Latest news from Steve

Challenge Completed! Distance: 15 Miles. Time: 10 Hours 19 minutes. Conditions: force 5/6. Raised so far: £13,053.00

And, the money is still rolling in for these wonderful charities. I know a few people who would rather wait until I prove what I can do before committing money, and that is perfectly understandable. I proved what I can do now, so you are most welcome to help out, I really would like to pay for 2 full days of the hospice being kept open, that would be a £15,000 target minimum. I have to say to all of you that have sponsored me, and put your weight behind the campaign, I am lost for words, but Thank you is a good way to start, thank you so very much. Thank you also to all those who braved the elements on Saturday and were there at some point, especially the end as I was a bit late getting back.

10 Hours at sea in summary:

I had set my alarm for 4.00am. So I was awake at 2.00am and could not get back to sleep, good job some early nights had been taken in the run up to the swim.

At 5.20am I was sitting on a windy rain-lashed seafront at Littlehampton talking to BBC Sussex who covered the event for us. There were, amazingly 16 people or so who had come to see me start, most important of all though was James Mahoney my Paddle Buddy on the Kayak who would carry my feeds for the next 2-3 hours until the main boat came out. James really is made of stern stuff, it was dark, lashing with rain and he had been down for a while already.

6.04am, we had waded out and I started to swim towards Worthing as dawn was breaking. The sea felt quite warm as the weather was so foul, it was a relief to get going at last and I settled into a rhythm with the waves at about 2’ and the wind picking up a little. I stopped in the water for two feeds, Sports Gels and a banana although the salt water had already got down my throat so some of it came back up. James says he will never eat out with me after seeing my manners. Right on cue, the main boat (which could not get out of the harbour at low tide) appeared at around 8.20 somewhere around Ferring. Oddly enough I never heard it arrive but I could smell the engine fumes as it drew up a few yards from me! On board (Boat was called the Worth Waiting IV) was Malcolm Somner (RNLI), Matt Somner, Ivan Greer (RNLI) and Jacqui, Cheyanne and Ashlena my lot!

I had shoulder pain fairly early on as I tried to set the fastest pace I could for Worthing Pier. If I was late getting to the Pier, then the price would be a very strong current against me for 2km. I took a couple of gels with double caffeine in and set off for a blast to the pier. I hit the current against me for the last 1.5km or so but was determined to power through it to get there as quickly as possible, taking long powerful strokes and kicking harder than usual with my legs. My reward was to reach the Pier at 10.33am Pretty much on time and there were several Photographers awaiting my arrival. What I did not know was that there were many people blogging and tweeting this moment as a measure of success thus far! So pretty much, everything had gone to plan so far, no hitches...

Then it hit...

I turned round and set off back to Littlehampton to find that the swell had increased and the wind was rapidly picking up and gusting hard, in short, it was blowing against me and the swell was mean. Getting back would be hard. I had to completely change my stroke no more long and graceful, the waves were hitting hard against my arms so a short powerful stroke was more apt, and my legs were folding underneath me as I went through each wave. I did have the current with me for a while but this was getting hard. The boat was unable to get too close as the wind was carrying it off course and they were in danger of colliding with me.

Some time later and few more feeds (every 45 minutes) we had to cancel Nicole Patterson who was going to swim with me from Goring to Littlehampton. Conditions were so bad by then that it would have been impossible to meet up safely with her as she was swimming out to meet me. She was insistent and disappointed not to join but I think she realised how bad things were and understood. So there I was, 3 miles from home with the bonus of £875 riding on those last 3 miles and no way I was going to give in. Then the second problem arose...

The tide had fully turned and the current was now against me for 3 miles. This meant that I probably had to swim 5 miles or more to reach the end. I had prepared myself mentally for this and also for rough weather but the two combined meant I had to dig deep into my reserves to keep it together. Both shoulders were by now very painful and the salt water had stripped my nose lining, making it very painful when each wave broke in my face and up my nostrils. I swam for a while using one arm, then turning and using the other to rest an arm at a time, that helped a bit. Feeding was becoming pretty painful too as my gums had receded, and the dentine layer was exposed, so jelly babies/drink were a nerve hitting experience. The crew decided to shorten feed times to half hourly as I was starting to get weaker.

RNLI on the scene

Things then got better with the appearance of the RNLI alongside to escort me. With the RNLI one side and Malcolm and the crew the other, I felt that the end was in reach and picked up my stroke considerably. I took great comfort in being escorted right through the middle of the Kite Surfers (to their annoyance). One buzzed the RNLI and asked ‘do you normally come out for swimmers?’ He was told in no uncertain terms that if they had swam to Worthing and back for them then they most certainly did. Still gives me a warm feeling that one.

Support on the beach

Victory Point: (The East Beach Cafe, Littlehampton)

Time was rapidly running out, Malcolm had to get into the harbour at 4.00pm to avoid running aground as the water came low again. I reached the 15 mile mark at 4.25pm and he was still there. Ivan hauled me up onto the boat and Malcolm quickly tried to reverse off the shallows we were in, his prop made a sickening crunch as it grounded on some rocks, but with skill and timing, he blasted in reverse and threw the boat into slightly deeper water. The RNLI rib was also briefly grounded, but got clear. I had done it. 20 months hard training and 1000km had paid off. I struggle to think of the distance I actually swam with the currents, but 15 miles was the linear distance.

Almost there

We entered the harbour, dropped the girls off at the east side of the river, and cruised past the RNLI station, where there was a stunning reception laid on. Many people had come down to see me return and that image, friends family and well wishers alike will stay with me forever. During the event, Simon Balthazor and family had been doing a live feed on twitter and over £2000 had come in! I dived off the back of the boat and swam to shore to a warm welcome and a hot coffee. Job done.

