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Blue Bloods | Cold Water, Community and Coastal Characters · DunkersPodcast

0:11
Welcome back to Dunker's podcast.
0:14
Today we're diving into something powerful, purposeful,
0:17
and yes, men only. This episode we're joined by the
0:21
founder, Paul Flynn from the Blue Bloods Wild Swimming Club,
0:25
a men's only cold water community based in the
0:28
Cotswolds. Now I do understand ladies are
0:32
allowed, but we'll get into that a wee bit later.
0:35
Ostensibly, this is a men's club.
0:38
Loneliness and isolation are now public health concerns, with
0:42
research showing a huge proportion of men reportingly
0:46
frequent loneliness and disconnection from family and
0:49
friends. And many are likely are less
0:53
likely to talk about how they really feel.
0:57
Men's groups are rising as a lifeline, from there's a big one
1:02
called Andy's Man Club, with thousands attending weekly
1:05
sessions across the UK, to outdoor based communities
1:10
offering trust, camaraderie and purpose.
1:13
And Blue Bloods is one of those. But how does an outdoor swim
1:18
club actually transform lives? What makes a men only community
1:23
so potent? And can all of us, men and women
1:27
alike, learn from it? This isn't about speed or
1:31
distance or bravado. It's about connection.
1:34
This is a conversation. You'll want your partner, you'll
1:38
want your brother, and in fact your mate to hear.
1:42
So let's get into it. Hi, Paul, and welcome to
1:45
Dunker's podcast. Hi Mark, how are you doing?
1:48
Yeah, very well, thank you. Very well indeed.
1:50
So a recent UK survey found many men admit that they don't have a
1:56
single close friend they could call in a crisis.
2:01
If the answer isn't therapy for everyone, could it be community?
2:06
That brings us to blue bloods, Paul.
2:09
Where did all this begin? Well, that, I mean, that's quite
2:13
an interesting bit of evidence or research there that you've
2:17
just said, because I think that was very much what was affecting
2:19
me. So I, I moved to the Cotswolds
2:22
about I think 12 years ago and left friends, you know, in
2:26
London. So was suddenly without kind of
2:31
close, close friendships here. We moved because of kids, you
2:35
know, the normal kind of reason why you moved to the
2:37
countryside. So that's, that was the big
2:41
thing that happened to me. And yeah, it's quite lonely and
2:44
isolating and was going back to London as often as I could
2:49
swimming. I've always swum outdoors.
2:51
I grew up in the Isle of Wight. So but the years in London was
2:55
mostly just swimming in pools. Obviously outdoor swimming that
2:59
in the 90s wasn't a huge thing, you know, like it became
3:03
specifically because of the lockdown.
3:04
So didn't really consider outdoor swimming anywhere in
3:08
London while I was there. So they're moving to the
3:10
Cotswolds, discovered the Cotswold Lakes.
3:13
But there's 180 lakes here in the Cotswolds, believe it or
3:16
not. Yeah.
3:17
Hundred 180 God. 180, yeah. And they're, they're they're
3:22
made from gravel extraction, so they're, they're for minerals.
3:26
So yeah, that's how they've come about.
3:29
But yeah, there's 180. There's 344 now you can swim in
3:34
legally, you have to pay for access to swim in them and
3:38
various other things, water skiing, all sorts go on at the
3:40
lakes. So it was great for me, you
3:43
know, being from the Isle of Wight originally and you know,
3:46
loving open water to find somewhere I could go and spend
3:50
time and really got into swimming.
3:51
So swimming about four years, but just about post pandemic
3:55
really, I thought, right, I'm going to go outdoor swimming
3:57
because everyone's doing it. It must be some not.
4:00
I'm used to the sea, but surely people are swimming in lakes.
4:03
I'm just going to go and do it. So I just rocked up to the lake
4:06
in, I think it was, it was in a March, about 10° full wet suit,
4:11
like every inch covered in neoprene.
4:14
Like I was genuinely scared. I'm a thin person, you know, So
4:17
I'm like. Cold is not for.
4:19
Me, it was not for me. It wasn't for me.
4:21
Cold, you know, I was not a fan, but I just thought I'd give it a
4:23
go. Let's give it a go.
4:25
So 10 minutes in with a coach, you know, with a kind of outdoor
4:29
swimming instructor person, very lovely who I someone I now work
4:33
with. But she.
4:36
Yeah, 10 minutes was enough. Got out.
