Swimming around Bristol, with Stanley Ulijaszek

Why we swim can often be political, and swimmer Grace Wright-Arora has completed research on pollution, activism and alternative water knowledges among users of the River Avon, near Bristol. Central to this work is understanding why people swim in the Avon, despite knowing of the often high risks of exposure to pollution and even infection there. This podcast is about her swimming experiences, how Conham river bathers navigate uncertainty and risk of exposure, and the politics of Avon River management.

Hot town, summer in the city, and a meeting like no other. For an urban swimmer, to have a bathing platform outside the conference venue, starting on Day 1, World Bathing Day, 22nd June, with a jump into the very clean waters of the Rijnhaven, Rotterdam, is a perfect start to two days of deliberation and information sharing. Around 200 people representing organisations from around the world assembled with the aim of promoting urban swimming, and through this, raising awareness about the potential for urban swimming to regenerate waterways, improve liveability and grow climate resilience. This podcast captures some of the voices of the Summit, which connect participants engaged variously in transformation of urban waterways and improving their swimmability.  Interviewees include Henk Ovink, Katie Pumphrey, Charity Mosienyane, Marilotte Stemedink, Mark Turpac, Maja Beck, Marie Roende-Becker, Peggy Knudsen, Benjamin David, Christoph  Bosshardt, Hans Henrik Heming, ChristineGuldborg Christensen, Simon Laing, Loretta Bellato, Andy Bevan, Innes Miller and Rebecca Olive. Thanks go to co-interviewer Fiona Gibson.

Luke Belfield is a force, undertaking feats of running and swimming which would tax any mortal. As someone who developed arthritis in childhood, with some remissionand then resumption in early adult life, he could have accepted the ruling of the ancient Greek three sisters of fate. But he didn’t. Very successfully, he has been weaving his own destiny with the thread that he has been given, by, in his own words, considering his body as an instrument and not an ornament. In this podcast, we talk about his athletic journey, from running the Athens marathon and ironman, to marathon swimming. He swam the Bosporus in 2024, and at thetime of recording, is preparing to swim the English Channel solo. Preparation, intelligence, reflection and awareness are central to his toolkit, both in his athletics and in raising awareness about childhood arthritis and empowering youngpeople with this condition.

Tony Forbes and Col Ritchie are regulars at the annual Pierto Pub ocean swim in Lorne, Victoria. This can be a fierce race, when swimming can be a contact sport. Notwithstanding this, this fearsome duo amount nearly a century and a half of life experience between them, and swimming enough Pier toPubs leads to the honour of receiving a shark bait award, two or more if you live long enough and/or you don’t get taken by a shark. Tony and Col take it seriously enough to train regularly in their local pool. Which is where I jointhem, one crisp Australian spring morning.

Sarah Quinn taught me to say ‘You never regret a swim’ and Ihave been saying it now for decades. And I don’t and nor does she and nor does Amenah McDonald. Sarah and Amenah have a beautiful connection through the ocean atOcean Grove, Australia. Amenah plans her week around how the surf is going to be, while Sarah reads the water every morning on the way to dropping her kids off at school. Both live close to the ocean and are in every day if it letsthem – the water is their friend, but sometimes it can be treacherous. Amenah is Captain and Director of Lifesaving Operations at Ocean Grove Lifesaving Club, overseeing safety at this beach. In the summer, there can be up to 10,000people here, and maintaining safety is paramount, while not getting in the way of people’s enjoyment of the water. There is a lively group of women who swim and surf here, and they follow their swims with a weekly life debrief – how islife treating you, what’s going on, whats troubling you? Life revolves around the water here, and companionship is key. This podcast was recorded at the look-out tower that is the focal point for safety here, the Ocean Grove Lifesaving Club.