Terra firma at last

I wish I had a pound for every person who has asked what next.... The Swimming Gardener events will continue next year, but I will be taking more of a back seat and organising sponsored events for charities in 2012. Provisionally I have the River Arun Pub Crawl and the Saturday Super Swim, both 11km events on the cards. But now I need a rest, and a holiday as I have not been away for a couple of years, so Lanzarote is beckoning with yes, you guessed it, more swimming planned.

Celebration time

Please keep the money rolling in and thank you so very much for all your help, I hope it was an interesting read..!

The route, speed and timing data is all available by clicking the following link: Track the epic swim here....

Regards

Steve White 'aka The Swimming Gardener'

Dear all,

The end of my epic training programme is nigh and in a little over 10 days I will slip into (hopefully) a calm sea at 6.00am, Sat 13th August and begin what I set out to do. For those who are still not sure what the hell I am up to the aim was this:

To use some skill that I had in raising money for The Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice and along the way some funding input for the brave and selfless people of the RNLI. Our children’s health is something I am grateful for each day.

To take this commitment seriously, and prove a worthy ‘Sponsor’ for all those who are generous enough to donate money.

To give it my very best to ensure the first two are carried out in full.

Along the way, as a bonus, I have made many friends, and found a way to both get fit and manage my back pain. I have trained like there was no tomorrow, in all weathers and all hours (always after work) and have attended over 300 sessions, covering over 1000km an never losing focus of the goal, to get the dosh in for these valuable charities.

I have had the pleasure of receiving sponsorship and pledges from some remarkable people, the total to date (if I complete) is around the £9000 mark, and I believe that there is more to come, so now is the time if you are thinking of donating to help me help others, there is nothing like impulsive donating, believe me, it will give you a warm sense of self satisfaction, pretty please!

Right onto the bones of the update:

Sponsors:

A huge thanks to the following for the latest funds, Clive and Lynda Sayer, East Beach Cafe, Bell Gardens, King of Watersports.com, Bay Studio, The Angel Inn and of course Rabbit Skips for their continued support! Not forgetting of course all the fantastic donors from both sides of the pond who have made personal donations!

Smug Bloke:

I make no apologies for singing the praises of the lovely Keri-Anne Payne when I met her in London a few weeks ago. I said you should watch out for her at 2012, but little did I know that 2 weeks later, she would become World Champion 10k swimmer and the very first confirmed member of team GB. Since then, Keri Anne has agreed to let me use her endorsement, and also has been advising me on nutrition for the 10 hour epic. She did say lay off the kebabs though!

Storming to Worthing (or taking leave of my senses):

On Sunday July 17th, I swam from Littlehampton harbour to Worthing Pier in a force 5-6... This was a training run, deliberately against the strongest possible tide and in difficult conditions. I recruited an expert kayaker to assist me, Bruno Groussin from Littlehampton. We set out just after 9.15am with the winds gusting to 45mph and made good progress. We had a spot satellite tracker on the Kayak, so the route is could be mapped live on www.swimminggardener.org.uk.

By the time we got to Goring some 3 hours later, things had significantly deteriorated as expected. The wave height was 3.5metres and we had crossed the storm threshold, with Bruno in a constant battle against breaking waves to keep upright and me being buffeted up and down. At one point a wave smashed with such force that my goggles came loose and filled up.

Shortly after that the webbing holding my feeds and drink on board broke loose and all drink/feeds were lost. The last 90 minutes was a push to get along Worthing sea front against the current before I weakened from lack of fluids etc. I timed my stroke rate, and measured against a building at Heene Road, Worthing, it took 500 metres of swimming to travel just 167 metres! Despite all this, we beached just short of Worthing Lido with Bruno finishing a heroic paddle in style and me injuring a calf muscle fighting to get out... after 4 hours and 7 minutes.

Apart from that, everything went to plan! One lady who was amazed that had swum in a storm from Littlehampton went straight home and donated £50 to the cause, so all in, a great success! Although I gave up alcohol for this swim, the room was spinning that night as an after effect of being tossed around for 4 hours, a sort of delayed sea sickness. As an added bonus the coating on my teeth to stop sensitive pain seems to have been etched off by the salt that day, so some expensive dental work coming up soon!

At this point I really should give massive thanks to my dear wife Jacqui, who walked the whole route, in the wind and rain never once wondering why!

Can you spot me waving?

As a footnote to that, I found one of my drinks bottles washed up and tucked under a breakwater on Worthing beach the next day! Guess it is now my lucky bottle!

Twit on Twitter:

Are you following me on twitter? I’ve been sort of wondering what this tweeting lark (sorry) was all about until recently. My talented website designer Michael Smith suggested I start getting followed and following others. Well after a few days of this, I can well see how the Arabs got the hang of this revolution business. It really is an very powerful web tool to get information out, so on swim day, our homepage will carry a live twitter feed from Simon in mission control, with links to live pictures of my progress. Michael as usual is right, and if you want to market yourself or your business better, then I believe he has a unique eye for a stylish and fun website.

Schedule for the big day:

And now the nuts and bolts for the big swim:

6.00am enter the water in front of the foreshore office, Littlehampton seafront (Harvester pub,) Windmill Road with Mr Jim Mahoney as Kayak support.

6.30am Information centre opens and begins live updates to the Swimming Gardener homepage for up to date info, Mr Simon Balthazor will be project manager and you can call him on 07827 318157

7.50am The main support boat the ‘Worth Waiting IV’ leaves the harbour in hot pursuit of me (It cannot get out al low tide when I start) skippered by Mr Malcolm Somner of the RNLI. My family will be aboard, along with Malcolm’s son and Ivan Greer of the RNLI. The boat will be recognisable by the giant skull and crossbones flag it will be flying!