4:37
Oh, my God. You know, and well, you know
4:39
what it's like you just it's fight or flight.
4:41
It's pure survival. You can't think of anything
4:44
else. Your brain resets.
4:46
You just whoa. And then I was like high for
4:50
about 5 or 6 hours afterwards and like naturally high.
4:53
Like I felt amazing. Don't know if that was, you
4:57
know, serotonin, endorphins, dopamine, or just that I felt
5:01
good about myself, that I'd done something difficult, you know,
5:05
and anyway, made me go back. So then I was going back on my
5:10
own basically because I didn't have anyone to swim with.
5:14
Not even your coach. Not even your coach came back.
5:17
Well she, well she wasn't really a coach.
5:18
So she did, she did a, it was like an induction, cold water
5:21
induction course for me. That was all.
5:24
And but then yeah, became friends.
5:27
But, and then I had made other friends through kind of the
5:31
Gloucestershire branch of the Blue Tits.
5:33
So I got friendly with them and they were all very lovely.
5:37
And but then I did notice there was something missing for me
5:41
specifically around the social aspect of it and that there
5:45
weren't I would see men at the lake.
5:47
So, so we, you know, we swim, there's a couple of lakes here.
5:50
We swim, I swim out regularly. I'll often see them, but
5:54
typically on their own, you know, and, and not really
5:57
engaging with each other might say hi on the way in or way out.
6:00
Wouldn't, wouldn't join the blue tits like I did.
6:03
I think because it's, it is predominantly women that go to
6:08
the blue tits and I think that can be off putting.
6:11
It's not off putting for me and men are welcome to go to the
6:13
blue tits and I love it, but it is off putting to some, that's
6:18
all. So I, I felt like a, an
6:21
alternative might, might go down well.
6:25
And I'd seen on Instagram and stuff, you know, groups like
6:28
there's a few around the country called Blue balls you're
6:30
probably aware of. Yeah.
6:32
And there's one who I've swam with actually up in Windermere
6:36
called Blue Minded Men. That was started.
6:38
By Gilly MacArthur and, and and others.
6:40
But that's so they're a lovely, lovely group up there.
6:44
So I've seen these little groups and I thought, well, it could
6:47
work here, right? You know the, the one problem is
6:50
there's nowhere really to swim for free in the Coxwells.
6:53
The rivers can be dodgy and the lakes are all privately owned.
6:56
So that was my one reservation. But anyway, I put together a
7:00
little press release and fired it out and, and, and then, yeah,
7:07
just said we're going to start this Saturday morning here.
7:10
And then incredibly, a group of people turned up and yeah, and
7:16
we went from, I think within a few weeks we had over 100
7:19
people, hundred men in the in the Facebook group that joined
7:22
the Facebook group. Now there's 300 I think, right?
7:27
And yeah, routinely every week since then we've had anywhere
7:31
between 10 and 35 guys turn up to come and swim all year round.
7:37
So not just a few people coming down because it's a good idea,
7:41
but regular attendance by quite a bunch of people.
7:44
And I guess, I guess they're quite sort of friends now.
7:47
They they it's not just not in. The the swimming, we got like
7:53
one of our guys, a guy called Jeff, he runs a charity called
7:56
Best Mates, which is a really lovely charity.
7:58
That's a well-being, mental well-being charity based in
8:01
Swindon. And he had a, a charity kind of
8:06
do like a dinner, fundraising dinner.
8:08
And the money was all of the lads from the Blue Bloods who
8:11
went down to support him and his charity.
8:13
So that's, those are the kind of things that give me a load of
8:16
joy. But yeah, all of that happened,
8:18
you know? Yeah, yeah.
8:19
And, and obviously this was a this was it.
8:22
Would you say that this was a problem that you were trying to
8:24
solve or was this an opportunity that you saw was just not being
8:29
fulfilled? I know you obviously sort of
8:32
could see well, they didn't want to swim with the girls.
8:35
And, and quite rightly, I think out of the two and a half
8:37
million people that are supposed cold water swimmers in the Uki
8:42
think probably more than more than two and a quarter million
8:45
must be females. They're just such a lot tougher
8:48
than those, aren't they? They appear to be and they're a
8:51
lot more cohesive. They're a lot more community
8:53
based so that it makes it easier to sort of go down and chat.
8:57
But I just wondered, is it was it, was it that you've felt
9:00
there was a problem or was it an opportunity?
