A SOUTH Lakeland Cancer Charity will be appearing on television as part of a documentary series.

An organisation like no other, Paddlers for Life is a charity which helps to support Cancer survivors across Cumbria and Lancashire through the use of Dragon Boat Paddling.

The Windermere based charity is due to appear on BBC's Inside Out documentary series on Monday, January 20, explaining what the organisation entails but also to encourage other breast cancer survivors to get in touch.

From April to October, every Sunday, starting from 10am, you will find many Paddlers for Life members at the Low Wood Marina, in Windermere, donning their buoyancy aids and decorating their Dragons Boats ready for a trip out on the lake.

Dragon Boating is an international movement which began in Canada in 1996.

Canadian sports medicine specialist Don McKenzie, helped to get breast cancer survivors together to paddle dragon boats as a way of improving their physical health and social wellbeing.

The positive results of his research sparked the start of the breast cancer survivors paddling movement and today there are more than 200 teams paddling worldwide.

Dragon boats are twelve metre long vessels with a dragon head at the front and a dragon boat tail at the back as well as a drum with a seat for the drummer.

They are paddled by a team of up to 18 paddlers with a drummer who helps the paddlers keep in time with a drum beat.

The Windermere charity is now heading into its 13th season with the same aims to promote awareness and education, while demonstrating that people can still lead a full and active life despite having suffered from breast cancer.

Inside Out followed and interviewed the strong and inspirational women of Paddlers for Life Windermere to find out why Dragon Boating was such an amazing sport to be involved in. The programme will look at the positive mental and physical aspects of this supportive and proactive activity and the benefits it provides.

The episode starts at 7.30pm on BBC One.