Olympian David Davis supports OSS Right to Swim campaign
Olympic silver medallist and open water swimmer David Davies is just one of the many swimmers waiting with baited breath for the 25 February, when the National Assembly for Wales committee announces the result of the public enquiry into access to inland wa... More >
Olympic silver medallist and open water swimmer David Davies is just one of the many swimmers waiting with baited breath for the 25 February, when the National Assembly for Wales committee announces the result of the public enquiry into access to inland wa... More >
MPs' battle for winter swimming access
2010 began with a political victory for outdoor swimming, as MPs tabled questions in the House of Commons to defend the historic freedom to swim year round in Hyde Park's Serpentine Lake. Conservative MPs Desmond Swayne and Edward Leigh (the latter pictur... More >
2010 began with a political victory for outdoor swimming, as MPs tabled questions in the House of Commons to defend the historic freedom to swim year round in Hyde Park's Serpentine Lake. Conservative MPs Desmond Swayne and Edward Leigh (the latter pictur... More >
Winter swimming in the Czech Republic
Jack Bright is a British extreme swimmer living in the Czech Republic. He is a documentary film maker and runs the Extreme Winter Swimming website. He shares with us the joy and attitude towards winter swimming in his adoptive country.It’s been a bus... More >
Jack Bright is a British extreme swimmer living in the Czech Republic. He is a documentary film maker and runs the Extreme Winter Swimming website. He shares with us the joy and attitude towards winter swimming in his adoptive country.It’s been a bus... More >
Great Island swims: Europe
Islands invoke something magical in people’s imaginations thanks to a literary legacy that spans many hundreds of years, taking in castaways and pirates, buried treasure and children who refuse to grow up. From Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and Th... More >
Islands invoke something magical in people’s imaginations thanks to a literary legacy that spans many hundreds of years, taking in castaways and pirates, buried treasure and children who refuse to grow up. From Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and Th... More >
Swimmers display art at the Rebecca Adlington centre
OSS muse Kari Furre and fellow Devon-based swimmer-artist Amanda Bluglass have created a major new piece of public art which is set to adorn the outside of the newly redeveloped Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.They beat seve... More >
OSS muse Kari Furre and fellow Devon-based swimmer-artist Amanda Bluglass have created a major new piece of public art which is set to adorn the outside of the newly redeveloped Rebecca Adlington Swimming Centre in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.They beat seve... More >
Channel swimming 12 year-olds
In August 2010, six 12 year-olds from Bristol will swim across 21 miles of the busiest shipping lane in the world, battling cold waters, rough seas, darkness and fluthers of jellyfish to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.The children (who are curren... More >
In August 2010, six 12 year-olds from Bristol will swim across 21 miles of the busiest shipping lane in the world, battling cold waters, rough seas, darkness and fluthers of jellyfish to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.The children (who are curren... More >
Help us to help you: volunteering for the OSS
Thank you for the brilliant response we had to the recent call for volunteers. We have eight new recruits who are going to start work on exciting watery projects over the coming months, details of which will be revealed in future newsletters... More >
Thank you for the brilliant response we had to the recent call for volunteers. We have eight new recruits who are going to start work on exciting watery projects over the coming months, details of which will be revealed in future newsletters... More >
World Winter Swimming Championships, Bled 2010
700 people took part in the World Winter Swimming Championships in Bled in Slovenia in January 2010. Patricia Baker, a member of the Outdoor Swimming Society and the South London Swimming Club spoke to Anna Morell about the swimmers at Tooting, and the clu... More >
700 people took part in the World Winter Swimming Championships in Bled in Slovenia in January 2010. Patricia Baker, a member of the Outdoor Swimming Society and the South London Swimming Club spoke to Anna Morell about the swimmers at Tooting, and the clu... More >
Crossing the Hellespont: Byron bicentennial swim
2010 is the 200th anniversary of the swim to put open water swimming on the map: Byron's epic swim across the Hellespont. Join OSS member Dave Lowe (who won a place as a prize in the December Dip raffle) and other swimmers in a crossing to celebrate it.&nb... More >
