings over Pembrokeshire.

In addition to Wings over Pembrokeshire, Richard will be raising funds for Special Olympics Pembrokeshire, the Mencap Gardens at Stackpole and the Tenby Gateway Club.

He sees this latest challenge to Caldey as a great way to support some of the charitable organisations that have supported him over the years and he is looking for sponsors.

If you or your business would like to sponsor Richard or you would like to know more about these local charities, please call Steve on (01834) 844324.