HIS journey is not quite as long, fast, dramatic or record-breaking as Dame Ellen MacArthur's.

However, gutsy lung cancer sufferer Nick Baker says he can now fully appreciate how amazing her achievement was.

Nick, from Owslebury near Winchester, has just returned from sailing 3,000 miles from the Canaries to Antigua single-handed to raise money for local charities.

He was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago, despite being a non-smoker, and had one third of his right lung removed in a bid to stop the illness. It returned two years later in the left lung.

Nick, a father of three, was motivated to take on the ocean to make something positive come from his situation.

"I felt OK throughout the trip and I feel OK even now," he said. "I do have lung cancer but I don't look ill and I don't feel ill. It does affect me, I can't do as much as I would have been able to do."

Yacht broker Nick raised 'substantially more than six figures' for charity through his 19-day solo effort.

"It was an amazing, lovely and wonderful thing," he said. "There were exciting moments as you can imagine, but you have strategies for how you're going to do everything yourself, how you're going to sleep, cook and all those things."

Nick's solo effort has raised money for his charity, The Aqualung Trust, which supports charities including the Institute of Cancer Research and humanitarian organisation Merlin. He also raised funds for the Winchester based Magpie Cancer Centre campaign, which is raising money to build and run a dedicated centre for cancer treatment at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital site.

A charity concert to raise money for the Aqualung Trust will be held on Tuesday, March 15, at 7pm in St Swithun's School, Winchester.

The concert will be a joint performance from Forres Sandle Manor and St Swithun's School.

Tickets, costing £5 for adults and £2 for children, can be bought by post from Aqualung Trust Charity Performance, The Dower House, Longwood, Winchester, SO21 1LB.