Water babies, silver surfers and all bathers in between are invited to go for a collective dip off Scarborough’s award winning South Bay beach on Saturday 27 August.  The Big Swim is a day of free events run by Sea Swim, a project commissioned as part of Imove, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and the Legacy Trust UK’s cultural programme for Yorkshire in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Since June this year over 200 people have already taken the plunge during a series of scheduled swims in Scarborough as part of the project which explores the relationship between sea bathing, a pastime which began in 1736 in Scarborough, and creativity.  A further 250 school children have paddled, splashed or swum, some going in the sea for the first time despite being local, by taking part in educational workshops. The Big Swim day includes two guided swims (at 11am and 3pm) setting off near the lifeguard station on South Bay beach, in addition to puppet making workshops at Beach huts 237 & 238, using flotsam and jetsam collected from the beach, and puppet shows telling stories of sea myths with international puppeteer, Drew Colby.

New work by textile artist and former creative director of global fashion designer Issey Miyake Sally Greaves-Lord has been specially commissioned by Sea Swim.  A new flag and windbreak and will be unveiled on the day and is part of the creative element to Sea Swim.  Participants at each swim session are encouraged, before they take to the water and afterwards, to express how swimming makes them feel through creative writing, drawing and painting which will then be added to the Sea Swim archive.   The beach huts will become a gallery for the materials produced in the workshops, as well as for curated displays of artefacts found and made by lead artists during the project which will be exhibited around the region in 2012.

Sea Swim was initiated by curator Lara Goodband and writer John Wedgwood Clarke.  Goodband commented: “We have seen people travel from all over Yorkshire, many over 2 hours drive away, to take part in Sea Swim.  It’s wonderful that so many have made friends, discovered or reinforced a love for Scarborough and reminded themselves what they love about swimming and the sea.  Hopefully many more will come along to the Big Swim to see how they can get involved and develop their own relationship to Scarborough’s fantastic history of swimming and coastline.”

To find out more about the swim and other upcoming sessions, go to: www.imoveand.com/event/seaswims or join Facebook Group ‘Sea Swim Group’ and follow Twitter @northseaswimmer.