shoplocal – Pass the Salt

Seabirds was set up with one specific aim. To make swimming in the sea accessible for all as a way to manage wellbeing and mental health.

Swimming outdoors ‘in theory’ is free. Find a body of water and get in. But it’s not accessible to all and in particular the most vulnerable in our society. There are many obstacles that people face getting in the water or even considering it an option. Just because it doesn’t cost money, not everyone has equal access, availability or awareness. The list of why swimming in the outdoors is not accessible and available to all is lengthy. And not all of the obstacles can be overcome. But some can.

We set up Seabirds, Cath and I, because we felt better after swimming in the sea but we were only able to do this because we left our jobs. In fact it was our jobs that were taking their toll on our wellbeing, and we began swimming in the sea with each other, sharing our stories, getting closer and closer to winter and to each other when we realised we were beginning to feel better. It wasn’t a considered approach to managing our mental health and we didn’t ever plan on swimming through the winter but we just kept on swimming…. and didn’t stop. It was during one of these winter swims, when our skin stung with the cold as we entered the water and the wind whipped waves up into our faces and we drank hot tea behind a breakwater that we realised we were happy. And more importantly that we wanted others to realise this happiness too.

We’d both worked in the Third Sector and understood the hoops you had to jump through to gain funding for any type of community project. We also knew we didn’t want to be restricted by what we could spend the funding on and spend precious time writing long applications in the hope that we met the necessary requirements. Instead we set up a Community Interest Company, Seabirds Ltd, invited three Non-Executive Directors to oversee our activities and set up a crowd funder to kick start our idea. The Non-Executive directors bought the perfect insight and skills to the table with backgrounds in mental health, accounting and occupational health and have been a source of great support and advice. Cath has experience in retail running her own business and working with vulnerable people and I have a background in, Project Management, Surf Life Saving and running group activities in the sea.

The idea was to create a constant stream of unrestricted funds via a social enterprise swim shop. The profits from everything we sold were, and are, redirected to fund our community project. The initial crowd funder allowed us to buy a limited amount of stock for the shop and build a website. But not much else. We looked for stuff to sell that is ethically made and has a reduced carbon footprint. In reality this hasn’t always been possible, neoprene is a great material but it is ultimately petrol-based, so for now we do the best we can and hope to do better in the future. Getting suppliers to sign us up has also been a challenge. When you have a limited amount of money and don’t meet minimum order requirements a lot of doors close. But we have established some wonderful working relationships with local suppliers who share our values. It might be a harder sell than the well-known brands and we can’t offer discounts like Amazon, Decathlon and Wiggle but we are involved in every step of the sales process, we try out all of our products and we value every customer. And we thought this would be easier than applying for grants!

Our own circular economy model was working, but slowly, and we were keen to launch our community project ‘Women Wellbeing and Water’ while the weather was still warm. The projects aim is to provide a way for local people to manage their wellbeing by using sea swimming and friendship. To give participants the skills, confidence and self-belief they need to enjoy sea swimming, no matter what additional challenges they face. We recognise that everyone person is different and each responds to challenges differently. But we believe that with the right assistance and support everyone can enjoy swimming in the sea. So we applied for a National Lottery grant to cover the cost of participant transport, childcare, neoprene accessories, refreshments and safety equipment. To pay swim coaches, administrators and lifeguards. And to gain relevant qualifications and awards to be able to run the courses ‘in house’ in the future. And while we waited we ran a pilot session with the help of some wonderful community volunteers.

The pilot course was run in Brighton in the autumn of 2018 to see if the proposed model was effective. It was, with a few tweaks. Post pilot, Seabirds set up a sustainable wild swimming community group for participants to continue to engage with the local swim community and friends they have met on their course. And so the Salty Seabirds group was born. Soon after we learned that the National Lottery Community Fund scheme agreed to fund the project in Brighton. The first course offered a four-week course for 10 women who were referred to us by BHT Threshold Women’s Services. Threshold provides support to women with a wide range of issues, including anxiety, depression, self-harm, post-traumatic stress, chronic low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, parenting issues, birth trauma and perinatal depression. We were up and running!

