.....and now my first comment! 20th Oct

Thanks, Joe! (see day 43, 30th Sept,' Not swimming but banding.....'

All I need now is a follower!

1st donation for KEEN! 20th Oct

Thanks, Tony, for getting my fundraising for KEEN off to a very good start, and for your encouraging comment for my swim (keep your chin up.........)

Day 62 19th October 550m with no goggles

Forgt my goggles so I can't practise 'proper' swimming, nor do underwater swimming which I always enjoy. I do a mixture of strokes including an old favourite, a sort of side-stroke that I taught myself years ago - its a slow but very comfortable way to swim with your head above water. I also do backstroke and a splashy  front crawl with my head up, so it's rather ungainly* but covers the distance.

20 lengths of 25m = 500 so that's another 1/2 km and as well I do a further 2 lengths to cover the odd 50m .
(not 5m as I mistakenly put in my previous post).

*Wondering if a swimming stroke can be ungainly: not sure of the derivation: it's from gegn (O.E) apparently,  meaning 'straight', so actually my backstroke is far more ungainly than my front crawl, however splashy the latter!

12th October Day 55 Friday wind-down

A great way to start the week-end and wind down after a busy week: a swim in the pool. I alternate breast-stroke and front crawl - 2 lengths of each - with a couple of back stroke every now and then to give my back a rest, and use different leg muscles. My sense of direction is not very good with back stroke, though, and I keep hitting the lane rope. Still relaxing though.      600m!

A reminder that I'm aiming to raise money for KEEN: I have now swum nearly 6k (5,950m) of the 138k from Oxford to Cambridge. Only another 132k and 5m to go! As well as a personal challenge for me I am hoping to help raise some money for the great work that Oxford students do with local children and young people with special needs:

£3 will buy face paints for 10 children at Zig-Zag
£5 will pay for the squash at Allsorts for a term
£20 will pay for materials for an evening of science experiments at KEEN Teens
£100 funds one of GrEAT's legendary pub quiz evenings
£500 will fund the annual KEEN Olympics, including large marquee tents and medals for all participating atheletes  

Please go to KEEN's website for more info, and to www.justgiving.com/LizTreasureSwim to donate.

Thank you!                                                                          

another wet Monday in the pool 8th Oct day 51

Nothing exciting, no babies, just a good  30mins of exercise in my local pool.        

 500m including several successive full lengths of front crawl!

Olympic swimming! Day 49 5th Oct (late posting!)

George has the day off school (it's closed to students for staff training) so we go to Norwich to see Katie, Stefan and baby E. Not a bad journey - just over 4 hours via London and Cambridge. Katie is on maternity leave from work again, ready for the next baby, so free all day (Friday) with baby E. We go to the park nearby, and then I go for out for a coffee at Stephanie's Cafe - a regular haunt of mine - great coffee (thanks Karen!) and George has a much needed haircut, leaving Katie to have a rest while Nell is asleep (can't keep calling her baby E as she approaches 2 yrs of age and sisterhood!).

After lunch we all go to the nearby UEA sports centre, and the Bernard Matthews olympic size pool.  (B'ootiful!). Kate keeps an eye from the gallery while George, Nell and I head for the water.

I swim 20 lengths! Not, I hasten to add, of the full 50m length! There is a movable gantry (with starting blocks on) dividing the pool in half, so I'm doing 25 m lengths, some of them involve swimming while pushing Nell in a sit-in ring. George is brilliant with her - there's a lot of laughing and mucking about. He also gives me a demonstration of good breathing technique for the front crawl, before taking Nell to meet Katie in the changing rooms, as she can't stay in too long as the water is quite cool - intended for serious swimming - so they get out earlier leaving me to complete my lengths.

