IT was a small step towards a much bigger goal next year.

Completing almost 50 lengths of a 25m pool for charity Marcus Toomey is hoping to swim from Southampton to the Isle of Wight next year.

Marcus and his friend Kirsty Lewis completed the sponsored swim in aid of Countess Mountbatten Hospice in West End, near Southampton.

The pair decided to complete the swim in memory of Marcus’ father-in-law Michael Collins, a prominent member of the motorbike community, who spent a lot of time at the hospice in the last weeks of his life.

Marcus, a cleaner from Millbrook, Southampton, said: “The staff at the hospice did a lot for my father-in-law and we wanted to do something to support them, that’s why we organised the sponsored swim.”