We’ve come a long way in the last couple of years and learned a lot. Sometimes from making mistakes and picking ourselves up again. The best way to learn sometimes. But we are now self sustaining and self sufficient. . The profits from the shop and other fund raising activities now produce enough money to run regular free community courses. The shop has expanded its product range and the big brands are now happy to do business with us. And we have grown in terms of what we offer as a social enterprise to include swimming lessons and coaching sessions as well as swiminars (swim webinars) and swimposiums (swim symposiums). We’ve been impacted by the pandemic and leaving the EU, who hasn’t, and whilst we have the customer demand for swimming goods, we haven’t always have the stock due to shortages in manufacturing and hold ups in shipping. Running a business from home with limited space for stock or solitude has been a challenge. We were also unable to run community courses whilst adhering to local lock down legislation and physical distancing guidelines. But we’ve weathered the storm and are excited to get back on the beach this year.

So where we are now – how do we make swimming accessible for all as a way to manage wellbeing and mental health. One size does not fit all. What might be the way into the water for some, isn’t right for others. Some are happy to join an established community group. Others like more structure and require an introductory session. Some want to increase their confidence and improve their swimming technique before they venture into the sea regularly. Some have established peer groups they can swim with but want advice and safety information. Some need the sense of belonging and encouragement. With all of this in mind, this is what are doing to meet the needs of our local swimming community and get more people in the sea.

We run an online not-for-profit swim shop that supports other small businesses and sells affordable swimming kit and accessories creating a revenue stream for our community initiatives. We also regularly support and donate to campaigns that protect our beaches and our seas like Leave No Trace Brighton and Surfers against Sewage fostering strong community ties.
We run free community courses for women who self identify as having wellbeing or mental health struggles that have been referred to us by other community agencies. This is our Women Wellbeing and Water project.
We have created and oversee the Salty Seabird community swimming group which has regular drop in swims and enables new swimmers to connect with their local community. Whilst our free community courses are exclusively for women our community group is not. All are welcome. We host wonderful Moon and Starling swims and at any opportunity will dress up to celebrate any occasion which are the highlight of our swim calendar and really bring the community together. At the time or publicatoin we have 2.7k members!
We provide outdoor and cold water swimming advice via community group files, blogs , swiminar videos and swimposium talks that tackle all manner of topics from swimming for your mental heath to what kit works and how to swim safely. We have years of cold water swimming experience, a list of lifesaving and swim coaching qualifications, and a network of other community group admins to draw on to provide you with the information you need to swim in the sea.
We run confidence and technique swimming lessons in both the sea and the pool and facilitate ‘Introduction to Sea Swimming‘ sessions, the profits from which again provide unrestricted fund for our community project. These are welcoming small groups with experienced local swim coaches who bring with them a wealth of knowledge and provide incredible encouragement. 2021 dates to be released soon!

So what more can we do – how do we make swimming accessible for all as a way to manage wellbeing and mental health. We have signed up to the Black Swimming Association DIPER Charter and have a lot of work to do to make our swim group membership better reflect our whole community. We aim to work with already established community groups to provide sea swimming social activities with the aim to encourage their members to join us in the sea on a regular basis. The Salty Seabird community has raised £1.5K for Level Water through our Artic Tern Challenge. Level Water’s Mission is ‘A Fair Start in Sport’ the only UK swimming charity who provide specialist one-to-one swimming lessons for children with physical and sensory disabilities. Hopefully a skill and pastime they will take with them into adult life.

All of this has been made possible by every shop purchase, every swimmer that participated in a lesson and every donation made by those who already swim in the outdoors to manage their mental health and wellbeing. And for that we are very grateful. We hope to run more Women Wellbeing and Water sessions in the summer, provide lessons in both the sea and pool and get back to swimming in smiling groups as soon as we are allowed. Until then we’ll just keep swimming……….. we hope you do too!

Lots of swim love

Cath & Kath