The OSS’ Owen Haeman on the One Show

26th February, 2019

Owen Haeman from The Outdoor Swimming Society will soon be appearing on BBC One’s The One Show in a feature about rivers.

The footage was shot over two days, a month apart. Owen was filmed swimming in the River Ribble, which runs through North Yorkshire and Lancashire, on a snowy, foggy morning. “I spoke about the importance of clean water for swimmers and why swimming is an important way for people to connect with the water, which drives us to help protect it,” he said.

Owen met experienced local fishermen who “had a deep understanding of the river food web, and a memory of what the river has been like in times gone by, better and worse than today,” he explained.

The Rivers Trust were also involved and took water samples for testing. The group, along with a local spokesperson from the Environment Agency, met again to discuss the results and long-term trends in water quality.

“It was refreshing to find that we were all pretty much on the same page,” said Owen, “wanting to celebrate rivers and encourage people to engage with them, while also making a call to action to clean up some stretches of rivers and call out bad practices that contribute to pollution.”

Liz Lowe