9:03
I think maybe both. So I, I think that the the
9:05
problem with a lot of men like where I live, it's quite rural
9:10
here in the cops world. So it's not, so there aren't
9:12
many opportunities to meet many people even really, let alone
9:15
people that you might actually get on with.
9:18
So typically, and typically where people have have ended up
9:21
here, they've moved from other cities.
9:23
You know, we moved from London, people move from Bristol, people
9:26
would move from wherever. So they've left friendships
9:28
behind. So unless you're lucky enough
9:31
that your work, you've got friends, then then, then you
9:36
probably haven't. You know, we only see them once
9:38
or twice a year when you go back to where you, you know, where
9:40
you all came from. So yeah, there was A and, and
9:45
other than that, I think, but also that when men do socialise,
9:49
it tends to be, and these are all generalizations of course,
9:52
but it can very much focus around the pub or, you know, and
9:57
things like that, that aren't necessarily the healthiest
9:59
choices. And the the other way is through
10:02
sports. So, so sport is good for a lot
10:05
of a lot of guys, you know, who will still go and play 5 side
10:08
football or, you know, members of the rugby club or what have
10:12
you. That was never a thing for me.
10:14
You know, I, I like swimming and also I like being out in nature.
10:18
So but I wasn't about to go and join a kind of walking group or
10:23
something, you know, I wanted to do something water based and
10:26
that I enjoyed. So outdoor swimming was natural
10:29
to me. So it seemed that there would be
10:31
a gap and I think it's the fact that so many guys come regularly
10:36
and have completely fallen in love with it just proves that it
10:40
was it was right. The right thing to do because
10:43
men post retirement is such a big, big hurdle for so, so many
10:49
men And, and obviously post bereavement is bound to be for
10:53
both sexes. But have you found that there is
10:57
a particular age group that you're attracting?
11:00
Or is it sort of people who I just think this is a great idea,
11:04
a bit like it's sort of the sort of group that would go to a pub
11:08
now come to you because it's healthier and it's more fun than
11:12
you get that dopamine hit. Yeah.
11:13
I mean, I think that it's it's so I'd probably liken it.
11:17
The closest thing I could think of would maybe be like a village
11:19
cricket team in the, in that you might have people of all all
11:24
kinds of ages from all kinds of backgrounds, but they all come
11:28
together with a common kind of purpose.
11:31
So that's sort of where it's kind of fun, you know, there is
11:34
an element of, you know, I want to buy the right kit, you know,
11:37
I want this, I want that. Some of them might be really,
11:39
really good at the fat, the cricket or at the swimming, you
11:44
know, and others will be absolutely rubbish.
11:47
But it really, but it really doesn't matter.
11:49
It's almost always funny, you know.
11:51
So, so no, I mean, your average person at Blue Bloods would be a
11:56
middle-aged man, you know, that would be your average.
12:00
So somewhere 40s, fifties, generally speaking.
12:04
But there's guys in the 60s, there's there's a guy who's 22,
12:10
I think 23. So it does.
12:13
And it does really vary. So, yeah, so yeah.
12:15
But generally the common theme is that people are there to do
12:18
something fun and to challenge themselves and to have a bit of
12:21
a laugh in a light hearted kind of way.
12:24
So that can be anyone. You know, absolutely.
12:28
OK, so let's sort of just because obviously I'd like to
12:31
know what the Saturday morning looks like because this is a
12:33
regular thing that happens every Saturday.
12:35
So I'll just sort of share with you in my mind and then you can
12:39
sort of tell me where I'm at. So the arrival and you know,
12:43
there's coffee and there's chats that are going to come for long,
12:46
I presume. Is there a briefing, safety
12:48
briefing or something similar for for those that haven't been
12:52
before? No.
12:54
So what? Because where, where we swim is
12:57
a, it's called Lake 32. It's the venue that we swim at.
13:02
So it's a, it's an organised, you know, professional swimming
13:06
venue. So you a, you have to sign a
13:09
waiver, you know, before you go and swim there, you have to book
13:11
your slot. You have to do all of that kind
13:14
of safety stuff in, in the Facebook, in the Facebook group,
13:19
I have pinned posts, you know, that are kind of safety advice
13:23
and what have you from the Outdoor swimming Society and,
13:26
and others. And a disclaimer, you know, from
13:29
me that's like, you know, it's entirely up to you if you swim,
13:32
it's your own risk and blah, blah, blah.
