I could swim if I wanted to. I used to swim a fair amount but I can’t remember the last time I went swimming. I was never a competitive swimmer, I just did it for exercise.
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Brought up by the seaside, like many I learned to be a fair swimmer.
Even had the famous “Brown Mouth” most days!
Later, I sailed with quite a few Sailors who couldn’t swim.
That would be a worry! (for divers reasons!
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I can only swim with a foam noodle. On my back or my front. Tried without, but I too sink, or my legs flounder. I just can’t seem to manage it.
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During my early years, I was a strong and enduring swimmer, but now I think I would struggle to save my own life.
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Funnily enough I went swimming last night. First time this year but I intend on getting back into my regime.
I’m a good distance swimmer but can’t swim fast.
I swam a mile for cancer research about 15 years ago. It was 72 lengths of our local pool and my dad was the record keeper counting the lengths. I did it in just over an hour I think 
My mum took me swimming as a baby
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I was born & brought up within 3 miles of 3 beaches & used to spend many days each year at a small sea fed lagoon about 500 yards from where Seahenge was found.
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Aha - I knew it - you really do work for MI5! 
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Or maybe MFI 
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You forgot the 
.at the end of my post to Annie,…you left those out,ST…
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Wasn’t even mentioned in Primary School. When at Grammar School it was compulsory to attend swimming lessons - we were frog marched to the Public Baths once per fortnight. Ist lesson, we were allowed to go down some steps into the shallow end and were taught the basic arm/leg movements. 2nd lesson, we were lined up on the edge of the pool and told to jump in. Those of us who did not were pushed in - which finished it for me all together. Never set foot in there again - accrued a million ‘bad conduct marks’, detentions, and letters home - which, somehow, never actually reached home - but never gave in. It left me with a totall loathing of swimming pools. Don’t like either the foul smell or the noise of them.
Oddly enough I can swim a bit in the sea. Both sets of Grandparents lived near the sea so had ample opportunity to splash about and gradually learn at my own pace. But - as with all things - life takes one down different paths. Classical dance and earning a living took over - swimming dropped far into the back ground. I’d like to think I could cope in emergency but would rather not be tested on that.
Anyway - I was born with a caul - so I know I will never drown! 
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@Maree , l did have swimming lessons at secondary school , But l could
allready swim by then!
Our gang used to go in the local park lake ??
Not allowed now of course .
Donkeyman! 
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Oh , I don’t know, us ‘wild’ swimmers snak in a lot of places where it’s not allowed 
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Notes down evasive answer
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I must say,Maree, I can swim the breast stroke, as long as I can touch the bottom with my feet…I learnt that myself in a hotel swimming pool, on saying that,I did go a few times out of my depth…I didn’t try to feel the bottom, as I think I would have panicked if i couldn’t feel the bottom of the pool…I felt very scared to be honest, I nearly drowned in the sea once as well…never been swimming or in the sea since, except for paddling.
My mother came from Lossiemouth, they lived right next to the sea,…she and my aunty were excellent swimmers.
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I was, and suppose still am, a strong swimmer.
I used to go swimming 4 times a week before lockdown.
For long distances I would opt for breaststroke and backstroke over the crawl any day but it’s good to vary it in a pool.
Our boys were real waterbabies… like you see on some tv adverts… no fear at all and totally at ease with holding their breath and staying underwater for as long as they wanted. They were in total control 
I remember lots of people commenting on it and asking how we had done it… but it must just be a matter of comfort and definitely habit. We would go at least once a week when the were little
Our daughter Rhoslyn was a completely different child in the water though! She was wary… uneasy… didn’t like the splashes… it took her an intense one week course at the age of 7 to “get it” swimming-wise and then she started to like it but was never going to be like her brothers, the amphibians!
Must be a girly-hair thing!
They all loved the hot chocolate drinks
from the vending machines after each session much more than the swimming though, I think 
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At junior school we used to be taken by a coach to the local pool once a week in the summer - it was an outdoor pool, so not open in the colder months. I have a vague memory of going to another pool, an indoor one, but can’t remember where. Anyway, I could swim properly by age 8. And then at grammar school we had our own (slightly) heated indoor pool, and swimming lessons were compulsory. Some moaned but I always loved swimming. I’m not a strong swimmer by any means, and I absolutely hate being out of my depth these days, though I used not to mind.
My two grandsons can swim, and my granddaughter is currently attending weekly lessons, and getting on well so far - she can swim a fair distance on her back, but needs more practice with front crawl, as she does falter and have to put a foot to the bottom every so often! Once she can manage 5 metres on her front she’ll be able to move up to the next group (she can do more than that on her back).
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I was swimming before I was at school, my parents were excellent swimmers, dad trained the channel swim when he was in the army, mum worked in the local swimming bathes so I spent a lot of my time there. I swam in the school galas then swam for the town for a few years after I left school, but had to stop as my work and the galas kept clashing. I still swim 5 sometimes 6 days a week, but slower and with more breaks for a drink out of my water bottle.
The year of lockdown and no swimming was hell for me.
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For a big part of my life I have lived within 3 miles of the sea, often within 5 minutes walking distance of it.
I love the beach in winter, no tourists, very few locals. It is often possible to walk for miles & not see a single person. When I lived in North Norfolk the best walks were after a good northerly storm. As that washed Amber up. You could find Amber every day, but the best days, were after a storm.
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So it was you…
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