THE SPECIAL SANDS SWIM – The Brixton Chapter

When Libby first mentioned the idea of doing a swim to raise money for SANDS, I immediately jumped at the chance because for the first time since we lost Kieran last June, I felt like I could actually DO something that might help, and that in itself was an amazing feeling…

We started off slowly – a quick swim here and there, filling in some forms for SANDS, sending out a few emails etc etc but as the date drew near – so did the intensity of the fundraising. We started the website, turned to our online friends and I pretty much emailed every person in my address book !! Nothing like the thought of nearly £3000 to inspire you to get down to that pool a bit more to train and train and train….

The amazing generosity of friends and family all over the world was lovely, especially those who I hadn’t seen in years except for an email here or there. The thing that really surprised me was the kindness of strangers. People who didn’t know me that well and didn’t know Libby & Ian at all, yet still they handed over their hard earned cash. Some had personal reasons for donating, others wished to remain anonymous.

The swim itself was quite fun. My flat mate Rosie agreed to do it with me so that helped a lot – having someone there to train with and to keep me going on the actual day. On the day of the swim, I woke up rather early - it was a day I was partly afraid of, yet really looking forward to at the same time. We had a banana and set off, determined to get an early start !

I was wearing my crocs, decorated with accessories from Lib & Naomi !

Here we are outside the Brixton Recreation Centre....

Two women on a mission...

Our official adjudicator and photographer was Kasia, here are some of her secret undercover shots....

And we're off....

Rosie leads the way with her unique style - how she managed to swim for an hour with her head out of the water I'll never know !

About 14 minutes in, I was just getting into “the zone” when I had a nasty encounter with a man who was swimming towards me but trying to overtake in the middle of the lane !!!! We literally linked arms mid air, and he did apologise, but it hurt rather a lot...

We allowed ourselves one (very brief) water break…

Lib & Ian’s friend Simon (who has actually swum the English channel !!) gave us some advice....”remember it's just one arm after the other and the crowd is only watching your last lap so give it all you've got...save some energy for it....”.

So, after 1 hour and nearly 100 laps each - Rosie and I took his advice literally so decided to swim the last lap together !

You can see the excitement in Rosies face !!!

It’s been a couple of days now, and whilst the aches and pains in muscles I never knew I had have started to fade, I feel very happy just to have been part of all this. A big thank you to Rosie for doing the swim with me and to the other friends who came to support me on the day.

To those of you who donated your time, your money or your words of encouragement – thank you...

The main thing that kept me going was the yellow SANDS band that I always wear on my wrist - it was this that reminded me why I was there...In Memory Of Kieran Thomas Hughes...

Always Loved, Never Forgotten...