10-10.30am arrive at Worthing Pier

2.45.pm (ish!) arrive at Victory Point, the East Beach Cafe is the 15 mile mark, although I will carry on to the Harbour entrance and then...

3.00pm (ish) arrive back at the RNLI headquarters Old Quay House, Fisherman’s Quay, Littlehampton, West Sussex BN17 5BL, (IMPORTANT NOTE: the support boat will drop me off a little up the river so that I will have to swim back to shore. Swimming up the river is not an option due to the fact that 80,000 litres/per second will be flowing out...! If successful, there will be a bottle of Champagne opened, probably best I don’t touch it though as it would probably kill me!

Lastly, thank you for being an ear thus far, hopefully the last 20 months has been informative and slightly fun to follow. Please remember to keep the donations rolling in and I promise I will do my very best.

(by the way if you’re a personal friend of mine, and haven’t donated yet, you should be ashamed, LOL!)

Regards

Steve White (aka The Swimming Gardener)

It’s been a hectic few weeks here at Swimming Gardener Central and with a month to go until the big day, I have a lot left to do and exciting stuff to tell so I will try to keep it as brief as I can...

Fundraising

Some superb offers have been coming in, but not many will touch this for a cunning and generous one. I have been promised 3.125 pence for swimming the first mile. The second mile will bag me double, a mere 6.25 pence, I am sure you all realise, this is DOUBLE... This carries on, but in essence, mile 15 (which will be as I swim past the East Beach Cafe at Littlehampton) will be worth £500 making a grand total by the donor of £1000. I am sure you will agree, a suitably lip smacking incentive and one of the thoughts to keep me going as the pain and tiredness begins to set in (shortly after the 6.25 pence)...

The fighting fund at the moment, including this one is just under £7500. Already an astonishing amount but I cannot rest there. This month has seen help come in from the Angel Inn, Petworth, Bowers & Wilkins, Active Pump Services and a whole host of generous individuals, with notable donations coming from the USA, always willing to help!

I have been sending mailshots to many local businesses, with the help of Rabbit Skips, who have been putting some hours in, although people I know personally have received mailshots directly from me.

I simply cannot forget all the amazing people who helped out and raised over £400 at my Mum’s Strawberry Tea Party in June. The ladies worked so hard, the food was top notch and the raffle prizes were great. Thanks to Sue Miles of Artifarti for donating a pet portrait as a raffle prize, check out Sue, she is immensely talented and has a studio in Arundel full of stunning pictures.

Training

I now have a Spot Satellite Tracker, which will enable anyone to log in to see how I am progressing on 13th August. I will be using it on a trial run Sunday 17th during my swim from Littlehampton to Worthing (8 miles) I will be doing this on my own with the help of Bruno Groussin, who has volunteered his Kayak Services for the day. Bruno helped on the River Arun Pub Crawl as well and it’s thanks to people like Bruno that the whole shebang has been such a success so far. From around 9.30 BST on Sunday morning, you can click here to track me at ten minute intervals. I hope it works, the subscription cost me a small fortune!

I am now in a period of self-imposed swimming exile, training mainly on my own, at my own pace and almost without exception in the Sea or open water at Westhampnett. One such foray was last week, when I set out from Goring in a force 5, tide against me and battled away to the pier at Worthing. At one stage the waves had Mackerel popping out of the side at high speed, how I did not manage to get hit is a miracle!

I think I have found a way around the neck chafing that was causing so much pain, a high collar rash vest and a thick layer of Vaseline. Vaseline normally cannot be used as it rots out the wetsuit, but the rash collar stops the two coming in to contact, all very cunning!

The Great London Swim

This was organised by British Gas and so on an overcast Saturday morning, I went up to the Royal Victoria Docks with Andy Rossiter (ex- elite Triathlete and my swim guru) and daughter Ashlena. There were over 5000 people swimming a 1 mile course. I had signed up for the Sub half hour group which meant some very tough competition indeed.

After meeting my kind sponsors from Blueseventy who were supporting the event (including Global Sales Manager Dean Jackson, who was the man behind the Swimming Gardener Helix wetsuit,) I got suited up and checked in with a timing chip attached to my ankle. We were allowed a short warm up to acclimatise to the water which, although warm enough, was the colour of Beer with green dye in it and tasted, well... foul!

At the starting gun it was every person for themselves, a stinking froth of thrashing arms and legs as we all battled for some clear water. We never really got any as the course was around some giant buoys, which meant we were even fighting at the corners. At this point, I feel I should apologise to the guy who I closed in and forced under a buoy so he couldn’t get his arms or head above the water. But I wont. He had after all been thumping and shoulder barging me for ten minutes so rough justice I thought!

I finished in 26 minutes, 24th in my age group overall and 240th, so a good day it was. My personal highlight was meeting up and later being tweeted by the delicious Keri Anne Payne, Olympic Silver Medallist, World Champion 10k Swimmer and sure to be there at London 2012. So if You haven’t heard of Keri Anne before, you have now!

Afterwards I chatted to David Davies Olympic Swimmer and British record holder, who seemed to confirm in no uncertain terms that my 15 miles is lunacy...