13:35
But when people come for the first time, quite often people
13:38
come and meet, want to just meet me independently and before
13:42
coming to the group. So I'll, I'll meet them during
13:45
the week or something just on their own if they're a bit wary
13:48
or they don't want to, you know, join the group straight away
13:51
because it can be a bit intimidating joining in you.
13:55
So several times I've met people individually and then I will
13:59
just talk to them about, you know, taking it easy, you know,
14:03
wearing what you're comfortable with, you know, swimming your
14:06
own swim, paying attention to, you know, your breathing, your
14:10
ability to speak, you know, all of that kind of stuff.
14:13
I'm very much a less is more with cold water swimming.
14:16
I mean, I love it, but I'm, I'm, I'm, you know, when you had
14:22
Heather Massey on, didn't you recently?
14:25
But she will, yeah. So she'll tell you things like,
14:27
you know, what is it? 2 minutes or a minute and a
14:29
half, even at sub 15 and you'll get 80% of the benefits of cold
14:34
water. So you, so you really, you
14:37
really don't need to be pushing it.
14:39
You know, it's just getting I like to say, I say to the guys
14:42
quite often, you know, if your shoulders are in, you win, you
14:45
know, and that's it. So and so get in.
14:48
If it's 15 seconds and you just get straight back out, then
14:51
fine, You know that that's that's fine.
14:53
But some of the guys will do a kilometre or or a mile at sub 5
14:57
even now but. Really.
14:58
OK, yeah, they don't. They're not under they, they're
15:02
sort of itself pressure. It's not under group pressure to
15:06
to either swim or or just dunk or just dunk.
15:08
Yeah, they could just do either. Whichever suits them, really.
15:11
At their time, Yeah. Yeah, exactly that.
15:15
That's how the the Saturday mornings kind of go is that we,
15:19
we meet and we'll talk about the conditions, OK, There might be a
15:23
bit of procrastination going on, especially if it's if there's
15:27
some. Especially at this time of the
15:29
year, Paul. Well, it's, it's funny, like we
15:32
all really like the cold. Like the cold is the cold is
15:35
good. What we don't like so much is
15:37
sideways wind and rain. So that's that's the one thing
15:40
that seems to really stop you getting out of your dry robe and
15:44
getting in. You know, it's horrible, isn't
15:47
it? But.
15:47
Absolutely is. And obviously as you can imagine
15:50
on the ocean, the ocean next to the beach, you're just victim of
15:54
that and it's and it's you're absolutely right.
15:57
It doesn't matter if it's cold at this morning when we were in
16:00
it was 5 so and that's pretty cold for the sea won't get a lot
16:04
colder than that. But we were fortunate there was
16:06
no wind, whereas a couple of days ago it might have been 5 to
16:11
6 and the, the wind was absolutely howling.
16:14
And it's that and the walk back from the water to where we get
16:18
changed because it's just like purgatory.
16:21
So yeah, yeah. So I know, I know what you mean.
16:25
It's, it's a bit of self selection.
16:27
And, and as you say, the the when I was looking at the
16:32
pictures that around Lake 32, they looked a number of
16:36
different tents or marked small Marquis.
16:39
Is it is that is that an activity centre?
16:41
Is Lake 32 to actually an activity centre?
16:44
Yeah, so it's called late 32 Outdoor Centre.
16:48
So it's, it's a private run company on a lake and, and they,
16:55
so they do all kinds of like kayaking, canoeing, you know,
16:59
outdoors, eat stuff, you know, for kids, you know, lots of,
17:03
lots of things. So you can take corporate groups
17:05
there. Occasionally they have a sauna
17:07
there as well for kind of contrast therapy, dipping, all
17:11
of that. So you can do rough building,
17:13
you know, there's all sorts of things you can do there.
17:16
Whereas we but the main thing really, I think there now or
17:19
certainly since the pandemic is probably the swimming.
17:21
So that's that's it's. You know that's taken the focus.
17:26
Yeah, definitely. And, and it is, I mean they're
17:29
open all year round, you know, only shut a few days over
17:32
Christmas. So it's so that's where people
17:35
go generally because it's open so much for swimming and you can
17:39
swim up to in summer they open up A1 kilometre course on the
17:42
lake so. So you.
17:43
Can you can swim, you know, a good distance?
17:46
Like if I'm in training for something I might swim 5K in one
17:50
session there. It's quite easy to do.
17:54
Well, compared to the 5K, it's easy to do.
