A team of eight touched by the plight of a little girl battling brain tumours are planning a daring swim from the Maunsell Forts to Whitstable to raise money for her treatment.

The group hopes to generate £50,000 for Poppy’s Plea - a charity set up to help fund potentially lifesaving therapy for three-year-old Poppy Martin.

Mark Stockley - a barber at Len’s Barber Shop in the High Street - says the swim will kick off a day-long charity festival on the seafront in July.

He and seven members of the community - including Ship Centurion landlord Roland Birks and Whitstable Endowed teacher James Wren - will swim from Red Sands Fort to the RNLI lifeboat station.

“The lifeboat crew said the route hasn’t been done because of the horrendous tides and currents there,” said Mark, 43, of Albert Street. “But we wanted to do something a bit mental, a bit crazy. And with the sea and the forts on our doorstep, this is perfect.

“It’s going to be a relay. It’s about 8.2 miles, but it will probably be more like 15 miles because we’ll have to swim around the wind farm, and we’ll be swished around by the tides.

“We won’t need wetsuits if we have a summer like this year. July is jellyfish season though, so we could get stung a bit.”

This isn’t the first arduous challenge Mark has taken on. The dad-of-two previously competed as a triathlete, and a few years ago, raised £2,000 for Whitstable Guide Dogs by cycling 5,000 miles over nine months.

“Then just over a year ago I had a bad bike crash and broke my ribs down one side,” he explained. “After that I decided to have a year out.”

But after 18 months out of the pool, Mark was inspired to start training again when he heard Poppy’s story.

Poppy has neurofibromatosis type 1, which - despite 78 rounds of chemotherapy - has caused multiple tumours to grow on her brain.

As her tumours are inoperable in the UK, mum Elle is raising money for an alternative treatment. She has so far gathered more than £60,000, but Mark hopes the swim will bring her closer to her £300,000 target.

“I’d love to raise about £50,000 - that’s the goal,” he said. “I’ve taken nearly £400 in the past five days, just through chatting to people.

“On the day, I want to have a couple of drones filming us, with a big screen the size of a small house on the shore so people can watch,” he said.

“After we’ve done the swim, we’re going to have a bit of a festival on the beach. We’ll have Whitstable Hog Roast there, and Granny Smith’s is providing salad. We have a guy coming to do activities for children.

“So many businesses have been in touch, wanting to get involved. The response has been overwhelming.”

Now, Mark plans to ask actor and comedian David Walliams to act as an ambassador for the event.

“He’s swum the Channel, swum the Thames, and he’s a children’s author - he has a big heart,” he said. “He’d be perfect.”

For more information, visit the event's Facebook page.

Those who wish to sponsor the fundraiser are asked to do so by donating through Poppy's Plea's JustGiving page.