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Brighton Christmas Day Swim

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  • BRITAIN
Jan 03 2012

Brighton’s annual festive dip took place despite Brighton’s Swimming Club officially cancelling the event on Christmas Eve. They said conditions would be ‘highly dangerous even for the most experienced sea swimmers’. The high tide and dangerous currents were likely to make the swimmers entry and exit through the heavy shore break very difficult. However, despite the warning, hundreds of hardy souls went ahead and took part in the Christmas tradition, as they did throughout the country. It was reported that one man had to be dragged to safety from the sea in Brighton, I didn’t stick around long enough to […]

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Christmas Day Dip

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  • BRITAIN
Dec 29 2010

Christmas day morning can only mean one thing, and I’m not talking about the birth of Christ. At 11am hundreds of people join with Brighton Swimming Club’s seasoned swimmers, in their annual ritual of taking to the water for a quick splash. Why do they do it? Well, they raised a few hundred quid for charity this year for one thing, but really, why? I don’t doubt that they feel invigorated after taking part, but isn’t there a less painful, fresher way, like taking a shower? Personally I think there’s something missing from under the Christmas tree or in the […]

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The Peter Pan Cup

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  • BRITAIN
Dec 25 2009

9am on Christmas Day, and while most of us are busy unwrapping presents and preparing for the big roast, members of the Serpentine Swimming Club in London’s Hyde Park, prepare to swim their traditional 100 yards Christmas day swim in very cold temperatures! The race is only open to club members (most of whom are over 50 but who have acclimatised to the temperature over several months) and is swum on a handicap system, so everyone starts at different times with the weakest swimmers going first, giving everyone an equal chance of winning. I heard rumours amongst the swimmers that […]

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World Bog Snorkelling Championships

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  • BRITAIN
Aug 27 2008

When most people go snorkeling, they probably choose sparkling clear blue waters with brightly coloured fish in a nice warm climate. Others travel hundreds of miles from their homes, where the above is actually a reality, to snorkel in a cold, murky, smelly trench dug out of a field in the middle of Wales. There’s only one reason hundreds of people flock to the spot sheep normally graze, and it’s to go to the World Bog Snorkelling Championships. The aim of the game is to swim two lengths (about 110 meters more than 2 lengths of an Olympic size swimming […]

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Christmas Day Swim

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  • BRITAIN
Dec 28 2007

On Christmas morning, members of England’s oldest swimming club, Brighton Swimming Club, go for a morning dip in the sea to the west of Brighton Pier. Despite treacherous conditions, this year was no exception! Club officials advised against it, but high winds, huge waves, and freezing temperatures wasn’t going to put off the brave (or perhaps plain silly). There were certainly a band of hardy souls from the club that go out every morning of the year, but also a good mix of pantomime characters and penguins adding to the fun. With the tide rising, and at it’s highest for […]

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About this blog

The vast majority of posts in this blog are about quirky & eccentric competitions & festivals. I started it in 2006 in France with a competition I’ll never forget. Where contestants battle it out to become the World Champion Pig Squeeler, or ‘Cri du Cochon’. I had little knowledge back then of quite how far my pursuit of these kind of events would lead me. I’ve travelled all over Britain (and occasionally further afield) to capture our curiosities and quirks. There’s nothing uniquely eccentric about the British, you’ll find people all over the world up to all sorts of weird and wonderful activities, but we do have a remarkable capacity to embrace the madness. ‘A Brit Different’ is the book that was born from it, my labour of love! So what next? There’s always something interesting going on, so watch this space, only time will tell!

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