The Big Swim

A few great News details for the big swim next month, my safety boat will be a Larson 260 Owned and skippered by the very kind Malcom Somner. The name of the boat.... Worth Waiting 1V.... Malcolm has promised a giant Skull and Crossbones flag for the maverick touch (I love the idea) so if you are coming down to watch, check the web-link first to see where we are and look out for this:

We will have a mission control set up on the day manned by Mr Simon Balthazor and details of how to contact mission control before you set out, or for a progress update, please see the Swimming Gardener Website

We will indeed have an advert running on the giant screens set up to cover the Birdman event at Worthing Pier and plenty of coverage over the tannoy to guide the good folk of England to the Swimming Gardener website (last checked, 21 times in 5 pages of google)

And to top it all, it looks likely that Celebrity DJ Neil ‘Dr’ Fox will be paying us a visit from the air in his helicopter. We have the initial nod from BBC South today to cover the whole event, and fingers crossed news will be thin that day, as coverage like that really helps pull the sponsors in!

Finally

Straight to the point at last, the point is to raise much needed funds for the Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice and the RNLI Littlehampton so please dig deep if you can, and when I get in the water, I will also did deep. Approximately 22,000 times with my arms. Bring it on I say, this fundraising is exhausting!

Steve White (aka The Swimming Gardener)

Hello all!

I have just recovered from 10 miles of Swimming in the River Arun over two week-ends and blooming cold it was too. The first was the River Arun Pub Crawl (see below) which was 7.5 miles, and then the following Saturday was the Ironman swim, battling for a place among 320 other swimmers (see below). Best part was finishing both events in a relatively fresh state (even if my face said otherwise) worst part was my neck got badly chafed (rubbed) which in salt water is a very unpleasant experience, it took over a week for the 2” x 2” scarring to heal, so it’s not all fun you know!

As time marches quickly towards August 13th and the big one, the Swimming Gardener brand is fast becoming known around the community. It has given me the idea to carry it on in subsequent years, organising local sports events in aid of the Chestnut Tree House and one other nominated charity. Next year will be the Cystic Fibrosis Trust who are in urgent need of funds.

Fundraising:

Due to some great input the fund has rolled up to over £5200 BUT... in the next 14 days, I have no less than 6 fundraisers to attend! Believe me there is much more to come and hopefully it includes you! I have of course got the resources of the mighty Rabbit Skips behind me now and they are working hard in the background to help me launch a major fund drive in the next few weeks.

I have to say a big thanks to Richard Digance, comedian and Folk singer for his kind message on my website and also for supplying some of his cd’s and two autographed poetry books to raffle. His lovely PA Tracey Hollis is an accomplished artist and has donated one of her pictures as well, these will be raffled at one of the garden events.

Friday 17th – a trip to Goodwood courtesy of Rabbit Skips, and hopefully and dig deep session among fellow contractors Monday 20th – The inaugural opening of the Angel Inn, Petworth, where my company carried out a large refurb to the rear garden for them. They have very kindly agree to donate all drinks proceeds to the fund provided I don’t turn up in the rubber suit.

Tuesday 21st – A strawberry tea garden party in Barnham organised by my Mummy and friends. 70 People are invited with stalls/ raffles etc. Sunday 26th – Opening the Ferring Norland Open Gardens Day in North Ferring and holding a garden questions amd answers session Tuesday 28th/Wednesday 29th At Travis Perkins Clapham, to support the Chestnut Tree House on Travis’s Trades morning and hopefully rattle a few pockets...

NOW is a great time to add some money to the fund and help two superb charities, the Chestnut Tree House and the RNLI It couldn’t be easier, CLICK HERE!

Training:

Pretty much I am swimming every 2 days in the run up to the big one on August 13th, the Open water season has begun and I will be swimming Littlehampton to Worthing at least once in the next few weeks to get a feel for the currents and conditions of the water. Thursday nights is in the lake at Weshampnett, thanks to Chichester Water Sports. In the run up, I can not afford to lose any weight so am watching my diet closely.

The River Arun Pub Crawl (28th May)

What a horrible day we had for weather, a strong cold wind blowing from the South West and gusting to 35 mph at times. I had a call from BBC Sussex just before leaving, and did an interview on air, they said I must be mad as well. So at 10.00am 13 of us took to the water at the Black Rabbit in Arundel, it was 12 degrees, but felt a lot cooler. After an hour we got to Arundel with our support craft (5 Kayaks, a Jet Ski and Greg Blurton from Rabbit had kindly agreed to come with his 9m twin engine boat as a main safety vessel. This proved very handy when a couple of swimmers succumbed to the cold. Greg was also on hand to greet us at Arundel for a drink break, and to hand me a giant cheque for £1000 to the fund. We had a good few people turn up to cheer us on, at Arundel, Ford, and then at Littlehampton, I finished in 3 hours and was glad of a hot shower and a cup of hot tea! The day raised £520 from the swimmers for the fund and one swimmer added another £300 to the Chestnut Tree House fund separately, so great work by all. Heroes of the day were the volunteer Kayakers who proved so valuable and had just as hard a time as we did!

The River Arun Ironman Swim:

Organised by Raw Energy Pursuits, this is a sprint race from Ford, of 2.5 miles to Littlehampton and this year attracted 320 of the finest from all over the country. Now my job dear person is an ENDURANCE swimmer so I guess I am about quality not speed... however, after a frenzied start, and a few clever lines through the river turns, I managed to finish in 1 hr. 1 Minute in 74th place, around 43 places further up the field than last year and with more entrants! I have to say the crew at Raw Energy pursuits put on a first class show and I was delighted to not only receive some great publicity from them, but also a cheque for £100 towards the fund!

The British Gas Great London Swim:

I will be travelling to London on July 2nd to take part in the Great Swim along with 5000 other people. This is for both fun and serious competitors. I thought I best mingle with the pro’s who will show me no mercy. I am looking forward to meeting up with some of the Blueseventy crew, who were kind enough to donate my wetsuit and help with other training gear. I am pleased that they are the main sponsors of the event this year and I wish them well as they continue to kick some butt with their ultra- competitive range of swimwear and wetsuits.