17:58
Well, I did, that's about my limit.
18:00
So you know, I'm, I'm swimming, I'm swimming to the Isle of
18:02
Wight in September in Portsmouth.
18:06
So that's about 5K. So I'm so yeah, that's about, I
18:10
just get bored I'm afraid because it's, I'm only a breath
18:13
stroker, so it'll take me two hours.
18:16
So and then that's enough, that's enough for me.
18:19
That's enough swimming. Heather.
18:20
Heather hasn't got you into the crawl yet, then?
18:24
Well, no, I don't. Then I don't.
18:26
I don't know, Heather. Oh, don't.
18:27
You, I'm sorry, I just, I wondered because you're, but
18:30
you're both at that your neck of the woods, aren't you?
18:33
Of the country. And yeah, she's based.
18:37
She's based in Bristol, which isn't exactly, but I mean, hey,
18:41
when you're in North Wales, everywhere seems a long way
18:43
away. But she's she's based in
18:46
Bristol. But I just wondered whether
18:48
you'd come across her. Yeah.
18:49
Yeah, well, it's a it's a kind of, it's a small world, you see,
18:51
because and because of the various things I do like my my
18:54
wife runs an outdoor open, open water swimming fashion brand
18:58
called Dip Tribe. So which was my idea.
19:02
I came up with it, but she runs it.
19:04
She's a designer, so there's that.
19:05
I also run a a non profit company called Blue Human
19:10
Project, which is all about getting people out to rivers and
19:13
lakes and seas to experience, you know, swimming and kayaking
19:17
and paddle boarding for well-being benefits.
19:19
Wow. So, yeah.
19:20
So there's that and then there's Blue bloods and then there's,
19:23
you know, and then I run my own swimming sessions at a venue in
19:26
the Cotswold Lakes called Cotswold Rocks.
19:28
So I do that every Friday night. We do night swims every Friday
19:31
night over at the lake there. And so, so, and because it's,
19:37
it's a small world, outdoor swimming really, you know, once
19:40
you if you start going to all the conferences and things you,
19:43
you bump into each other so. Yeah.
19:45
So is the, is the, is the, is the merchandise that obviously
19:49
your wife develops with dip tribe.
19:52
Is the merchandise part of your mission or is it a by product?
19:56
I mean your your mission sounds as though it's pretty broad one
19:59
way or another. Yeah, it is.
20:01
But mostly it was, I'll tell you what, mostly it was selfish
20:04
because I, and I think that a lot of that has to do with
20:07
middle age, right? So not only in middle age, you
20:10
start saying no to things that you don't want to do, but you
20:12
start saying yes to things that you want to do.
20:15
And I, and when I spot gaps, I, I like to sort of moaning about
20:19
it. I like to fill it.
20:20
So IA few years back when I got really into this year round
20:24
swimming and especially inland, you know, swimming, I just, I
20:28
was looking for clothes that kind of represented my passion,
20:32
but that I actually wanted to wear.
20:34
And I couldn't find anything. So I asked my wife to design
20:37
some stuff and I just came up with the name dip tribe in the
20:40
middle of a swim in the lake. And I thought it sounded like a
20:43
friendly, all-encompassing kind of.
20:45
Absolutely, yeah. And and so she started designing
20:49
clothes and that was where that that started.
20:51
So really it was selfish because I just wanted something to wear
20:54
that I feel. Cool.
20:55
Yeah, You know Blue. Bloods was kind of selfish
20:58
because I wanted some makes to swim with, you know, and blue
21:02
human project is, is camp has come about because as I've
21:07
mentioned earlier, the lakes are all privately owned here.
21:10
So it's difficult to swim or enjoy the lake, especially if
21:13
you're one of the, you know, if you're on a low income household
21:16
or what have you, then you, you know, you don't want to be
21:18
paying £1518 for an hour's paddle boarding, especially if
21:22
you've got 3 or 4 kids, you have to pay that three or four times.
21:25
You know, it's just, it's shocking.
21:29
It is. So the people that need access
21:30
to these blue spaces, you know, the most can't have it.
21:34
You know, it's not like, it's not like living at the Spider
21:36
Sea. It's not like where you are, you
21:38
know, it's not like where I grew up in Isle of Hawaii, you know,
21:40
you can just go for a swim, you know, you know, borrow a paddle
21:44
board or canoe and just go off. We can't do that here.
