A PERSHORE company was so impressed with a Cheltenham swimmer's quest to swim the Atlantic, they have pledged to support him with something a little less salty.

When endurance swimmer Ben Hooper sets out to swim 2,000 miles across the ocean from Dakar in West Africa, to Natal in Brazil, in the Swim the Big Blue challenge, he will have 1,000 litres of fresh water from Water Cooler World, based in Pershore, to keep him hydrated.

Ben is due to set off in November and swim up to 12 hours every day for up to 120 days, tackling physical, mental, emotional and natural challenges.

Now thanks to franchisee Michael Williams from Water Cooler World, Ben and his crew will have quality Natural Muchwenlock drinking water to drink for part of their daily rations.

When hearing about the challenge, Michael immediately donated the water - including delivery to Norfolk where the support vessel is.

"Having spoken to Ben, I was inspired by his ambitious challenge," said Michael. "It was an easy decision to help Ben in his quest having read about the Swim the Big Blue trans-Atlantic challenge, the reasons and charities he is helping."

Based in Lyttleton Road, Michael's franchise extends down as far as South Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and the Cotswolds and across to Hereford. He currently supplies approximately a quarter of a million liters of water a year, both bottled and plumbed in, coffee machines and all associated products to a wide spectrum of businesses, public sector and the domestic market.

He has been running his franchise since January 2013 and launched his new venture based on an established, robust and calculated business plan alongside an excellent portfolio of products. He is determined to deliver a valued service which is second to none in this new area for Water Cooler World and understands that hard work and customer satisfaction is the key to success. Michael is no stranger to quality standards having been directly involved in establishing recognised ISO standards in previous roles. He is also ITIL qualified and intends to adopt the continual improvement process in his new venture.

“As people become more health conscious, they recognise the need to keep hydrated and it’s good to see that industry is also becoming aware that well hydrated staff perform up to 10 per cent more effectively, thus giving the business owners a good return on their investment of a few pounds a week on a water cooler.

"With my background in providing quality services my plan is to use my skills and experience linked with an excellent product portfolio to provide total customer satisfaction and remember I’m local, so in the unlikely event that something does go wrong, I will be on hand to fix or replace any equipment the same or next day”.

Water Cooler World, a family run business based in Oswestry, Shropshire, with franchises across the United Kingdom.

Michael can be contacted at: michael.williams@watercoolerworld.uk.com or on 01386 800888