Finally:

Although the Swimming Gardener has been my idea for some time, and I have essentially done the hardest part (and still am very much) there has been a lot of people who have stepped up to the mark to lend a hand in so many ways, so a massive THANK YOU to all those who have helped thus far, and if you have donated, then a massive thanks to you also, after all, that’s why I do these crazy things!

Please give what you can, this fundraising is hard work!

Steve White (aka The Swimming Gardener)

April 2011

Well only one Swimming Gardener according to Google lately (as if!). Try it, I seem to have appeared on the first 8 links if you gooooogle it, so I suppose I have the market cornered here!

The Big One!

I have to start with 2 very important bits of news. First up, Local business have begun the trickle of sponsorship and momentum is really starting to pick up, since the last news letter I am excited to announce that the pledged fund now stands at a cracking £4328.00, I really have not broken the surface of the communities generosity (although some great donations came from the good old USA in the early days). Please please, keep donations coming, it is secure and guaranteed to send you off to sleep with a smile on your face if you help, every penny is vital here, I could drown you know!

So Please give what you can!

Second piece of news is that I now have the formidable might of Rabbit Skips behind me as a main sponsor. As well as their core business of skips, they are pioneering the conversion of waste into energy, technology which, could help me enormously should I need to wee in the wetsuit during the swim!

Seriously though, they are going to be sterling partners and fundraisers as many people in Sussex will already know. Their commitment to helping the community is fast becoming legend. This does mean that I will of course be swimming whilst bearing the logo of a large green rabbit (if my Dad were only here to see it). So it’s Swim Rabbit Swim so to speak, and there can only be one Green Rabbit suited Swimming Gardener, surely?

I am also delighted to receive some generous sponsorship from Arun Mowers, Garden House Design, Spanner Bonobo (yes!) David Johnson Garden Design and help from Bay Studio as well as a large donation from some adorable friends of mine and an interesting offer of a ‘loaded’ sponsorship deal....i.e. not much money for the first mile, most of it coming on mile 15!

Training:

Well without prattling on too much, I have been thumping out a great many lengths of the pools of Sussex this Winter/Spring. After last Summer’s half distance, I realised that if I was going to be in with any chance of succeeding in this challenge, then I needed to up the training to a more punishing routine. My day starts at 6.00am, with a spinal stretch routine followed by a further 30 mins of building the vital muscles for swimming.

After work, it’s time to get wet again and hit the pool, this can be the hardest part of the challenge for me, sometimes I just want to flop in a comfy chair and read a book. That’s where a short blast of rock music and a stick of caffeine Gum can help!

Swimathon:

I took part again in the 200 length Swimathon in Felpham last week. I used to try to finish it, now I try to race it. There were a few problems on the day but I managed a respectable 1 hour 27 minutes, 33 minutes faster than I did in 2008, I have not checked the national rankings yet but was right up there for a man of my age!

The River Arun Pub Crawl:

In case you missed it, myself and a few swimmers are setting out from the Black Rabbit pub at Arundel on May 28th for an 11km swim down to the Lifeboat Station at the mouth of the river, Littlehampton. All the swimmers are paying into the charity to come along, and I will be hounding them to raise personal sponsorship for the event! Swim with a smile, I say!

The British Gas Great London Swim:

The Swinging Gardener:

NOT what you are all thinking-shame on you, but as a side step to the Aquatic antics, I am hosting a Golf Tournament on September 30th to be held at West Chiltington Golf Club details to follow but please email me if you would like to take part in what promises to be a fun fund-raiser for the Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice and the RNLI.

And Finally:

I finish where I began. There are Families with terminally ill children in our community. There are people who care enough to help them, and that is you and me! Ill do the swim, you do the easy bit and help me to hit our target. I say our target, because it is now!

Happy Easter to you all

Steve White (aka The Swimming Gardener)

February 2011

The Peaks and troughs of the Swimming Gardener:

Well, February has been a busy month as my training rattles towards the 15-mile big swim in August, but I know exactly where to start- with the most important part of the whole adventure- the fundraising.

Tom Chate:

I have to tell you about this remarkable 14 year old, Tom Chate. Tom is the son of a dear friend of ours, Toni, and lost his father Mark to cancer some years ago. Tom decided a month ago, off his own back, that he would do some fundraising for the Swimming Gardener Chestnut Challenge. So, hours later, Tom was busy building a board with 100 spaces on and would raffle a hamper (put together my mum Toni) of goodies. Within a couple of days, Tom had collected £100, so built another board and sold £200 of ticket in just 13 days. I guess we could all learn something from his ability to get things done! They have asked me to go round and select the winning ticket shortly, so well done Toni and Tom. See the facebook group for a picture of the hamper.

Fundraising:

Thanks to the efforts of Tom and many other kind donors, the balance raised now stands at £2000 and it’s time to go ballistic and hound individuals and companies alike to swell the total for the Chestnut Tree House and the RNLI Littlehampton.

Website:

I have to say a huge thank you to Mark Laurence for his efforts thus far in getting the original website up and running. Mark however is founder of Biotecture ltd, and their continued success means Mark is spending a lot of time between Sussex and Chicago, so little or no time left to help, so thank you Mark once again.

I was rather hoping that a local utility company would wish to be involved with the Swimming Gardener Chestnut Challenge, and maybe would come to the rescue but those hopes were premature on my part and sadly, nothing was forthcoming.

The new website has been kindly built after an appeal in the Littlehampton Gazette (thanks Amanda, you can stop calling me a couch potato now - LOL) and a remarkably talented chap from Yapton, Michael Smith Design came to the rescue, building a new site. I can now take this forward to businesses and people alike for sponsorship and advertising. I have heard nothing but praise from people and web designers alike. My favourite part is the huge DONATE NOW button on each page.

