Northampton 'water babies' dress up in costumes to help raise £1m for charity campaign

The event, in partnership with Tommy's - a miscarriage and stillbirth charity - will see hundreds of Northampton babies aged 12 weeks to four years old 'saving other babies lives' by swimming a width in superhero fancy dress throughout July.

Donations raised by parents and babies, who are taking part in the swim at the Marriot Hotel in Collingtree, will go to Tommy’s to fund further research into miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.

The charity campaign, which is also taking place nationwide throughout June and July, was officially launched by former Saturday’s singer, Una Healy, married to Northampton Saints player, Ben Foden.

Having raised £816,477 in 2015, this year’s Splashathon hopes to break the £1 million mark, which will help up to 60,000 families visit Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research.

At present, 1 in 4 women in the UK lose a baby during pregnancy or just after birth, and around 1 in every 27 babies are stillborn per year, equivalent to 10 babies a day. In addition, 684 babies are miscarried a day.

The charity decided the campaign should be centred around swimming because findings show that over a quarter of mums (27 per cent) said that social physical activity, such as baby yoga or swimming, gave them the most support in terms of improving their own mental wellbeing (65 per cent), and reducing feelings of isolation, depression and loneliness (74 per cent).