21:47
So that's why I set that up because it annoyed me that
21:50
people didn't have access. So, so really in some ways, a
21:54
lot of it has been quite selfish.
21:56
That's the changes I wanted to see, you know?
21:59
Yeah, and and obviously the changes that you're making now
22:02
are completely opposite to selfish.
22:05
They're they're very all-encompassing because you've
22:07
got people I guess from all ages, both sexes and they're
22:11
just welcomed. And and if almost if one
22:14
community doesn't take them, then they've got 2 or a couple
22:18
of other communities they can default to, can't they?
22:20
It's. Yeah, yeah, exactly that.
22:23
And so even with the the idea between blue the human project
22:27
is that it is it's all about blue space.
22:30
Do you? Swim in rivers and waterfall and
22:32
go on to waterfalls and go on road trips etcetera with the
22:35
group or is it still very much based down at Lake 32 and so?
22:40
You know, we do do Rd. trips. So we've been to, we went down
22:43
to Clevedon Marine Lake, we've been, we swam in the Thames,
22:47
we've been to all kinds of places.
22:51
So and they take part in events as well.
22:53
So we had a team in the level water, you know, 24 hour relay.
22:59
We've had teams in the Cotswold big swim we've had yeah, guys
23:04
are going all over the place really.
23:06
So it's, it's great. I I swam myself in Henry Falls
23:11
in, in Brecon and up for my 50th.
23:14
So so we're now planning when it's not quite so raging down
23:19
there to go and do the four waterfalls walk, maybe maybe in
23:22
about March or April, something like that.
23:26
So we will go off and do that. But the most exciting thing that
23:29
a bunch of them are doing is go to Finland in March for the
23:33
winter swimming World Championships.
23:35
Wow. Yeah.
23:36
The so the IWSA World World Championships.
23:41
So that's that's March coming up.
23:43
So that's soon so and this. Is funny.
23:46
Are you going? Are you going along with them?
23:49
I can't for various reasons, personal reasons and home
23:52
reasons, but sadly but there's 55 or six are going that can
23:58
spare the time and go for a week to Finland.
24:01
It's a long way to go if you're only going to do a 50m swim,
24:05
which is probably what I would have done.
24:09
But some of them are doing that, you know, the full, you know,
24:12
the big, I don't know what the longest distance is, but they're
24:14
definitely doing 500 meters at least I think.
24:18
And one of our guys is a really good ice swimmer now and he's he
24:22
might be doing a kilometre if they do that out there.
24:25
So yeah, that's, so that's exciting that when when you
24:28
think that like a bit over a year ago, it's only started like
24:31
18 months ago and most of these people hadn't swum outdoors at
24:35
all other than in the sea in the summer, you know?
24:38
On holiday, yeah. So to go through their first
24:41
winter last year and then to now be to then be all signing up to
24:45
go to Finland to take part in a World Championships.
24:49
Is awesome, absolutely awesome that it's such a such a paradigm
24:52
change for their lives and and and everybody around them
24:56
because obviously they're going to go and share all those
24:58
experiences when they come back. Tell me just it's sort of big
25:02
picture. Do you think that the concept
25:04
which clearly has caught the imagination and caught the
25:08
interest and caught the attention of quite a lot of
25:11
people. Do you think this is something
25:13
as a a men's swimming club? Do you think this is something
25:16
that's scalable or do you think that it's because of where it is
25:21
and it's unique because you'll know especially from the film
25:24
industry, sometimes you can do something and it's so right, but
25:29
you try and take it elsewhere or you try and cut and paste it and
25:32
it just falls down. I'm I'm just really keen to know
25:36
whether you think that this is replicable?
25:40
My gut feeling is that yes, it is, but it's for me it would be
25:46
all about the the resource and the effort, you know, that would
25:50
be needed to try and try and develop that.
25:53
I see no reason why it shouldn't be, you know, as big as the blue
25:57
tits is. Or, or if you're gonna be more
26:01
realistic than maybe 1/3 the size of what the blue tits is.
26:05
But yeah, who now have branches, you know, even internationally.
26:10
So because it's so loose, the way our loose, in fact, we've
26:14
done it the most difficult way because we swim somewhere where
26:16
you have to pay to swim. So whereas whereas the easy way
26:21
like like the blue balls groups that there's one in formal,
26:24
there's one in Edinburgh. I think it's quite a big group.
26:28
So they're doing really cool stuff, but they've they've got
26:31
access to a free space to swim, you know.