Training:

Well, as many of you may know, I take my responsibilities very seriously for this cause – rest assured I am working extremely hard to ensure success for my sponsors. After Christmas, I took a decision to quit alcohol in any form until after the swim to ensure I am at peak performance. I am now training in the pool still every other day and have made a couple of trips late on a Sunday night to Portsmouth so that I can enjoy their 50m Olympic pool.

As the season for open water swimming approaches, I have organised a river training swim of 11km from the Black Rabbit pub in Arundel, down to the Littlehampton Lifeboat station. The date is set for May 28th and although I was going to do it alone, I decided that other swimmers were welcome to join me for a donation to the charities. So what started out as a training swim will now be a fairly major event involving Kayak support, emergency jet ski and hopefully if we can find one, a support boat in case anyone has to drop out. It will be known as the ‘River Arun Pub Crawl’.

Finally:

I have not sought any more celebrities in recent weeks (except one who remains elusive) as my time now is focusing on fundraising and training, and now it’s over to you good people. I hope this is timed to go out on or near Payday, so why not make a donation, large or small to help the life limited Children and their families, who rely on the Chestnut Tree House. I can promise businesses advertising links on the website now, we are directly linked in to Flexible Lining Products a site currently getting 70,000 hits per month, and the local hit count for the Swimming Gardener site will begin to soar as the days pass. Unlike the celebs on Red Nose Day, I can’t offer cabaret or comedy, but by heck I can swim,

So Please donate now: www.justgiving.com/theswimminggardener

January 2011

What connects Joanna Lumley, a rubber suit and a pub crawl?

Now that I have your attention, the answer is they all make up part of my quest to raise £22,000 for the Children’s Hospice and RNLI…. I feel I should explain the Pub Crawl (I will explain in a moment) most certainly does not refer to me turning to the bottle when the pressure is on, quite the opposite. After a short spell of alcohol over Christmas, 2011 is drier than Tutankhamen’s vest for me (not a drop, I promise) and all because of my determination to succeed.

I have been hard training over the winter, although it’s not easy to get distance (remember I have 15 miles to do) in your local swimming pool. So I have had to opt for swimming as often as I can to keep up the mileage. So while you have all settled down to the X factor and evening entertainment, I have usually been in a pool somewhere thumping out the lengths, I really am working hard as I promised, usually swimming on Tuesday, Thursday evening, Saturday evening and Sunday too if I can.

Which brings us onto the Pub crawl, after the Saturday Super Swim of 2010 when we successfully swam 12K along the South Coast; I am looking for another distance challenge early this summer. I have chosen a swim of 11.5K down the River Arun in West Sussex, starting at the Black Rabbit Pub and finishing a few hours later at the Littlehampton Lifeboat Station. So it’s a PUB…. CRAWL… (Sorry).

As well as this, I will be entering the 2011 Swimathon (5K), the 2011 River Arun Ironman Swim (3.9k and a piece of cake compared to the Pub Crawl) and any other events I can organise or enter in the run up to the big swim (August 13th). In between all this, I will be swimming at Westhampnett Lake (Chichester Water Sports Centre), where Alison and Dave have kindly helped me by allowing me free swim time.

Fundraising:

At the moment, the total stands at £1448, and this is mainly from friends and family, the starter pistol has now gone off and the next few weeks will hopefully see a large boost to the figure as I start to press local and national business to get involved.

Go on, you know you want to, while you are reading this, I am most probably swimming to help me achieve the target, so clicking here is so easy: www.justgiving.com/theswimminggardener (You can keep donations invisible if you wish)

Alternatively, please send a cheque or Po Payable to The Chestnut Tree House to the address below. Please remember I really do need your donations, any amount, both large and small is much needed, and if you would like details on corporate donation, and how we can advertise your kind support, please contact me here: countylandscapes@btinternet.com

PLEASE REMEMBER, I AM JUST AN INDIVIDUAL WHO DECIDED TO GET OFF THE SOFA, I HAVE NO RECORD OF ATHLETIC PROWESS AND THIS IS NOT IN ANYWAY CONNECTED TO MY BUSINESS!

I do know times are very hard for all of us (especially if one spends too much time training and organising this event) but think how very much the families who turn to The Chestnut Tree House appreciate you giving, and let us never take our good health and good fortune for granted.

Finally I have been asked by a few people about the ‘Ex Spinal Patient’ claim and how it affects me. I had a disc operated on in 2007 after suffering a prolapsed disc for 17 years. It has made little difference long term (my back pain is in some ways worse now) it did start me on the road to serious swimming to strengthen the lower back muscles, and this has been extremely beneficial. So to that end, I have a lardy boy picture taken just after the op, and an interim picture as I start to shape up for the challenge ahead:

May I wish you and your families all the best for 2011 and keep the donations coming please!

Regards

Steve White (aka The Swimming Gardener)

October 2010

So just what does a Swimming Gardener do when it’s cold?

The answer is, he gets back into a pool and swims and swims and swims some more! I have to say though open water swimming is great- one of the fastest growing pursuits in the UK and now I know why!

October has well and truly arrived and outdoor training has well and truly closed for the season, the past few months though have made me realise how difficult the challenge ahead is, and how much the appeal needs donations from you good and great people! www.justgiving.com/theswimminggardener

Fundraising:

If any of you wonder why I am doing this, look at this guy, Matt Berry should inspire you all, he is a true life hero: http://vimeo.com/6698756

I have had a few business issues taking up a lot of time so not much chance to push the appeal, nonetheless, the fund so far has quietly crept up to an impressive £1373.00 and I have had many, many offers of money to come, so once the website is all finished, I can really start to sell the business videos!

