‘I’m just giving my poo a kiss before I go,” says Lindsey Cole, as she launches in the water to swim the Bristol channel wearing a mermaid tail. Cole is an environmental activist, and the poo is a giant inflatable with a cheery smiley face. It bobs along behind her as she swims to raise awareness of raw sewage polluting local rivers. Six hours in, and Cole is fed up: “It’s so boring!” she wails. And yet campaigning never looked so fun and friendly as it does in this joyous documentary about Bristol’s clean water campaigners.
Not far from the city centre, at a dreamily lush section of the Avon, a formidable female-led group of wild swimmers is fighting for official bathing status for a section of the river at Conham Park. They collect samples of the river water and share sewage data with others swimmers (so no one has to wait for their stomachs to alert them to E coli). If Conham Park has designated bathing status, the Environment Agency would have to test the water and – crucially – investigate the source of any pollution. There’s a depressing meeting with a man from Wessex Water who explains that neither the water company nor the agency has “an aspiration” to make the river clean enough to swim in.
What shines out here is the real sense of community among the wild swimmers at Conham Park, brought together by the water and the beauty of the spot. A local has carved a wooden bench for swimmers and the “no swimming” sign is defaced by exceedingly polite graffiti. Diane started coming during the pandemic: “Something about being in the water, it all just melts away.” Frank, a man of retirement age with depression and anxiety, swims most days, rain or snow. “The river is such a great friend.” It’s lovely.
• Rave on for the Avon is at the Broadway, Letchworth on 29 January, then tours.
