HERE COMES THE SUMMER!

Here we are, on the cusp of the Bank Holiday Weekend, with lots of lovely swimming to get excited about.

After a bit of a lull on the fundraising front we've had another spurt of activity including a fantastic donation of £100 from a very modest Jonathan Smith of Online Safety Solutions. Jon provides H&S management support for us here at Belvoir and does a brilliant job with a great sense of fun at the same time (perhaps unusual in H&S?) You'll note his subtle sense of humour in the message he's left with his donation.

http://www.justgiving.com/Sandra-Moran

I'm not even going to start crowing about my batting average v Nicola - I'm really not very competitive you know!

Mandy Delaine Smith of Bourne Outdoor Pool has already promised us free entry on Sunday for the 3 Lidos 3 Miles Challenge - we will put this in the pot for fundraising and thanks to Mandy.














I had a sneak preview at this BEAUTIFUL pool, was DESPERATE to dive in ... almost persuaded Mandy to let me in to "clean out the filters"

Come along and join us if you can Sunday 30th, should be fun!

Hot Weekend

At last the sun came out - the finest weather for a day on the beach. My friend Rosie and I headed off to Sutton-on-Sea and pitched up on the beach. I think we must have been a little noisy since we soon had a good space around us as people re-pitched away from us. Sandwiches eaten and cossies on and we went for the waves - fantastic - Sandra will be soooo envious - sorry Sister! It was cold but so invigorating. Plenty of people in the waves but not swimming.

Rosie had an interesting take on swimming attire - at one point wearing a '3 piece' sort of layered look with costume, shorts and bikini top. It may catch on.

Sorry, no photos for evidence.

New Links - We Go Global!

Our New Friends on Yahoo Groups


Well, maybe not exactly global - we did have a visitor from USA on our blog though ... but clearly Sandra's talent for spin and bragging is rubbing off on me: the exciting news today is that we've -joined two great Yahoo Groups devoted to lidos and outdoor pools. I've been following Oliver Merrington's Lidos History Society group for years and found it an inspiration and a brilliant source of information on lidos in the UK URL=http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/lidos/ . Oliver has forwarded our blog details and fundraising activities to a 'sister' yahoo group whose members are campaigning to re-open or keep open threatened lidos and pools in the UK - another amazing group of people http://groups.yahoo.com/group/poolingresources/ .

We've already had messages of support and encouragement from the groups' members and will be meeting up with members on our visits to pools and lidos.

Check out these sites and check out Oliver's lido page - it should inspire you to get out and support these beautiful pools.http://www.lidos.org.uk/

Statto

Fundraising Stat's to Date:


Number of Donations: Sandra 23, Nicola 26
Value of Donations: Sandra £450, Nicola £415
Average Donation Value: Sandra £19.17, Nicola £15.96

Yeah, yeah - obviously it's all about the fundraising, BUT...I'M WINNING!!!

Sibling rivalry is a potent force!

Groundhog Weekend

Great watery weekend for me, if a little repetitive...

...set off for beach on Saturday avec fils, calling all likely parties on the way to meet up but no takers!!

Realising we're in serious danger of being beach billy no-mates we do a sharp about turn in Boston and head instead for Woodhall Spa pool (after a great deal of back seat negotiation with Felix and Leo!)

Great to be at this beautiful vintage pool on opening day. Pool temperature is traditionally tepid here and at 28C was exactly double the skin stripping air temperature outside the pool with a whistling wind whipping across the Lincolnshire badlands - so pretty speedy on the pool side change routine!

Felix and Leo were ANGELS and sat out on the "big pool" benches with ice creams while I got to do a few lengths.

Sunday....looked sunny and promising....did the whole thing again!!!

Getting really excited about 3 Lido's Opening Celebration on 30th May...

Mablethorpe Mermaid

Plans are coming thick and fast - it's like the genie is out of the bottle - for summer events. Our '3 Pools Challenge' will be launched on 18th September at Mablethorpe's Festival of Bathing Beauties http://www.mablethorpe.info/bathingbeauties/index.html. where we will have 'The Great North Sea Plunge' a fun dip and swim in the sea for everyone. We will have our very own Mermaid and are hoping for a 'celebrity' launch .... not sure about the dolphin-riding combo though?

10th May : Trip to Peaks for rare warm swim

7am - 1.5C, Perfect start to day. Bright sun, sparkling dew, free day....

8am - Into the Peaks, temperature soaring to 8C, familiar gloom and low cloud. Really looking forward to that first dive in, looks like could be a swim in the rain which I love.

9am - Yumm! Perfect pre-swim brekkie at Nonna's in glamorous Chesterfield. Bump into Hoady who's WAY too busy and important to join me for coffee - LIGHTWEIGHT!

9.30am - I'm here! It's raining, dropped to 6C and I'm waiting impatiently for Nicola & Leslie to arrive. Waiting around in cozzie is not good news so I go for unilateral plunge - instant warm up in water 20 degrees higher than air temp, no wonder it's steaming...

Make my first contact with the locals when chap in lane next to me surfaces at end of the lane.."Morning!" I say cheerily. "How do" he responds in stereotype "up north" tones...

Special mention must go to the lovely Pete who is really interested (or at least pretends well) in all our swim adventures and who lets us get a couple of photos for posterity.

11am - Perfect post swim food (well it's been a couple of hours since breakfast) at Pool Cafe and perfect hospitality again from the delightful Kev on cappucino and Bakewell Tart duty - excellent all round and even put up with our hysterical, over excited babbling.

All round a great swim trip and first outdoor pool plunge of 2010

First Lido Swim of the Year - Hathersage

Sandra, Nic and Lesley in the Balmy Water at Hathersage Lido, Derbyshire

4 degrees centigrade air temperature but a tropical 24 degrees in the steaming water. Sandra arrives to apologies that the boiler is not up to speed and the water is cooler than usual - no problem for us being used to single figures centigrade in the North Sea. A beautiful pool - built 1936 - and it has its own bandstand - how unique! It is a must visit if you're in the area.

Great to do some dives - including some 'banned' somersault ones!

Pete the lifeguard took a picture and will link us on the pool web site. Thanks Pete.... and thanks for the chat and encouragement for our swimming challenges. http://www.hathersage.org.uk/h/H.nsf/26364ba6e6a9cbe580256f32005e236a/5ea86dab47bf61a280256d72005b0ad7!OpenDocument&Highlight=0,Accomodation,Inns,InfoPicture

Pete the Lifeguard

And after the swim we went to the Pool Cafe where Kev's bakewell tart and cappuccinos warmed us through. Nic thinks the iced version of the bakewell tart should be adopted as our official energy food for the swim challenges - our answer to kendal mint cake for the 3 peakers.

Iced Bakewell - Energy Food

Kev Smith in his cafe

Sandra waving.

Sea Swim # 6 - Filey

Yes, really, we've swam in the sea SIX times now since New Year's Day.

Sunday 2nd May saw us at Filey, Yorkshire - a very cold north-easterly wind - and some strong, high waves. Despite Sandra's hesitation (normal for Sandra) we went in and swam for about 15 minutes - in fact it felt less cold in the water than on the beach. Once she was in, Sandra did her usual trick of swimming out too far..... Then we had to get out - and that was a struggle with the high waves and the strong pull. Pretty soaked with the waves crashing over us... but exhilarating.

The video clip is still in the editing suite but have a couple of pictures (one just post swim so a bit grimacing) to prove we really were there.

And not forgetting the Jack Johnson - exclusive glimpse of his new album cover :