Training:

August was my best month to date for swimming activity, firstly, the 2k ‘Birdman’ swim at Worthing was my first real taste of competitive sea swimming and I am pleased to say, my swimming buddy and daughter Ashlena decided (just 2 days before) to compete in the 1k. I got off to a mixed start but massively underestimated the strength of the current so probably ended up swimming 2.5k to try and keep a straight line… I ended up halfway through the field so that was ok.

Not to be outdone, Ash took off in the 1k race having never swum front crawl in the sea before. I put it down to her coach you know, but she ended up beating 14 adults, finishing in 31st place and winning a trophy for fastest junior (at 13, she was youngest by 4 years) as well as a swanky pair of designer Eye Bloc shades which she gave to me! What a superb effort she put in, and a well deserved result.

The following week was the first major endurance test for me, a swim from Worthing Pier to Littlehampton, 7.5 miles, I was going to swim with some members of the Tuff Fitty Triathlon club and two of the Fittys were going to be on Kayak support. Sadly the weather was foul and very rough, meaning we I had no choice but to delay for 7 days.

So on 28th August at 1.15pm, myself, Leanne Levitt and Glenn Parisi set off with the kayakers in choppy seas with the wind against us. We had arranged several checkpoints and Jacqui/Ashlena were waiting there in case anyone needed to drop out or get more fluids/Jelly babies or Oat bars….

We were flying for the first hour and a half, despite the choppy seas, the kayaks were struggling to keep up in the wind, but both Ian and Chris were made of stern stuff and powered alongside us.

At the halfway stage, our luck changed, the current turned against us and so going was extremely tough and it was hard to keep going when you know you are making little progress, but persevere we did and hit Littlehampton some 4 hours 10 minutes later. See the swim condensed into a few minutes here: www.youtube.com and pop your speakers on for the soundtrack!

So I now know I can swim half way. But double the distance with long periods of current against me? I need to raise my game over the next 10 months!

Celebs:

A great message of support in August from Mr Desmond Lynam OBE the iconic Sports Presenter whose house I shall swim past twice during the event, so thank you Des!

I hope this finds you all well, and remember the easiest thing in the world is to click the links below and donate, I will do the hard bit for you!

Steve White aka 'The Swimming Gardener'

August 2010

Time for the August update in the world of get fit and raising money!

Celebrities!

I thought I would start with the exciting news that last month, Joanna Lumley (I know, I couldn't believe it either) has sent a good luck message to me along with a photo. As if having the backing of a national Icon was not enough, I also got a great support message and Photo from Mark Foster. Mark is one of the fastest swimmers this country has ever produced and many of you will also remember him for his amazing pecs on 'Strictly Come Dancing'! Contact with Mark was made possible by the ever patient Neil 'Dr' Fox and he has sent a really funny support message, read it here.

I have also had contact with one or two other exciting names from the sporting and showbiz world, you can keep in touch with this on www.swimminggardener.org.uk or the facebook group on http://www.facebook.com

Website!

Mark Laurence has been working really hard for the cause to get the website built and ready for fundraising. It is now up and running and over the coming weeks will see further sections opened including the main area for local businesses to help out. The Chestnut Tree House and RNLI really need your money - you can donate here: www.justgiving.com/theswimminggardener

Training!

Well as the season for open water swimming continues I have spent many, many hours thumping around the local lakes and the sea to build stamina ready for the big 15 mile main event. Most of the time I have been with the excellent Tuff Fitty triathlon club ">http://www.tuff-fitty.co.uk and all the work seems to be paying off, each time i get out of the water, I feel I could have gone further. BUT things are about to get a whole lot tougher!.....

On August 15th I will be taking part in the Birdman 2k Sea Swim off Worthing, and this will be one tough race, I am secretly hoping for rough weather as there may be a few swimmers from Inland who will find it tougher than Sussex boy here!

Just 6 days later, lies my longest swim to date. I will be swimming from Worthing Pier to Littlehampton in a half distance run of the big swim so a gentle 7.5 miler for me.

In order to get my stamina up I have been putting in 12k per week in the lakes and pool, but this is a big step up and I have to take it before the weather breaks and it's back to the pool again.

How you can help:

Remember I am working tirelessly at the moment to raise this target and I can only do it with your help. I am doing the hard bit, believe me, the easy bit is helping life limited children by donating now onwww.justgiving.com/theswimminggardener it is so simple, so safe and secure!

Assuring you of my best efforts,

Steve White aka 'The Swimming Gardener'

July 2010

A massive Helloo to all of you 228 good people, numbers have swelled in the last few days (thanks 2 Dinah and a others and a big hi to my new Turkish followers!).
so I thought I best tell you how I am working towards this event in case you thought I was sitting at home eating chocolate and watching the world cup!

TRAINING:

Now that we have a summer, I am swimming 2 x a week in the lakes at Chichester, West Sussex and also the English Channel with the 'Tuff Fitty' triathlon club so I am swallowing a lot of pond water and salty sea water to get my stamina up! This is all helped by the amazing suit from my sponsors 'Blue Seventy' Now I have the right size, it is just like a second skin. I was stunned to welcome the great Karen Rogers as a member, as far as long distance swimming goes, this lady is a world leader and you really should visit her website for some inspirational guidance on how to kick serious butt in the stamina world.

www.karenmrogers.com

EVENTS:

Well the Iron Man swim was a great experience. Over 200 swimmers started and we were swimming down the river Arun for 3.9k against the current for the first 1k, I got my left goggle kicked off (nice salty eye bath) in the first 10 metres and could not do anything about it for 1k because if I missed a stroke or paused, then 30 people would have swam over the top of me- take a look at the pictures, it really was hell! I finished 117th overall out of over 200 I did peak a bit early as I went for it a bit too soon as was exhausted by the end but then I have a lot to learn as the rest of the swimmers were the best of the best! The hard part was getting out of the water and running up the ramp to the finish, as I had been laying down for 80 minutes so standing up again and running is not easy in a hurry, I nearly blacked out and collapsing at the end would have been soooo embarrassing!

