Swimmingpod

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, sw

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, somethin

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

Sarah Giles lives and swims in open water in Oxford. She is Programme Development Manager at SportExcel UK, a sports organisation working with people with learning disability across the UK in performance/elite sport. She is a passionate open water swimmer all days and all seasons, and a powerful advocate for equality and inclusion. In this podcast we talk about open water swimming

There is a strong tradition of outdoor swimming in Oxford. Writer Iris Murdoch said something like this “On hot days in the Oxford summer my husband and I manage to slip into the Thames, a mile or two above the city. The art is to draw no attention to oneself, but to cruise quietly by the reeds like a water rat". A recent exhibition in Oxford showed a map of bathing places in or

Darrin Roles started the Lock to Lock a single swim event in the Thames in 2015, and it has grown into a series of events and distances. The first year the event was from Eynsham to King’s Lock (4 kilometers), and in subsequent years, swims from Farmoor to King’s Lock (6 kilometers) and from Farmoor to Godstow Lock (10 kilometers) were introduced. This Wild Swim series is known

This podcast is about my practice of swimming to work, the last of which took place in 2022 when I retired. A swim to work for me was 8 kilometers, from Eynsham Lock to Port Meadow, Oxford. My final swim to work was on a Friday, when I had been accompanied by several friends, to make it a memorable one. While previous swims to work had started early in the so that I could get to wo

Jeremy Wellingham and Mike Harris are both open water swimmers, Jeremy in Oxfordshire, Mike in London. Both swim nationally and internationally too. Both write swim-inspired haiku. In this podcast they talk about their swimming experiences, and what it takes to write this Japanese short-form poetry. Water features widely, and thinking poetically shapes their awareness of the enviro

This podcast is about swims in The Shire - Tolkein’s Oxfordshire. I have no idea if Tolkien was a swimmer, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest that he liked water. In Lord of the Rings, The Elves have close affinity to water; while Ulmo is the Lord of Water. Ulmo is also the enemy of evil creatures, and therefore water is associated with moral force. The Shire is a place w

Emma Gibbard and Carl Tysom are both passionate about open water swimming, and both have been involved in overseeing swimming at the West Oxfordshire Sailing Club, where there is a lake with a one kilometer track, and dedicated members who swim on a regular basis, many of them through winter, alongside a thriving sailing community. I am also involved in overseeing swimming here. In