A GRANDMOTHER has swum across Swanage Bay 50 years after she did it for the first time as a 10-year-old.

And this time she did it with her 10-year-old granddaughter by her side.

Diana Matthews, 60, was determined her unusual tradition should go on, so she and granddaughter Emily took to the water to complete the 1.5 miles from Swanage Lifeboat Station slipway across the bay.

Choppy weather and unfavourable tides slowed the intrepid pair, but they completed the trip in an hour and 10 minutes, with their family alongside them in a boat and even swimming with them in support.

"I'm extremely proud of Emily," said the grandmother of nine from Wimborne.

"It's much harder than I remember from when I was 10 - but we went at our own pace and we did it.

"The family tradition lives on!"

It was half a century ago that Diana, then a spirited 10-year-old, first decided to make the swim.

"We always had our family holidays in Swanage," she added.

"When I was 10 my best friend Sandra and I swam across the bay showing off.

"Then I did it again when I was 50 as a personal challenge."

She added: "I've brought the grandchildren here so many times and told them the story, so when my granddaughter Emily was 10, we asked her if she wanted to start the family tradition again."

Diana, who used to run The Dormer pub in Wimborne with husband Dudley, added: "It really was a great challenge for me and Emily.

"I'll probably do it every year now - I've got nine grandchildren so there's always going to be someone who is 10!"