In the UK, February consistently sees some of the coldest temperatures. At this time of year, we usually stay inside, wrapped up in blankets with hot drinks and light entertainment. However, while most of us have been layering clothes and trying to keep warm, a few brave others have approached this wintry month differently; one such group is the Oxford Wild Swimming Society.
Every day from 1st to 7th February, the Oxford Wild Swimmers took up the challenge of hosting a cold water swim to raise money for the Surfers Against Sewage charity and the Charlie Waller Trust. Over the seven consecutive swims, the society saw a successful turnout, with around 10 to 11 people swimming each day, most of whom were on the committee, but also a few additional people on different days.
To further encourage participation and boost engagement, the Wild Swimmers invited a range of other student societies to join them, including Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym, West Country Society, Oxford University Surf Club, Oxford University Yacht Club, Oxford University Nature Conservation Society, and Oxford Climate Society.
The Wild Swimmers have since also reached out to external organisations to join their swims, such as the Bluetits Chill Swimmers, a collective of social swim communities across the UK which raises money through its activities.The collective raises awareness about the benefits of outdoor swimming for one’s mental and physical health, and believes that the community element of sports is a powerful cure for loneliness. This also ties in with some of the Oxford Wild Swimming Society’s aims in hosting this fundraiser.
The Charlie Waller Trust is a Mental Health Charity, established in response to the tragic suicide of Charlie Waller in September 1997. Their mission is to “open up the conversation around depression, to ensure that young people are able to understand and look after their own mental health and to spot the signs in others, and know how and where to access help.” According to the charity, getting active helps one to stay “physically and mentally healthy”. It has been proven that cold water swimming improves mental health, as evidenced by a case report in the British Medical Journal Case Reports, which explores how the sport is an effective treatment for depression.
The Oxford Wild Swimming Society hopes that, through bringing other societies together, they will spread awareness of the benefits of wild swimming for mental health. In an exclusive interview, Bethan Sheldon, the society’s Eco Representative, said that wild swimming is a “welcome break from the stress of Oxford during the week. Even when the water’s around five or six degrees, it just means you forget about everything else and focus on that one thing.”
The second charity that the society is raising money for, Surfers Against Sewage, campaigns all year round and is working towards ending sewage pollution, plastic pollution, and protecting our wild waters. According to Sheldon, the society’s fundraiser was inspired by a Surfers Against Sewage fundraiser, ‘a dip a day’, where fundraisers swam every day of October to tackle water pollution. Given the busy schedules of many Oxford students, rather than swimming every day for a month, Sheldon proposed a week-long series of ‘dips’.
Currently, Surfers Against Sewage are also hosting a challenge encouraging people to “Run 47 Miles in February”, for which people can run or walk 47 miles over the course of the month to raise money to reduce sewage pollution. The number 47 reflects the 4.7 million hours sewage was dumped into UK waters in 2024.
To ensure that their swim spots are safe, the Wild Swimming Society uses a water quality map, created by Surfers Against Sewage. Because of water pollution from the Witney and Cassington Sewage treatment works, which are just upstream from where the swimmers take to the water, the society regularly moves its swims away from Port Meadows, which is connected to the River Thames. However, there are still problems despite moving the swims. According to Sheldon, moving to Hinksey Lake is not only inconvenient and challenging but also comes with its own risks.
Hinksey Lake, situated off Abingdon Road, is not a designated bathing water site and Oxford City Council advises against swimming there due to poor water quality. A report about Hinksey Lake from October 2024 confirms that fluctuations in the water quality are connected to “heavy rainfall events when drains and sewers become overwhelmed, resulting in run off and high levels of e-Coli.”
Sewage discharges are especially frequent in winter, worsening with floods and storms. Sheldon argues that the Council should do more to tackle this problem, stating that “while I understand that there’s a lot on the Council’s plate… the water pollution in the Thames is simply unacceptable. The idea that you do just have raw sewage being released in there regularly in response to storms is completely unacceptable for the environment and for human health.” She also stated that “wild swimming has huge mental health benefits, but only when there’s not the risk of water pollution there as well.”
The Wild Swimmers’ fundraising swims not only coincide with this, but also fall just two weeks after the UK Government released the white paper, “A new vision for water”. According to Louise Reddy, the policy officer for Surfers Against Sewage, this has “fallen rather flat.” She states that the “50 page plan is a vague skirting of the issue, making broad statements which lock us into the same old profit driven pollution machine.”
In the plan, the Government promises to create a new, single water regulator to replace Ofwat, the current independent economic regulator of the water and wastewater sectors in England and Wales. This means that the water-related functions currently held by the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Drinking Water Inspectorate will be combined. The plan further proposes the introduction of a Chief Engineer to sit within the regulator, as well as a bigger focus on improving wastewater treatment. However, according to Reddy, although these proposals sound impressive, they hold “little substance” as to how they intend to improve the situation.