Winterswimming is a short piece about the Hampstead Heath men’s swimming pond follows the members of the Life Buoys swimming club who swim at the ponds every day of the year – even through the coldest days of winter, when they have to break the ice on the surface of the pond before getting in.
They swim despite, or perhaps because of, the risk of hypothermia and heart attack, even though some of them are well into their 80s. It’s about friendship, camaraderie and laughing in the face of death.
Winner of the Gold Charles Parker Prize for Student Radio Features 2011.
I thought this was REALLY good, Mair. Technically almost perfect. The sound had a clean, crystal clear quality: the water, the background noises and, above all, the swimmers. None of that is easy, as you know. You also found some amusing and beguiling characters, who I wanted to listen to: particularly your ” lead” ( he sounded like that cricket commentator and former spin bowler, whose name I forget) and AAlvarez, of course. Getting good interviews is all about putting people at their ease so they are willing to open up and allow you into their world. You clearly have that gift. My only caveat is that I wanted YOU to be there as narrator. I kept waiting for your dulcet female tones to situate us and provide a spark of contrast with those grumpy male baritones. I am sure it was a conscious decision to keep yourself OUT of the piece. So I am intrigued to know why. But, hats off! I am not surprised it won the prize.