Take the plunge and soak up some inspiration in the sea

In the 19th-century Captain Matthew Webb left many Scarborough bathers bemused when he trod the waters of the North Sea for 72 hours to win a £500 bet.

The Navy officer had a reputation for feats of endurance. He was the first person to swim across the English Channel unaided and when he finally lost his life in the dangerous rapids below Niagra Falls, his epitaph simply read, “Nothing great is easy”.

A century and a half on, it’s a motto being borrowed by John Wedgwood Clarke and Lara Goodband as they hope to recapture a little of Webb’s spirit. The pair both live in Scarborough and so convinced are they of the benefits of sea swimming they have recently embarked on a mission to encourage more people to dip their toe in the waters.

“Lara and I regularly go swimming in the sea,” says John, a full-time writer and poet. “Swimming liberates the imagination and when you swim or enter the sea you see the land from a different perspective and you feel the shape of your body redefined by the water.”

The pair know that some people will take more convincing than others, but they are nothing if not enthusiastic about the first in a summer series of mass swims which takes place this weekend.

“Scarborough emerged as the UK’s premiere seaside resort thanks to the introduction of the first bathing machines back in 1736,” says John. “The roofed and walled wooden carts allowed the public to change out of their usual clothes into swimwear and then wade into the sea, their privacy intact.

“The bathing machine was part of seaside etiquette. It eased the concerns of those who feared the activity was somehow immoral and saw a huge tide of people venturing into the waters for group swims for the first time.

“Unfortunately, group swimming has fallen out of fashion. These days people only go into the sea for a quick paddle on holiday or as part of

a competitive sporting event. Indoor pools have taken over from the great outdoors, but in our own small way we want to help people reclaim the waters.”

After drying off, those who take part in the events will be invited back to one of the resort’s Edwardian beach huts which will act as a temporary gallery for works of art which have been inspired by the sea swims.

“A good swim makes you feel more connected with the world,” adds John. “We want to bring mass participation in sea bathing back to Scarborough and create a gallery of artistic work which draws on the experience that it has on both the mind and body.”

The project, backed by current poet laureate and patron of the Sea Swim Club Carol Anne Duffy, is one of 30 projects being commissioned as part of the £2.6m Imove programme set up to create a cultural legacy in Yorkshire in the lead up to London 2012.

Artists from across Yorkshire were invited to bid for a slice of the cash, proposing projects which fell under the broad theme of the body in motion and the many hundreds of entries were whittled down to the final programme of events.

Inevitably eyebrows will be raised at the money being spent on artistic endeavours at a time when public services are being pared down to the bone, but the early results of Imove have been impressive.

Earlier this year Freedom Studios took over a derelict mill in Bradford for a theatre production which explored the lives of the mill workers over the generations. The Mill – City of Dreams won rave reviews as did Mapping the City, which took audience members for a theatrical tour around the streets of Hull.

“What we were interested in was finding artists who were really going to respond to the idea of movement and come up with something really interesting to say,” says an Imove spokesman. “It’s about creating events which will have an impact for many years and ensuring that once the Olympics are over, there is something tangible left behind.”

Back in Scarborough, after months of preparation the only thing John and Lara can do now is wait and pray that this weekend the often rough waters off the East Coast remain calm just long enough for them to make their own waves.

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Sea Swim launches on June 18 as part of the North Yorkshire Open Studios event. Swims will take place at 10.30am and 3pm. The group will meet at the beach huts on Scarborough’s South Bay and for further details visit www.imoveand.com