2010 is the 200th anniversary of the swim to put open water swimming on the map: Byron's epic swim across the Hellespont. Join OSS member Dave Lowe (who won a place as a prize in the December Dip raffle) and other swimmers in a crossing to celebrate it.&nb... More >
OSS December Dip 2009
See the Youtube video. It’s the simple question that swimmers who attended the OSS Plum Pudding Plunge may have been asked by friends, family and colleagues when they told them what their plans were for the weekend. Why?Why did you get up on a... More >
See the Youtube video. It’s the simple question that swimmers who attended the OSS Plum Pudding Plunge may have been asked by friends, family and colleagues when they told them what their plans were for the weekend. Why?Why did you get up on a... More >
Gaddings Dam
There is a man from Yorkshire who walks up a hill every day. At the top of that hill he finds a beach. At the edge of that beach he finds water. Every day – whether he needs to apply sun cream to his skin or an ice-pick to the surface of the water &n... More >
There is a man from Yorkshire who walks up a hill every day. At the top of that hill he finds a beach. At the edge of that beach he finds water. Every day – whether he needs to apply sun cream to his skin or an ice-pick to the surface of the water &n... More >
Sarah Tunnicliffe's Resolutions
Sarah Tunnicliffe is a key member of the OSS Team, galvanizing swimmers to meet up with her all round the country. Sarah is also building up a Lakes and North Yorkshire network for the OSS, organising swims in the sea, rivers, lakes and tarns in the area, ... More >
Sarah Tunnicliffe is a key member of the OSS Team, galvanizing swimmers to meet up with her all round the country. Sarah is also building up a Lakes and North Yorkshire network for the OSS, organising swims in the sea, rivers, lakes and tarns in the area, ... More >
Wild Swims, Wild Tales
Wild swimmers with exceptional tales to tell mingled with the crowd at the OSS Plum Pudding Plunge at Parliament Hill Lido. Wearing red aprons, their mission was to inspire and enthuse others to undertake new adventures in 2010. They didn’t disappoin... More >
Wild swimmers with exceptional tales to tell mingled with the crowd at the OSS Plum Pudding Plunge at Parliament Hill Lido. Wearing red aprons, their mission was to inspire and enthuse others to undertake new adventures in 2010. They didn’t disappoin... More >
Four-Lido London crawl
New OSS member Mary Webb decided to prepare for the Plum Pudding Plunge by joining the South London Swimming Club on their annual winter lido crawl. Here, she shares the highboards, the lowboards, the swans and the dives with us. Thanks to seeing it i... More >
New OSS member Mary Webb decided to prepare for the Plum Pudding Plunge by joining the South London Swimming Club on their annual winter lido crawl. Here, she shares the highboards, the lowboards, the swans and the dives with us. Thanks to seeing it i... More >
Welcome
JUMP IN & JOIN US: The Outdoor Swimming Society is dedicated to increasing the numbers of people who experience the joy of swimming safely in the UK's lakes, rivers, lidos and sea. Membership to the Outdoor Swimming Society is free. Sign up to our newsletter to receive monthly tips of the best places to swim outdoors this summer, swims around the country, technique and training tips, water-related art projects and literature, aquatic ecology and more.
OSS WILD SWIM: DERWENT ISLAND We're back, with our first mass swim since 2007. Join us for a swim to start the summer in the Lake District on the 23rd May - plus, there are technique clinics so you start as you mean to go on, the previous day.
OSS VOLUNTEER VACANCIES: The OSS has vacancies in 2010 for roles including regional co-ordinators and a video producer. If you are looking for the warm or excited feeling you get from doing something creative, sociable or life-changing (yours or others) for a movement you believe in, see the jobs page.
FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHT TO SWIM: Love swimming? Want to see fewer 'no swimming' signs tacked on to trees? (Poor trees). The OSS is fighting for your right to swim. See video footage of the OSS giving evidence at the Welsh Assembly, and read the February news stories - Olympian David Davies and MPs are now supporting our campaign.
OSS ON FILM! Guardian Films online now. Also, catch the OSS December Dip on Youtube (2009 and 2008) and our first Breastrokes charity swim (2006).
SWIM RESPONSIBLITY STATEMENT: Greater rights for swimmers means greater responsibility - to swim at your own risk. By signing up to join any swim or acting on any of the inspiration or information in this website, you confirm that you are a member of the OSS and have read and accepted the terms of the OSS swim responsibility statement.
