Thames swim becomes just thrash in a brook

THE Heller family from Skirmett weren’t going to let the floods completely spoil their annual Boxing Day dip.

For the past two years, they have swum across the Thames in Henley from Red Lion Lawn to Leander Club.

Two years ago, there were five hardy souls — 28-year-old lawyer Douglas Heller, his sisters Rosie, 22, and Beatrice, 26, their 26-year-old cousin Henry Collett, from Russell’s Water, and a neighbour, Simon Moyle, 71.

Last year, Douglas, Rosie and Beatrice were joined by their mother Mandy, four cousins and 16 others in braving the chilly water.

This year, however, the swim had to be cancelled because the swollen river was deemed unsafe for a motorboat to navigate, let alone a group of swimmers.

But the family did still manage to get wet.

Beatrice, who is a keen outdoors swimmer, explains: “The dip did not go ahead due to the unusually high river levels and fast flow.

“My family and I went on a scouting walk along the towpath from Mill End on Christmas Eve to check out the conditions and it very quickly became apparent that any swim would be impossible as we were knee deep in water quite quickly.

“We had to retreat from the towpath to Remenham Lane to complete the last part of the walk and then took a few photos of the actual stretch of water we usually swim across.

“Sensibly, we called off the swim but we’ve become so accustomed to our cold water dip on Boxing Day that the original crew from 2010 — with my brother replaced by my mother as he was absent in Japan — decided instead to scale back the swimming and take advantage of the now flowing Hambleden brook. It was more for comedy value and the bracing feeling of getting into cold water than actually having a proper swim.

“The water was barely more than ankle deep, making swimming pretty tricky, although we gave it a good go.

“We are hoping that next year we can return to our traditional swim across the Thames rather than a thrash across a little brook!”