A Shipley mum will learn how to skipper a 42-foot yacht to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, a charity close to her heart because her grandmother suffered from dementia.

Louisa Futter, 39, is hoping to raise £1,200 by joining a four-man crew sailing for four days from Poole in Dorset to Guernsey and back.

And she has organised a “swishing”, or clothes swapping, party to help her meet her target.

She said: “I’m turning 40 this year and I decided to do something more worthwhile than have a party.

“My grandma’s illness had a big impact on our family. She got very sick quite quickly. It was distressing for us, she got very incoherent and forgetful and she regressed until she became like a little girl. It stayed with me, I was close to her.

“She was very intelligent and went to Oxford. It’s distressing for anybody but her brain had been so brilliant and it just stopped working really.”

Mrs Futter’s grandmother Olwen Horton died aged 82, less than a year after she was diagnosed with dementia.

“It was quite dramatic the degeneration so it was quite upsetting,” said Mrs Futter. “There is no cure so the research is crucial.”

Mrs Futter will host a party at the Northcliffe Church Hall, Shipley, on Saturday, March 6, from 2pm to 4pm, where people will be invited to bring along good quality clothes they no longer wear and swap them for other people’s unwanted items.

There will be a charge of £10 to attend the event, which will go towards Mrs Futter’s fundraising target. Also on the day there will be a raffle, and she is appealing for local businesses to help out by donating prizes. Anyone who wants to support Mrs Futter can donate at just giving.com/lou-futtersailingchallenge.

Any businesses wanting to help with the raffle, or people who want to attend the swishing party, are asked to e-mail her at louloukate@yahoo.co.uk.