October in the swim community

A successful transition at a Leicestershire NOWCA venue, and fundraising opportunities for Mental Health Swims. Stay up to date with our outdoor swimming community news for October 2024.

NOWCA: Successful Transition at Swim Six Hills

Meet Claire, an open water swimming enthusiast whose journey began back in 2008 while living in Asia. Originally a runner, Claire transitioned to triathlons and, upon returning to the UK, joined her local triathlon club. This sparked a love for open water swimming, leading her to complete numerous half Ironman events, represent Team GB, and tackle two Ironman distance races.

In 2020, Claire started working at the lake in Six Hills, where her passion for open water swimming truly ignited. When Matt and Rachel Tait took over the venue in 2022, Swim Six Hills was born, and Claire played a key role in bringing in essential elements like qualified lifeguards, first aiders, water testing, and proper lake management.

Claire said, “I love running the venue because we are all dedicated to providing a safe and welcoming environment. Our commitment to safety, continuous improvements, and the hands-on involvement from Matt and Rachel have been crucial to our success. It’s been amazing to watch our community grow and to engage with a wide range of swimmers from beginners to Olympic gold medallists!”

Looking ahead, Swim Six Hills is all set to keep NOWCA members swimming through winter, enhance social events, and continue improving the site. With exciting plans and special events on the horizon, the future looks bright for this thriving open water swimming community.

Fundraising opportunities for Mental Health Swims

If you’d like to support Mental Health Swims in a fundraising capacity, there are a variety of ways you can help this winter:

Donate a prize to our winter raffle

We’re starting to gather prizes for our winter raffle. If you have something you could donate as a prize, we’d love to hear from you. We will be sharing all details of prizes and the individuals and businesses that have supported the raffle on our Instagram page.

Host a bake sale or cake competition

Encourage your office or group of friends to get their bake on and host a bake sale to raise funds. If you’re one of our swim hosts, perhaps you could ask your group if they’d like to do one at one of your winter meet ups to help warm you all up after a dip.

Take on a new challenge

Whether it’s a dip a day for month or something more energetic like a big swim, we’d love to hear from you. We can talk through setting up a fundraising page and help you with posters, social media assets and spreading the word.

If you’re inspired to support Mental Health Swims in any other ways, get in touch and let’s have a chat. Email us at hello@mentalhealthswims.co.uk

Mental Health Swims is an award-winning, mental health peer support community. We host free, safe and inclusive swim meet ups nationwide.