20 lengths x 25m  = 500mt

Day 43 30th Sept Not swimming but banding

I'm so glad I went for the outdoor swim yesterday. Usually on a Sunday morning I'm out at George's football match, but today I'm indoors all day: 9am rehearsal in the band hall in Temple Cowley, and then off in a coach to The Hawth Theatre in Crawley, with City of Oxford Silver Band to compete at the SCABA (Southern Counties Amateur Bands Assoc) Annual Autumn Contest. It's like Brassed Off! But of course in real time, so there is a lot of time spent in the bus and sitting around in the bar/cafe waiting for our turn to queue up for Registration and entry into the backstage area shortly before our performance. Identification is taken very seriously - I have to present a pre-registered photo ID card to be checked off against our band's list. This is to prevent bands substituting much better players - perhaps from bands competing in the higher sections - for the less good members of the band. I'd be a prime sub - subbed out on the bench. But as it happens, our two best 3rd cornets (there are no 4ths, only solo, rep, soprano, 1sts and 2nds above us) are unavailable today - Terry is on holiday in Europe, and Carrie is running the Loch Ness marathon! That leaves me as principal 3rd cornet supported by Brett, who is much more experienced a brass player than I am, but usually plays horn, and has stepped in to fill a gap before going back to uni for the autumn term.

It is not just I.D. that is taken seriously, but anonymity too.The bands are not named, only referred to by a number which is randomly assigned to them, as is the order of play. In the theatre or concert hall where the bands perform there is a 4 sided tent rigged up inside which sits the adjudicator throughout the performances in each section. The adjudicator only knows the number of the band playing, and cannot see them to recognise individuals, or from their uniforms, to know which band is on stage. Thus the judging is neutral and supposed to be objective, but it can also be, maybe as is a result, extremely harsh!

Weeks of rehearsal culminate in our 11 mins on stage playing our chosen piece - a very dramatic composition called Olympus by Philip Harper. For most of it the 3rd cornets are playing with the 2nds, or in harmony along with some of the lower instruments. There is one short section in the middle however where we get to play the tune, albeit an octave down from the 2nds, but we do have a bit on our own! The audience wouldn't notice if we went a bit wrong (quietly), or dropped out, but the adjudicator would. He or she has the score, and if the 3rd cornets are not heard playing their bit it will be noted, and marks deducted! So we have to go for it, especially as the composer's instruction at that point is to play with cup mute in. So we need lots of puff to make any sound at all (the swimming is doing great to help with my lung capacity) and we have to be really careful not to drop the mute (made of metal) on the floor as we pick it up and put it down. Scary stuff!

There are some dodgy moments, (not only for 3rd cornets!) but we get to the end without any major disasters, Brett and I pleased with our efforts and, as we come off stage, the band as a whole seems relieved. It could have been worse! Now comes the long wait until the results are announced. Time for a drink or two.

A rep from each band has to go up on the stage to receive the results while all the rest of the players sit in the auditorium. The adjudicator is finally ready to deliver his judgement, which is fairly positive about the bands placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd, and scathing of the bottom two bands (there are only 5 entered in this section). We really don't know how we measure up. Waiting to go on stage earlier we could hear the band before us over the intercom, and felt sure at the time that we could easily sound better than them, but when you get on stage, under the lights, in a very different acoustic, it is really very hard to play your best, or to know how it is sounding. So when he finally announces the prizes, in reverse order, and says that in 3rd place, and winner of the Bob Whitehouse Memorial Cup, is Band number 4, City of Oxford Silver Band, we erupt in cheers. Only 3rd, but saved from ignominy! Poor old bands number 3 and 5, did he have to be so harsh? We don't win the David Chappell Trophy for Best Back Row Cornets (perhaps if Terry and Carrie had been here?) but we go home pretty pleased with ourselves.

On our way back through Bracknell we pass the sign for Coral Reef swimming pool - on my list for another day - but I'm asleep.

End of season swim Day 42 29th Sept

End of Hinksey Outdoor pool season.  It closes tomorrow for the winter,  and I’m going to be elsewhere, so today is the last opportunity. My mate Neil and I meet for a swim at 3pm, in the autumn sunshine. There are a dozen or so swimmers. The water is lovely, the setting very pretty, and despite being out of practice with breathing technique I manage 16 crossings of the 33m wide pool.This is a leisurely swim,  I can’t even do one complete length of front crawl – just have to change to breaststroke whenever I mess up the breathing, but I keep going, enjoying the sun, and the sound of the wind in the trees and occasional passing train – the only traffic noise. Lovely. If it wasn’t such a long cycle from North Oxford I would come here a lot more – driving here and back does detract from the experience. Worth it occasionally – like today.

