How many times a day are you brave? How many times a day do you kick something in the d*ck?
You may be curious to the context of this fantastic question comedian, actress and Conham Bathing Ambassador Jayde Adams posed to 250 people at Bristol Aquarium's IMAX cinema at a special preview-screening.
They were gathered to watch Rave On For The Avon, a feature-length documentary film that follows campaigners and river lovers across a year and a half, fighting to protect their patch of river, the Bristol way! The screening co-organised by Tabb, Bristol's premier creative community, saw our beautiful Bristol Avon in all its glory on Bristol Aquairum's a huge IMAX screen.
As the summer is now beginning to fade and the river's temperature drops, cold-dipping acolytes will brave the chill and wade in, finding something live-affirming as they take the plunge.
Jayde hosted the event to help advocate for the protection of our gorgeous Bristol Avon for people and the wildlife. She shared her own reason for swimming in rivers, braving the cold.
The euphoria you feel after you have done it is something that you want to share with other people and that is the thing that is most addictive about the entire experience. It's the feeling afterwards. It's not just the physical feeling of plunging yourself into cold water and getting out, the way your heart reacts.
It's also you doing something in a day where you are brave. How many times a day are you brave? How many times a day do you kick something in the d*ck? The feeling of accomplishment is medicine.”
Co-Producer of the film Aggie shared her wild swimming motivations -
Being within nature, with the ducks swimming beside you, the herons flying above you, you feel completely transported. I didn't do it thinking this is good for my mental health. It was meeting people in the community that say that it helps with their depression and anxiety. There are so many things, I was like, 'really it helps you with that?'
But in the end, I got it. Now I think I had these problems and I was getting my fix without knowing what it was fixing.
Rave On For The Avon was made by local filmmakers Charlotte Sawyer and Aggie Nyagari to advocate for the river by showing how loved it is by people in Bristol. After a South-West run of preview screenings and being featured by Radio Four's Today Programme Charlotte and Aggie are now raising funds to distribute the film in cinemas across the UK. You can sign up to the film's mailing list to find out when our next screenings are.
The Aquarium event was a beautiful and creative celebration full of art, grafitti and performance. Friends of the Earth, True Start Coffee and The Rivers Trust shared their river campaigning work and Bristol' Campaigners Conham Bathing shared their ideas and plans for the coming swimming season. Bristol muralist Farrah Fortnham's painted a portrait of the Bristol Avon at the screening which is now the film's poster. The event was supported by the lovely people at Agile Homes.
Poppy Casey, recent Graduate of Global Development & Sustainability at Bath Spa University and avid wild swimmer wrote an insightful summary of the screening.
As people entered Bristol’s Aquarium they were invited to receive a calming yet less traditional form of a blessing, by the talk of the event itself, the River Avon. Presented as a magnificent 3 metre tall puppet, The Goddess of the Wye, the river is personified and flows with and through events and demonstrations, almost as a representation for what people are fighting for. At the entrance of the Aquarium, people stopped to take pictures of or with the Goddess, bringing the same excitement and thrill people receive from plunging in the water she is embodying, in awe of the impressive scale of the puppet. Others gave the Goddess an embracing hug, showing their appreciation and love for the River they are so passionate about protecting.
It only felt right that the River should join the conversation that revolves around its own protection and the health of the wildlife and people it provides for.
The past, present, and future of individuals are intertwined with oceans and rivers, and this speaks particularly to colonial, patriarchal genealogy and the effects of humankind on other species, the earth, and each other. Oceans and Rivers are dynamic bodies of water that have a strong connection to stories of power and oppression, wins and losses, freedom and enslavement, both human and non-human, that occur throughout history and geography. The Goddess therefore acted as a subtle but beautiful reminder for all the wonderful walks of life that need the River to thrive, of what people were attending the event for, greeting and blessing them before the screening.
The documentary follows a variety of people’s lives and their connections to the River, including the adventure mermaid and children’s author Lindsey Cole, who swam across the Bristol Channel with an inflatable poo to raise awareness of sewage spillages and wrote a children’s book about it, to portray the environmental issues of water pollution to younger generations. Three local swimmers, Becca, Eva and Em are all campaigners of Conham Bathing Group, and with Eva being an aquatic ecologist, the documentary follows their journey of testing the water quality and presenting their samples to Wessex Water, later gaining full party support for Designated Bathing Water Status and yet the Mayor, Marvin Rees not supporting their request.
The film follows even more personal connections that people have to the River, like Frank who suffers from PTSD and finds peace and sanity in wild swimming everyday, much like the Bathing Bells who find that “the water takes the pain away”.
The documentary highlights the beauty and significance of the River, with the tranquillity it brings to so many people. Defining the water as some sort of holy spirit that must be recognised for its importance within society, it should have rights and be protected from big water companies illegally dumping their sewage into it.
The message is obviously much bigger than just one river though, it stretches to all waters.
My takeaway from the Documentary; We cannot exist without water, since it is an essential component of who we are. Outdoor swimmers, particularly those in untamed environments, have traditionally been considered outsiders who share a vulnerability to the unpredictable weather, changing seasons and conditions, and those who take official action to protect the water they swim in. They now all share the vulnerability to sewage spillages in their swimming spots, and the health risks that come with swimming in everyone else's sh*t.
During the Q&A Jayde Adams reminded us that;
People like Frank who use the river in such an active way in regards to their mental health, it's the reason I started swimming as well. It's the freest thing you can do. We can go to a swimming pool, but I often find it's a bit of a spectator’s sport and I don't really want to be stared at when I am in my bathers. Also chlorine and all of that, I would much rather just be able to take a private swim by myself and I think highlighting people like Frank who use it for that could probably be the most powerful thing because you can't really deny it when you meet someone like that.
Wild swimming undoubtedly speaks to free spirits, which may explain why whenever a couple of swimmers get together, as if the water's fluency were contagious, small informal parliaments happen by the bank, on the shore, or by the water's edge. The documentary highlights this sense of community within outdoor swimmers, all sharing the endorphin rush that naturally elevates mood, stimulates senses, and inspires an insatiable want to return.
The world appears much better after a swim, regardless of how it did before. It is interesting that historically literature on wild swimming has ranged from the pure joy of being "in the elements" to the use of swimming as a sort of defiance against the toxicity of the artificial world. Yet, the film could be perceived as pointing out the irony in this representation of outdoor swimming, given how the artificial world spills sewage into natural waters and creates toxicity within nature.
A note from Charlotte Sawyer, Director of Rave On For The Avon.
A massive thank you to Poppy for her reflections on the event and the life-affirming benefits swimming in nature brings. Thank you to the incredible team at Tabb for .......info here.
After a run of preview screenings in the South-West and appearances on Radio Four's The Today Programme I am now fundraising for the cost of a cinema rating to enable a cinema run of the film with the hope to inspire river lovers to campaign in their own unique and creative ways for rivers. If you hope to catch the film please join my mailing list for updates, or you're welcome to organise a community-led screening.
Thanks and keep on raving!
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