MEDIA WATCH:
- New lease of life for oldest swimming club in Bolton, The Bolton News, 28.01.10
- Swimming pools: asthma risk? ABC Australia, 28.01.10
- Morecambe RNLI crew charity swim, The Visitor 27.01.10
- Pensioner learns ‘to swim with grandson’, Halifax Evening Courier 27.01.10
- Heated debate over Ruislip Lido, Uxbridge Gazette 25.01.10
- Epiphany swimming, Wall Street Journal, 22.01.10
- Push to re-open Lymington Lido, Southern Daily Echo, 22.01.10
- Afan Lido ‘to be demolished’, BBC News, 18.01.10
- Swimming in the Serpentine, BBC News 08.01.10
- Breaking the ice at the Serpentine, Daily Telegraph, early January 2010
- Christmas swim in the Serpentine, BBC Radio 4, 24.12.09
- Otters return to Leicestershire's clean rivers Leicester Mercury 1.2.10
- World's first Great Barrier Reef Swim Whitsunday Times, 28.1.10
- Parliamentary questions on Serpentine closure Daily Mail 23.1.10
- Londoners enjoy an icy dip BBC News 8.1.10
- Aussie to swim Japan-California ‘tide of filth’ NZ Herald 22.12.09
- Free swim lessons in Liverpool Liverpool Echo 21.12.09
- Kids ‘Jaws’ fin float success Daily Mail 21.12.09
- Brockwell bathers break the ice Streatham Guardian 21.12.09
- Eight year-old’s Xmas Weymouth harbour swim for cancer friend Dorset Echo 21.12.09
- Gran, 93, still in the swim South Yorkshire Star 21.12.09
- Brockwell icicle pictures londonist.com 19.12.09
- Plans for British Swimming Open Daily Telegraph 18.12.09
- Robson Green’s Wild Swimming adventure review Guardian 09.12.09
- Robson Green’s Wild Swimming Adventure review Guardian blogs 08.12.09
- Robson Green’s Wild Swimming Adventure review Mirror 08.12.09
- Shooting Stars stars bond over swim Press Association 24.11.09
- Coventry pensioners notch up 75 years’ swimming Coventry Evening Telegraph 24.11.09
- Edinburgh pool crèches to close BBC 24.11.09
- Wild swimming spots getting cleaner Edie 24.11.09
- Michigan man plans 24-hour swim Christian News Wire 23.11.09
- New pool for Wakefield BBC 22.11.09
- Calls for new Ilkley pool Ilkley Gazette 19.11.09
- Naturist Olympics skinny dip feature Daily Mail 13.11.09
- Swimmer portrait wins award BBC 04.11.09
- OSS gives evidence in favour of the right to swim at Welsh Assembly. BBC Democracy Live. 12.11.09.
- Swimming in the NE & Cumbria - see OSS swimmers and more on film. BBC Inside Out. 11.11.09.
- Millions take up free swimming offer Press Association 27.10.09
- Rare footage found of Ipswich’s Broomhill Lido Evening Star 21.10.09
- A first-person take on learning to swim as an adult. The Guardian 15.10.09
- Fight to keep Holywell Mead pool open Bucks Free Press 13.10.09
- The Guardian compares seal-swimming to speed dating. 11.10.09
- The plastic bottle boat The Guardian 11.10.09
- Frank Chalmers is first to swim the Pentland Firth. The Sun 10.10.09
- Swimming San Francisco Bay. Wall Street Journal 26.09.09
- The Lundy to Woolacombe swim. Youtube 23.08.09
- Tide turns for the river dolphin in Ganges clean-up. Times. 30.09.09
- Lewis Gordon Pugh set to swim in a glacial lake 17,000ft up Mount Everest. BBC, 22.09.2009.
- How I got my body: Keri Anne Payne, Beijing medallist. Guardian, 20.09.2009
- Children who regularly use indoor swimming pools may be more likely to develop asthma. Daily Mail, 16.09.2009.
- Suffolk naturists seek a new beach after their previous base was ‘de-designated’ due to coastal erosion. The Times, 01.09.2009.
- Big River Man is now showing in cinemas. ‘Unbelievable’ and ‘hilarious’ say critics. News of the World 31/08/09
- Dive into the great outdoors, it's brrrrrilliant for your health. Daily Mail on the 'Blue Gym'. 15.08.09
- The lure of the English Channel explained. The Telegraph. 12.08.09
- The Guardian explains the prevalence of titchy swimming trunks in French pools (they’re compulsory). 12.08.09
- The ten best literary swimming scenes according to Guardian. 01.08.09