26:33
So that's, that's an easier thing.
26:36
And actually I was down in Leigh on the Solent the other day,
26:39
which is where my step mum lives and she and I went out for a
26:44
walk on the beach and then bumped into a men's group called
26:46
Men Who Plunge on the Beach down there.
26:49
So and that was great. I joined them.
26:51
They did the whole shebang, know the breath work and all of that
26:54
stuff. OK, but I don't think I could
26:56
convince my lot to do, you know, my life.
26:58
They're just there now. Can we just have a swim please?
27:01
Yeah, yeah, it's swimming. And after that's all, yeah.
27:04
Yeah, that's all they want, really, Bacon roll afterwards
27:07
and just, you know, just to take the take the piss out of each
27:10
other, basically. And that's exactly what the
27:12
group is for. Yeah.
27:14
But yeah, so there are groups all over that have that.
27:17
It would be easier to set up a kind of blue, blonde, blue
27:19
bloods group, you know, where there's free access to water.
27:23
Yeah. Yeah.
27:25
So, yeah, but it's just a question of people if if anyone
27:28
out there listening to this wants to do it and if they like
27:31
the idea of, you know, the the, the name and the logo and all of
27:34
that, which my wife obviously designs.
27:35
So it looks just like, it's like a bit like a motorcycle club,
27:39
you know, kind of logo. So it's it looks cool.
27:42
And that's the one thing that lots of women have said, you
27:44
know, about it, is that they just love the logo.
27:46
So yeah, yeah. They want to join, so and the
27:50
women that do join, by the way, tend to be kind of wives or
27:52
girlfriends and, you know, and friends might come along.
27:55
It's completely loose and open. Yeah.
27:59
So if anyone did want to join, they're welcome to get in touch
28:01
with me and I'll. And I'll tell them, you know
28:04
what, what I did to set it up, set up the one here.
28:07
How? And I can share the logo.
28:09
I can share the stuff. I can, you know, very happy to
28:13
do all of that. You know, it's not like a, it's
28:15
not like a franchise. It would just be like a yeah, go
28:18
and do it. If you want to do it, do it.
28:19
Here's here's my little sort of CHEAT SHEET on how I did it, you
28:23
know? Yeah.
28:24
And that was one, that was a question that was in my mind.
28:26
If one of the listeners wanted to start something similar,
28:29
what's the first step? And the first step clearly is to
28:32
reach out to you. And being a biker of over 50
28:36
years, I totally and utterly resonate to your logo.
28:39
It's yeah, absolutely. Because I did think, is this the
28:43
Hells Angels of swimming? Because on first glance, it's
28:48
not dissimilar. But I don't know where you are.
28:51
I've got the the inspiration from.
28:54
So five years, where's it going to?
28:57
What's it going to look like 5 years from now or what?
29:00
What? Yeah.
29:00
What? What are blue bloods going to
29:02
look like 5 years from now? Well, it would be, it would be
29:05
nice if there were a few other branches or whatever we decide
29:08
to call those, you know, in a motorcycle club.
29:12
It would be chapters, wouldn't it?
29:13
But. Yeah.
29:15
Yeah, or divisions or something, you know, to, you know, I don't
29:19
know what we, whatever we call it would be.
29:24
Yeah. It'd be nice for there to be
29:25
some others as well. But other than that, I think
29:31
that we keep growing the one that we've got here in the
29:33
Cotswolds because, and I would like so through blue human
29:38
project, because it's a, it's a non profit company.
29:41
I can do some fundraising now and then I can funnel some of
29:44
that towards blue bloods related stuff.
29:46
So I, I would like a situation where we have a venue that blue
29:52
bloods don't have to pay to attend for the weekly, for the
29:55
regular weekly meet up. Yeah, so, but I also like the
29:59
idea of it being a, a, a supervised, organised, safe
30:04
venue, right. I do really like that side of
30:07
swimming at the lakes, you know that I know.
30:09
And also it helps to breakdown barriers, people coming for the
30:12
first time, if they know there's a, there's a cafe, there's
30:14
toilets, there's showers, you know, there's, you know, that's,
30:18
there's somewhere to park the car.
30:19
You know, it's not like wild swimming, you know, wild
30:22
swimming where I go off into the woods and, you know, get missing
30:26
and, you know, and get muddy. And that's right.
30:29
And it's all a bit gross half the time.
30:31
So it's more civilised than that.
