Both Alan and Geraldine Sinfield have been diagnosed with cancer, a disease they lost their former spouses too
A
Northamptonshire couple who were diagnosed with cancer have achieved their
dream of sailing around Britain to raise money for charity.
Alan
Sinfield and his wife Geraldine, from Polebrook, near Oundle spent three months
completing the 2,000-mile circumnavigation in their 34-foot Bavaria yacht Tante
Helena.
The
pair hope to raise £10,000 for The Urology Foundation, the only charity in the
UK that covers all urological conditions, including prostate, bladder,
testicular and kidney cancer.
It
is a charity dear to their hearts as Alan was diagnosed with prostate cancer
and testicular cancer in 2013. Earlier this year Geraldine was diagnosed with
bladder cancer.
Their
diagnoses are all the more upsetting as Alan lost his first wife Wendy to
cancer in 2002 and Geraldine’s first husband Ian also died from the disease
four years later.
Tante
Helena
left Shotley Marina, near Ipswich, in early June and returned to Shotley this week.
Alan described Tuesday’s seas off Ramsgate as the worst of the whole trip.
The
71-year-old said their adventure had ‘definitely lived up to expectations.’ Highlights have included being seeing hundreds of curious seals on the
Humber, ‘howling’ seals at Holy Island and 12 dolphins in Inverness.
Alan
said: ‘We have had such wonderful welcomes. Everyone we have spoken to has been
interested in our story and some of the marinas have waived mooring fees in
place of donations.’
He
added: ‘I took up sailing in my early 60s and love it because of the incredible
sense of freedom.’
Geraldine
accompanied Alan for most of the trip. At other times he was joined by his
friend Mike Maconochie and the boat’s previous owner James Hancox.