The team have been training for several months for the swim

The 12 swimmers have been offered complimentary tickets to Bestival this weekend for making the fundraising swim across the busy shipping waters.

Swim2Bestival starts Stokes Bay, Gosport, on Friday and finishes at Ryde Pier in time for the three-day festival at Robin Hill Country Park.

It will raise funds for an African educational trust and a cancer charity.

It's a crazy way to get there, but Bestival stirs up crazy ideas Colin Tabram, swimmer

The beneficiaries are Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Imibala Trust - a South African-based charity which helps fund education for disadvantaged children.

Yasmin Hussein, a teacher from Salford who is co-ordinating the swim, worked with the Imibala Trust as a volunteer teacher at Somerset West Methodist Primary School earlier this year and was inspired to help them.

The swimmers, who come from Hampshire, Dorset, Surrey, Shropshire, London and Newcastle, hope to raise enough money for a minibus for the school.

Colin Tabram, 28 from Newcastle-on-Tyne, has been training for the swim for several months.

He said: "When I started I struggled to swim a few lengths but now I'm in love with open water swimming.

"I am expecting to see a few scary things in the Solent though," he added.

BBC Radio One DJ Rob Da Bank, who heads up Bestival, offered his support to the idea last year.

As well as offering them free tickets he has allowed the team to raise money at the music festival by polishing shoes and entertaining the punters.

Mr Tabram said: "It's a crazy way to get there, but Bestival stirs up crazy ideas. It's a brilliant little boutique festival."