A gruelling swim helped a Copeland woman raise more than £1,000 in memory of her colleague's wife.

Barbara Haywood, 52, completed the Great North Swim, in Windermere, to support the Lorraine Hough Tribute Fund.

The swimmer, who lives at Haile, works as a health and safety advisor for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority with Brian Hough, whose wife passed away in 2009 at the age of 42, after a battle against the effects of Type 1 Diabetes.

"We do a lot of fundraising for the tribute fund at work," said Barbara.

"I decided to do the Great North Swim as a charity event.

"The weather conditions were shocking and I thought they would cancel. I'm really pleased with how much it has raised."

The swim was the first of a series of events Mr Hough's work colleagues will carry out for the fund this year.

Barbara, who is a member of Workington swimming club, has also completed the 2017 Epic open water one mile swim series.

Following swims at Ullswater and Keswick, the event finished at Coniston Water on Sunday. Barbara secured a personal best time of 26 minutes and 55 seconds.

She swam competitively when she was younger but only took up open water swimming last year after a knee injury prevented her from fell running.

The Lorraine Hough Tribute Fund raises money for Diabetes UK and promotes Diabetes research and education.

To support the fund, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Lorraine-Hough-Tribute-Fund