I have entered the 2k Birdman Sea Swim at Worthing on August 15th this year to keep me motivated and that is going to be TOUGH!

FUNDRAISING:

This is really exciting at the moment, Mark Laurence is busy building the website for me, and in the meantime I have celebrity backing from Neil 'Dr Fox' (Pop Idol, and DJ) Alan Minter (Former WBA and WBO Middleweight Champion) and Sally Gunnell (Olympic 400m GOLD). I have also had contact with an agency who are happy to provide any celeb contacts I wish for so I have drawn up a hit list of backers, watch this space and hopefully some more exciting names to follow!

In addition, I am starting to approach large companies, which have shown interest, I can't say much at the moment but they could be major sponsors and help me reach the all important targets for the campaign. It is easy to forget with all that is going on but the whole point of me doing the swim is to raise as much money as possible for the Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice and the RNLI (Lifeboats, saving lives at sea) My kind friends have donated over £700 with one donor stumping up an amazing £250!

I will update all you wonderful dudes next month, and a big thank you!

Steve

June 2010

Hi there one and all,

A brief update on my quest to swim 15 miles and raise £22k....
Firstly 154 members of the group is amazing already, please don't forget if you can to spread the word and invite friends.

WETSUIT:

I managed to secure an open water wetsuit from a company called Blue Seventy, the world's leaders in open water suits, not just ANY wetsuit but the top of the range 'Helix', the absolute Ferrari of wetsuits (retail at £420 each) so I am now suited and booted in full Swimming Gardener regalia. I guess it is a bit like superman's outfit only the pants go... well, not on the outside.... let's just leave it shall we?

TRIATHLON CLUB:

As part of my training, I have joined a Triathlon Club in Littlehampton called 'Tuff Fitty' (brilliant name I reckon) and it is good to swim with people who are (mostly) pushing themselves, so jumping in the pool once a week is a good way of swimming faster, you have no choice because there is always someone snapping at your heels! A good bunch of Men and Women they are too. I tried the wetsuit last week at Chichester in the lakes with a few of the Fittys and had major problems breathing. In short, I was in trouble out there! All is now well as Blue Seventy are sending me the next size up so next time will be easier.

I'M NOT FAT JUST BIG BONED!

Incidentally, before you think it, I was borderline on the size and they sent a smaller one. I did NOT bloat up since being measured. HONEST!

I am hard at work in the background spending time getting stuff ready for the fundraising and website launch. Already though, some £492 has been donated by friends, a superb start, I just wish there were more hours in the day as my business takes a lot of time up too!

IRONMAN SWIM (sounds good if nothing else!)

Finally, before you fall asleep, I am entering into the river Arun Ironman Swim on Saturday 26th June, a 3.8k festival of speed down the second fastest flowing river in the country. I am kind of nervous as I have never entered anything athletic before, except the 3 legged race aged 11. I would like to think I will be somewhere midfield but the competition will be fierce so we will see. Please, if you can spare a few coppers, then the donations page is up there on www.justgiving.com/theswimminggardener and I will mail you soon with another update.

Cheers

Steve White aka SG!

Working to raise money for The Chestnut Tree House Children's Hospice and the RNLI.

April 2010

Hi there and thanks once again for your ears, Ill keep the news brief, but I have been striving to get my challenge off the ground and we have lift off!

Debbie From Bay studio, provided me with the final logo printed on some t shirts and a large board, so I can take it along and hound various celebs for a promo pic. Neil Fox of Magic 105.4 has started the ball rolling for me with some crazy pics in his garden, what a patient man he is!

I have had a provisional nod from the worlds leading triathlon wetsuit people, for a suit so I can start the really cold stuff! www.blueseventy.com for pictures of fit bunnies!

The Littlehampton Gazette ran the story on the home page, to raise awareness of the appeal, hopefully the first of many as I strive to complete this challenge. Thanks to Amanda and Roger.

Lastly, thank you so much for joining the group, and if anyone wishes to know how they can donate, then I have the www.justgiving.com/theswimminggardener ready! Anyone wishing to raise money for the cause then please contact me to discuss any ideas, they will be warmly welcomed.

Speak to you soon, Happy facebooking!

Steve White aka 'The Swimming Gardener' (or the Gardening swimmer!)

March 2010

Here is a brief summary of what has happened in the last few days for my Swimming Gardener Chestnut Challenge: The RNLI gave it a big thumbs up and planned the date and tides for me.

The weekend of August 13th 2011 is the same time as the Birdman at Worthing, so that will be the halfway point, and we will have collectors among the 20,000 people.

I have a cartoon character (S.G.) to help get the fund-raising recognised.

I have some backing from Neil 'Dr' Fox and an offer of his helicopter to film, this would then get TV news interested. MOre celebs to follow, I promise!

And MOST IMPORTANT: I have raised 1% of my target already through www.justgiving.com, with 18 months of training and fund-raising to go, it's all looking good. I certainly know how to pile on the pressure! FINALLY:

Thank you all for joining the group, I am learning fast about how these things get started, but in order to grow the membership, I need you to 'Invite' friends to join, and then maybe remind them via your status (you don't have to leave it there for long) It doesn't cost and I reckon it's a really useful group on facebook!

Happy Facebooking!