Stanley Ulijaszek offers some reflections about swimming in Victoria in Australia on the coast at Queenscliffe. On a beautifulbeach, long and stretching towards a point to the left and another to theright, at Point Lonsdale. A swim with a Hopper-esque sailboat sailing in gentlebut business-like fashion, in front of the lighthouse that signals the pointwhere Australia lost a Prime Minister to the water and to the waves. RustCloud, Richard Serra, rusted iron slabs of sails sculpted by the wind. Strongerout there than here in gentle crawl parallel to the sandy shore. What three wordstell the world where I am? Iterative.underwrite.swimming. A day of sun andswimming to rain and a broken car key. From delight to distress and back again. 

There is a lot of good swimming to be had in the Bristolregion, with several vibrant and active outdoor swimming scenes in the region - in the city itself, but also in the nearby River Avon, in the River Brue, in the Avon estuary, and in the sea at sand point. If you can go a mile or ten out of Bristol there is a lot of choice - at Weston Super Mare there are several lido beaches to choose. River swimming at Bradford upon Avon (the river Avon upstream) is a scenic delight. People really care about their swimming here. Thesetwo accounts of swimming around Bristol are extracts from my book ‘Memories like Water – Swimming in 65 places at the age of 65’. They took place as pandemic lockdowns eased in 2020, which gave them a surreal edge – can wereally swim together again? At Cleveden Marine Lake, and at Farleigh and District River Swimming Club, just south of Bath.

Charlotte Sawyer is a documentary film maker and photographer who captures cinematic stories that cross cultures and boundaries. She has worked in conflict zones and places vulnerable to climate change, notably Iraq, Ethiopia and Nigeria. Aggie Nyagari is a Kenyan film and TV director, who brings the diversity of her life experiences into her work. Charlotte and Aggie both live, swim and work in Bristol. Together they have made a beautiful new film - Rave On for the Avon - capturing the Conham Bathing Group communities love for their river, and their fight for to gain Bathing Water Quality status for it. This podcast was recorded at Conham, where Stanley Ulijaszek, Charlotte Sawyer and Aggie Nyagari talk about the film and its making, and the River Avon and its swimming people.

Tom Kearney is a Hampstead resident of over a quarter of a century and year-round swimmer at the nearby Ponds. He has a life well lived. In this podcast we talk about that life and the very special place that swimming in open water has in it. The late Al Alvarez, poet and author of the book ‘Pond Life’, Tom’s friend in Hampstead, brought him to swimming at The Ponds, something that he says has saved his life. On the eighteenth of December 2009, Tom was knocked over by a bus in London’s Oxford Street, and was in near-death coma for two weeks, making a miraculous recovery subsequently. We talk about how the accident transformed his life, and how daily swimming is central to this transformation. We talk about poetry and The Ponds. About the central importance of family, of living each day to the full. About his campaigning for bus safety in London - ‘If you shut up truth, and bury it underground it will but grow’ (Emile Zola). For Tom, campaigning and swimming outside all year round are not dissimilar - they're uncomfortable, require both physical and mental stamina, and every time you do it you achieve something that, in a different life, you'd have thought impossible. We talk about how life is serious business, but there is plenty of time for laughter, especially in relation to the East German Ladies Swimming Team (a Hampstead Men’s Pond thing), which Tom is also a central part of. Tom brims with positivity, a Hampstead intellect who swims and appreciates all that life can offer.

This podcast is about open water swimming in London – given how urban this global city is, it is not immediately obvious that this is a great place for open water swimming. Indeed, there is a thriving open water swimming scene. More accurately, there are several open water swimming scenes in London - in rivers (usually the River Thames), lakes, ponds, and outdoor pools. Here are four personal accounts of swimming in London in river, pond, lake and pool, respectively. These are: from Teddington to Richmond, in the Thames; in the Ponds at Hampstead Heath; at the Serpentine Swimming Club in Hyde Park; and with the South London Winter Swimming Club at Tooting Bec Lido. These are extracts from the book ‘Memories like Water – Swimming in 65 places at the age of 65’, swum in 2019-20. All pre-pandemic swims, the one at Tooting Bec being on the cusp of COVID-19 lockdown.