Floating Memories Project.

15 Oct. 11

Talk with David Sawyers, Notes.

• The swim club promoted public participation of sea swimming to not just that of the upper classes.
• Brightonias taking on the sea, in doing so questioning the imperial state in the 19^th century.
• The swim club as philosophy.
• Taking a single subject as your medium, for exsmplr philosophy it becomes distorted abstract, a fascinating blend of eccentricity, fact and fiction.
• Great, Great Grandfather started the club, 1860.
• The commodification of bathing 1840 onwards.
• First races held when the swim club was established in 1860’s.
• Horseback riders introducing water polo.
• Artisans (which resided in Brighton at the time) were promoted to sea swim.
• Change, seeing public participation in what was previously, an extremely privileged event, political implications of the swim club. (for evidence of this and peoples fear of sea swimming ref to the story of Mrs Thrall?)
• Society of Art’s founded at similar time to change the view on common representation to single point perspective; did this have a relevance to the swim club? And in the Brighton area at all?
• Sea swimming having health benefits, good for your heart rate etc.
• “Before you go into the sea make sure you splash cold water over your face.” Allow your body to adjust before swimming in the sea.
• Sea swimming considered a noble, brave act.
• Lord Byron did the great swim round Brighton, Prince of the time? Threw himself into the waves.
• By swimming you declared you were a person of quality of mind.
• First Co-operative opened in Brighton in 1827, what significance did this have to Brighton Swim Club? What did it mean to the political status of Brighton as a town?
• Hindley? Using the sea as a experience and creating a business from it. Teaching people to swim in the sea advancing peoples conceptions.
• The archive is only a fragment of its former self, Is it possible to trace objects, anything else from the swim club? How does the archive of this club fall in relation to the archives of other clubs around Brighton?
• “Sea swimming can lead to the production of knowledge.” David Sawyer.
• International influences, Two Water Polo Members who fixed a game and were banished from the swim club went to South Africa where they set up their own swim club.
• Dr Moon’s Daughter ran off with her lover to Australia, where she is reported to have beat many Australians in long distance swimming races.
• Kalveck? Immigrated and picked up the usage of the crawl stroke.
• A group of members went to Canada, and promoted competitive swimming in America.
• Where are these references in the archive.
• “What we see is merely what we can describe, the words, images down to the clothes worn…” David Sawyer.
• Competitive sport introduced into public school system to keep people quiet and busy, stopping free thinking.
• Great Grandfathers wife a Jewish photographer, a relation to Brighton’s photographic history of the time?
• The Level as “The peoples ground of the time”
• Commodification of swimming making it inaccessible to the masses?
• Caption Camp? Aloud Nudist swimming in certain parts of the beach.
• Who ran the bathing huts, who rented them out who were in charge of them?
• Blue Water Swimming club on the west pier.
• Brighton Grammar School asked Brighton Swim Club, to give swimming lessons at concessional price.
• The Penny Magazine, Responsible for telling people they can swim in the sea.
• Henry Law?

After the Talk

• What is today’s state of the swim club? Can old Idea’s be re promoted can it have the same political implication as its previous versions.
• Hove Pioneer/ Research to be done at Hove museum.
• Roger Dunford maker of film material.
• Parties which happened on the beach and in the sea to late at night, why hasn’t this continued?
• River running down the main street from the level.
• “The Black Cat”, French Pirate Ship.
• Sir Henry Preston, used to beat peasants.
• Riders in the Sky, song Roger Dunford used to play to his lover’s on a wind up gramophone when he used to row them out to sea.
• Charles Cuttes (possibly Cuttress)
• Started up a bakery in Ditchling, today there is one in the lanes, he used to organise food etc for the club, One dinner was organised at The Grand.
• More info look on Regency Society Website, South East Film society.

Brighton swim club logo research

• Things to do:
• When did the logo begin.
• Drawing parallels with the dated design and looking in the minute’s book to cross reference if any designers were hired.
• What designers were living and working in the area at the time of manufacture.
• Did anyone in the Swim know personally a designer or were any of them designers themselves?