When did you first start coming to the Ponds?

I first swam in the Men's Ponds when I was eight years old and I very clearly remember it. My brother and dad would come up to the Ponds, but I was too young. So, I used to sit outside with my mum and wait for them to come out. I was always very, very jealous; just my older brother and dad doing something together- it was quite a big thing for me when I was eight. I was like, ‘why am I not allowed to go swimming?’, but I wasn't a great swimmer. So the lifeguards made me swim around the jetty from one ladder to the next to prove that I was strong enough to swim at the Ponds. I remember the  satisfaction, it was almost like being Bar-mitzvahed or Christened, you know, finally, I am a North London man, I'm allowed to swim in the Men's Pond, I've reached the pinnacle of what a male needs to do in our neighbourhood. This is 40 years ago and I very clearly remember it. So that was when I first started swimming in the Ponds and then I've been swimming here ever since.

As an activity or community, how has the Pond added to your life?

As an activity, it's given me a nice way for me to keep fit. If I go two or three times a week, I notice a difference physically but mentally that's a whole different ballgame. How I feel after I come out- I feel like a superhero. I have this joke with a couple of my mates, whenever I come out of the Ponds, I have to turn down my smugness of what a lovely morning I've had. Like when I bounce into the office:

“Hi, everyone!”

“Oh God Dan’s gone bloody swimming hasn’t he?”

“Would you like a cup of tea!”

“Fucking hell mate calm down, you’ve only gone for a five-minute dip”

There's an element in terms of the community, the Ponds feel like it’s a bit of a club that isn't exclusive;
it's like a Roman bath open to everyone. I always feel that even the most inane conversation with another swimmer makes me feel like I'm doing the business of being a human, I'm interacting with someone. The topics will be anything, you talk about politics in there, obviously shit like football and stuff, but the community element is absolutely key to why I enjoy it so much. I’ve made some really good friends through the Ponds. People have different backgrounds to me and certainly different ages. I've met lots of older men there, who I really, really love and who I have become really quite close to; it's like having a group of grandpas you can call on, you know?

How do you think coming to the Ponds has changed your relationship with yourself?

As I've got older, going through that male crisis that you have when you're 40/45, and you can't move as fast as you used to. I’ve got sons and I used to tease them when playing football with them about not able to get the ball off me. Now the roles have changed completely; I can't get near them. Going to the Ponds has made me more comfortable in my skin, by standing without any clothes on in front of other men and not feeling shy, knowing that we've all got flabby bits, pot bellies, we're all going bald, and it really doesn't matter. I exercise, not to look beautiful, but I because it’s good for my mental health. Some of my friends exercise because they want to be the Charles Atlas-style man and that's fine, it's good and they enjoy themselves. For me, it's made me aware of my own fragility and being aware of that means I don't feel disappointed in myself.

How has sharing this vulnerability in a positive community benefited you?

The idea of not being not being shy or worried, being able to realise that your experience isn't actually unique to yourself. Every other person is having the same kind of human experience and that's really helpful makes you feel like you’re not alone. As you get older friendships can be difficult because of family commitments- you don't get to see each other so often and we as people change over time. I feel that going to the men's Pond has been an anchor for myself and a lot of my mates because I might not be going to a rave with them anymore, but I know I can meet them here at three o'clock on a Sunday afternoon.

The Ponds have been a constant for me and my friends, and it's been a very good tool for communication. I had a mate who was going through some awful shit; he was having some really, really heavy mental health issues. I said, ‘just come and meet me every Wednesday morning, let's go for a swim before work. I brought him up a nice flask of coffee and some pastries. It became a regular thing and it really chilled him out and now he's flying. He says that it was swimming in the Ponds regularly, that really helped him get through quite a bit of upset about relationships failing, getting old and never finding someone he loves. He'd had quite a lot of trouble coming out to his family and he met this bloke he was really into and he was really, really scared about introducing his fella to his parents. I think by swimming in the Ponds with him, he introduced his new bloke to all of his mates, and it was a really nice environment to meet my mate’s new boyfriend.  I mean, its going to sound silly because of course he doesn’t have to come out to any of us, but I think it helped him know that we all had his back.

How do you think the open acceptance of queer men in the Pond’s community benefits it?

I would hate to think I would have grown up to be a homophobe if I hadn't been to the men’s Ponds but one thing which is certainly striking is the acceptance of everyone. You have old Jewish men with their prayer shawls on getting undressed and we have young gay men who have gone up there. You can tell that gay men feel safe there, which makes me intrinsically feel safe because I feel like I'm not being intimidating and not part of a heterosexual world that doesn't allow other people to fit in.

That's something which fills me with love and actually makes me want to cry, how nice it is that there can be an area where a gay man and a heterosexual man can hang out and there can be no unsaid barriers or any unconscious sense that they don't feel comfortable or you don't feel comfortable over something so stupid and natural, you know.

The fact that it's so welcoming and that it offers a space for a community that has been so badly mistreated over the years shows you can be in solidarity and an advocate. I'm not sure if I'm expressing myself very well but that's something that I really love about the Men's Ponds.

What’s your favourite memory at the Ponds?

One of my favourite memories is every Christmas day I come and take photographs of the Christmas day swim. I’ve done it for about 20 years in a row. It's always a lovely morning and I'm not massively keen on Christmas, to be honest, so it’s the one thing about Christmas I always really look forward to. Now there was a lady who won the women's races 15 years in a row and it always would be a joke because whenever she comes out I always take the same photograph, same photo in the paper, never have to ask her name because I know her well now. She didn't swim this Christmas and I thought ‘fucking hell, what's happened to her?’ I was really worried. And the other day, I was at the Hay Festival in Wales and I get a tap on the shoulder and it’s her with a little baby. It was so nice that it was such a positive thing rather than she wasn't well or quit swimming. She said “I'll be back next year, I’m ready, I’m training, I’m going to come back and re-win my title.” That's a happy, happy memory.