Swimmingpod

Stanley Ulijaszek
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Swimmingpod

Swimming in the outdoors - lakes and lidos, rivers and oceans, especially the people that swim in them. Music - 'Noe Noe', 'Aeronaut', ' Vienna Beat', and 'Watercool Quiet', from Blue Dot Sessions.

  1. Charlotte Sawyer and Aggie Nyagari, with their swim film ‘Rave on for the Avon’

    FEB 2

    Charlotte Sawyer and Aggie Nyagari, with their swim film ‘Rave on for the Avon’

    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.

    24 min
  2. Tom Kearney, on Transformation and Swimming at Hampstead Heath Men’s Pond

    JAN 18

    Tom Kearney, on Transformation and Swimming at Hampstead Heath Men’s Pond

    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.

    32 min
  3. Stanley Ulijaszek and London Open Water Swimming

    12/30/2024

    Stanley Ulijaszek and London Open Water Swimming

    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.

    30 min
  4. Sarah Giles, on Oxford, Swimming, and Inequality

    12/23/2024

    Sarah Giles, on Oxford, Swimming, and Inequality

    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 in Oxford, and how revitalising Oxford's former river bathing places could help address inequalities in swimming in the city.

    28 min
  5. Swimming in Oxford with Stanley Ulijaszek

    12/10/2024

    Swimming in Oxford with Stanley Ulijaszek

    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 close to the city centre, and there were many. There was Wolvercote, Black Jack’s Hole, Fiddler’s Island, Tumbling Bay, the Sheepwash, Boney’s Bridge, St Ebbe’s. Stump Pool, Sunny Meade, St Clement’s, Milham Stream, Deep Martin, Long Meadow Bush, Codger’s Island, Astons Eyot, Saunder’s Bridge. There was also Parson’s Pleasure, Long Bridges, Port Meadow, and Iffley.  In this podcast, there are accounts of swimming in the latter four swimming spots in Oxford, extracts from 'Memories Like Water, Swimming in 65 Places at the Age of 65'.

    38 min
  6. Darrin Roles and the Lock to Lock Swim Series

    12/02/2024

    Darrin Roles and the Lock to Lock Swim Series

    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 for being set in locations of natural beauty in West Oxfordshire. In the course of setting up and running these swims he set up two swim-runs, along the same stretch of the River Thames as the Lock to Lock swims. In this podcast Darrin talks about the Lock to Lock series, and what an amazing stretch of river the Thames is, from Eynsham into Oxford.

    11 min
  7. Stanley Ulijaszek Swimming to Work by the River Thames

    10/31/2024

    Stanley Ulijaszek Swimming to Work by the River Thames

    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 work on time – my work place has a shower and I keep a change of clothes there – this one started at the civilised time of nine am, and was followed by a royal welcome by Neil Scott onto his boat on Port Meadow. A red carpet, someone to help me change, pastries and fresh coffee. The extract is from the book, Memories like Water, an account of my swimming in 65 places at the age of 65 years

    11 min
  8. Swimming Haiku with Mike Harris and Jeremy Wellingham

    10/02/2024

    Swimming Haiku with Mike Harris and Jeremy Wellingham

    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 environment as they swim.

    38 min
See All (53)

About

Swimming in the outdoors - lakes and lidos, rivers and oceans, especially the people that swim in them. Music - 'Noe Noe', 'Aeronaut', ' Vienna Beat', and 'Watercool Quiet', from Blue Dot Sessions.

Information

  • Creator
    Stanley Ulijaszek
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2025
  • Episodes
    53
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Stanley Ulijaszek
  • Show Website
    Swimmingpod

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