I claim 500m. 

Day 39 Wed 26th Sept Karlo

I leave work at lunchtime today to drive to Gloucester for the funeral of a very dear friend, Karlo. A keen sportsman, he played football for Dynamo Zagreb in his youth, later becoming an enthusiastic golfer. I think he would have approved of my sporting attempt, and particularly my efforts to raise money for KEEN and their sporting activities with children with special needs. His professional life as an Educational Psychologist was devoted to helping school kids and and their families. A hero to them, and to his family, and to his friends. It was both a very sad and joyous and beautiful, occasion, with sunshine and torrential rain.

Awash with music Days 35/36 22/23 Sept

No time to swim this week end. I'm recording a cd with my choir, Jubilate, in Keble College Chapel. It's a fantastic experience, recording wonderful music. We often do live performances here, and now we have the chance to rehearse and record some great music spanning 4 centuries or so - from William Byrd to Morten Lauridsen, including The Light of the World written for us by our conductor, Simon Whalley; we first sang it last Christmas in the side chapel that houses* the Holman Hunt, filling the candle-lit chapel with gorgeous music.

Adrian Lucas and his team from Acclaim Productions are recording us on very impressive looking equipment, and the attention to detail is superb. During breaks we have the surprisingly enjoyable experience of hearing ourselves played back. Can't wait to hear the cd - a programme of Advent and Christmas music - on sale in time for Christmas!


* usually houses - the painting is currently on loan to Tate Britain

Day 32 19 Sept Not swimming but planning

I take a late lunch break to meet Nathan Webster, the co-ordinator this year for KEEN. He's charming, efficient, and very encouraging, quickly helping me to set up my www.justgiving.com/LizTreasureSwim site so that all the HARD WORK I'm doing swimming can help raise some money for the marvellous work he and all his student colleagues do for the young athletes they support in Oxford. Last year he walked from London to Oxford in 24 hours to raise money for KEEN. At the rate I'm going - just over 4k in over month - it would take me nearly 2 years! I know I'm in this for the long haul, but I am going to have to speed up a bit!

17 sept Day 30 A wet Monday afternoon in the pool

Back in the local swimming pool, working on breathing for front crawl. I'm struggling - don't seem to be able to breath out enough quickly enough to be able to breath in again! I keep going though, even if it is rather ungainly and spluttery, and reckon I do 400m.

The end of a long week. Day 27, Fri 14th Sept

My first full week back at work after extended hols! After being indoors all day for a week it's great to have the chance of late summer sunshine on a Friday afternoon to get in another swim in the lake. My mate Neil meets me there and I remove my top layer of clothing while he puts more on in the form of a wetsuit. Yes, he may be a wimp, but it does mean I have a swimming companion who will be able to stand the cold of the fresh water. He's all for swimming across the lake, but not being as confident I suggest we go around the edge - it's very deep wherever, but this way I'm always close to land.

We reckon we do about 500m. Heaven.

Swimming in Beer! 6th Sept day 19

Today we are heading back upcountry, but not before getting to the sea again.It's a gorgeous day. Beer sounds inviting for (a second) breakfast and a swim. It turns out I DON'T swim in Beer today. I have swum here before when the tide was further out, but I didn't like the way the beach was steeply shelving today, with an ominous swell in the water. No other swimmers, and Wilf happy to go with my decision after my recent scare. We have a scrummy breakfast at Chapple's on the beach, and then head off round the coast to Branscombe where the sea is more welcoming. Wilf dives into the water for his bracing 5 mins in the cold, and then has a sleep in the sun, while I, in contrast, get in slowly, but once there aclimatise and don't want to get out. It is perfect sea swimming - not the fun and exhilaration of jumping breakers, or body boarding, but simply lovely swimming back and forth across gently rolling waves of silky water with the white and green of Beer Head in one direction, and in the other, the red cliffs further west. I easily swim 500m and reckon I could have doubled that today, but time presses.

