You may not have heard of The Wye Women, but they have been making quite a splash recently.

The group, mainly nursing staff from Monnow Vale Hospital, are planning a sponsored canoe trip from Glasbury to Chepstow in September to raise money for St David's Foundation Hospice Care.

St David's provides valuable care and support to patients and their families living with life threatening diseases in South East Wales.

Training so far has involved paddling the Symonds Yat rapids and steering the Canadian canoes in and out under the arches of the Wye Bridge.

The latest – and so far wettest – session involved three canoes at the Leisure Centre swimming pool for capsize practice with experts from Monmouth Canoe Centre.

The canoe centre is generously sponsoring the event, providing not only the canoes and equipment for the five-day trip, but also giving their valuable time to train the team in the river skills required to complete the challenge.

Abandoning ship during capsize practice wasn't difficult – climbing back into the righted canoes from the water was less easy.

The shrieks, squeaks, shouts and laughter that accompanied the efforts could well have been heard all over Monmouth and there were some spectacular bruises to be compared the next day during ward duty.

The team will be out on the Wye again shortly and hope the capsize practice will not be needed out on the river.

For more information on how to support the Wye Women visit http://www.justgiving.com/wyewomen">www.justgiving.com/wyewomen