30:34
But I would like to be in a position where I could say,
30:36
right, the weekly group is free and it happens here.
30:40
So that that barrier is gone. So I've already had some
30:43
fundraising from the local council who gave me a few £100
30:46
so I could get some spare toe floats because our venue, yeah,
30:49
our venue insists on toe floats. Yeah.
30:52
So that's, that's not a barrier now.
30:54
So it's all just like removing those sort of reasons for people
30:57
to say no, to give it a go for the first time.
31:01
That's great. And, and five years is, you
31:03
know, when you think about it all, all of this sort of cold
31:06
water swimming, certainly while swimming to a degree, has all
31:11
burgeoned since COVID. And that was frankly only five
31:14
years ago. So amazing how these things can
31:18
actually sort of catch and keep people's attention and keep up
31:21
people's people's imagination because they just want to sort
31:25
of be part of something that's that's growing.
31:29
Couple of quick, couple of very quick things.
31:31
But with with the Dunkers podcast, I always ask people,
31:35
I've got one question that I always ask them of my own.
31:38
And then I've got one that a previous podcaster has actually
31:43
asked. I won't tell you who it was.
31:45
They will just share the question, but we'll just see
31:47
what your answer is because when we we finish this, I'll ask you
31:50
for a question either through e-mail or or face to face.
31:54
So keep your hands on. So the first my question is, if
31:58
you could choose to dunk anywhere and with who, who would
32:02
it be and where would it be? Oh my goodness.
32:10
I think if I could choose anywhere, this is going to sound
32:15
a bit soppy. No, but I, I, I would choose.
32:19
I would choose for it to be here and I would choose for it to be
32:22
with my wife because I, I have, I tried to convince her to come
32:28
to the lake. She loves the Mediterranean, but
32:33
I, I would love it if she would come with me just just here.
32:36
I'd say, yeah, I could. I guess I could have chosen
32:39
someone famous or something, but really.
32:41
No, you're not holy famous. The answer is if I could go
32:46
swimming here, anywhere here, as long as it was nice and cold and
32:49
natural and to bridges with my wife would be great.
32:52
No, that's great. And you're famous enough in your
32:55
area. So let's hope this podcast might
32:57
reach out. And then she might get too many,
33:00
so many points on the shoulder. Come on.
33:01
You've got to got you've got to join him.
33:03
You've got to join him maybe. And the other question is that
33:07
I've been asked to, to sort of pass this on is if you look 10
33:11
years in the future, what would you personally like your life to
33:16
look like? Oh, that's quite easy.
33:21
I, I would like to be running my own venue, my own outdoor
33:26
swimming venue. So I somehow, so I don't, this
33:30
probably involves winning the lottery mark, to be honest, but
33:33
it's but somehow where I, I could have kind of control over
33:39
what happens at a venue and by and I could make sure that
33:43
access was fair and I could run the charity company, charitable
33:48
company out of that venue. And so I could have full access.
33:53
So I'd have people paying for activities that could afford it.
33:56
I'd have people getting access for free that couldn't afford
33:59
it. I'd, I'd run at the times of day
34:01
that I want things to happen. You know, I want, I want to be
34:05
able to swim at sunrise, you know, throughout the.
34:07
Year Beautiful, yeah. Yeah.
34:09
But I want that throughout the year.
34:11
So that that means sometimes being down at the lake at 4:00
34:14
AM, right. So, but if that's what it means,
34:17
that's what it means. And so, and sunsets as well
34:21
might not happen till 10:00 PM, you know, in July, I want
34:25
somewhere I can swim at sunset. So I would, yeah, somewhere I
34:28
could have total control all over what happens.
34:32
Yeah, that would be me in 10. Years.
34:33
Well, that's that's absolutely brilliant.
34:36
And, and from the from our point of view, I hope the spirit of
34:39
the dunkers go with you because, you know, you just need all
34:43
those forces working together. So thank you very much, Paul.
34:47
That was really, really good. So I'll and that was the Blue
34:51
bloods wild swimming club and with Paul.
34:54
And I guess it's proof that connection doesn't always start
34:57
with words. Sometimes it starts with cold
35:00
water, shared silence and simply, as Paul said, showing
35:04
up. So if this episode resonated,
35:07
please share it with someone who might need it.
35:10
You never know. It could be the nudge that for
35:13
them changes everything. Paul, thank you very much
35:16
indeed. Great to have you with us.
35:18
Lovely to be here. Thanks, Mark.