We have a quick sandwich lunch at The Sea Shanty beach cafe, and it's brought to us by Joe, the son of our friends, earning some money before returning to uni. A very nice way to finish our stay in Devon.

Day 18 5th September Falmouth Ho! Go, Megan, Go!

Wilf and I got toTipton near Sidmouth late last night, a stopover on our way to Falmouth to see an art exhibition. It's the BA Degree Finals Show of our niece, Megan. (Daughter of our brother Patrick who died of a brain tumour in his early 40's. I often think of him when I swim, or walk or climb. He was up for any outdoor adventures. I think he would have approved of my challenge)

We leave Tipton, after breakfast with the friends who have put us up, and after 4 hours driving round the top of Dartmoor, taking various diversions, get to Falmouth. We grab a quick lunch at a beach cafe with Megan and her mum who is over from the States for the exhibition. The sea looks beautiful but there's no time to swim, sadly. Another time! We walk up through exotic gardens to the exhibition site, spying tiny clay sculptures in the tree branches and roots.

Megan's main piece is a cave-like structure that she has sculpted from clay and branches, a copy of one she constructed on an eco site in the wilds of Cornwall - eco art in a Green landscape. We have fun exploring it,  inside and out.

Another exhibit - by Clare Thomas, one of Megan's friends - is a floor sculpture of a sea creature made of brightly coloured rubbish, Clare has been cleaning beaches - recycling junk and making the sculpture out of selected debris. Her words spoke to me:

You, who live by the sea, it is
a small thing to close your gate behind you and head to the beach. and once there, it is
a small thing to walk into the cold water or
lie on the beach, feeling the press of pebbles.
And once you have sunned yourself enough, and
let your body float in the sea enough, and
sunk your feet into the sand enough, it is
a small thing to pick up a few pieces of plastic, or foam
and take them away with you.

If we have souls, surely your soul will remember
the touch of air and water and pebble and
hold them for dark days later.
And if there are spirits, surely they will see you and remember
  that you took care of something greater than yourself.
And if there are gods of small things, surely what you have done
  will sustain them for just a little longer.


I leave the sea of Falmouth, glittering turquoise in today's bright sunshine, reluctantly. But we have a long drive back to Sidmouth. It's a quick journey and we have time for a swim in the river Otter before dinner! We walk past the local cricket pitch and along the riverbank upstream of the weir where it's deep enough to swim. I've learnt some tips - I remember to check I'lll be able to get out of the water further downstream. It's almost impossible(for me) to swim upstream, however slowly the river seems to be flowing, so you've got to be sure that you have an exit point from where you can walk back up stream to retrieve your clothes! I only went about 100m - a very easy swim - and stayed in quite a lot longer working hard to keep my place against the current, enjoying the late evening sunshine through trees across the fields.

Dinner with our friends at The Pea Green Boat on the seafront in Sidmouth. Fabulous.

Day 17 Sept 4th The Lake

My bro Wilf comes to Oxford from Edinburgh via train. He arrives at my house on foot having walked 2 miles up the canal from the station. I offer him a cup of tea and a swim in the lake We cycle/jog ( me on the bike, him jogging) the half mile to the lake north of the ringroad. It's an old gravel pit hidden behind houses, the only access through their gardens. I'm lucky enough to know M and N who live there and allow me to swim. Bliss. Fed by a small spring it's fairly clear and fresh, abundant with waterlilies. Wilf and I have our togs on underneath jogging gear, so its easy to go through my friends' garden and slip out of clothes and into the lake. Magical.

I reckon I do 200m back and forth the north end of the lake. Haven't got long unfortunately as I have to get down to Keble College Chapel for a choir rehearsal, before Wilf and I set off to Sidmouth.

day 11 29th september Paralympics!

Back home, lots to do that requires sitting in front of the tv on a regular basis. The Paralympics are fantastic aren't they? captivating, exciting and awe-inspiring. I'm hooked watching swimmers of all shapes and sizes breaking record after record. I don't get near any water myself for nearly a week.