00:00I'm Fiona Turner. I was born in Leeds, brought up here, actually realised I was very privileged to have Adelbeck
00:06running through my garden as a child.
00:08I used to play in Meanwood Beck, used to swim at the Lido at Roundhay Park when I was a
00:14child.
00:15And I'm here today at Leeds Dock to celebrate World Rivers Day.
00:20We're launching our campaign to make Leeds a swimmable city, and this is a global alliance around the world that
00:27was originally launched at the Paris Olympics to make Paris a swimmable city.
00:33London is now signed up to become a swimmable city, and we want Leeds to also become a swimmable city.
00:41And we've had a great turnout, over 20 people, including three people on paddleboards, and we've walked from the dock
00:48down to Thwaite Mills and back up here.
00:52And we're delighted to kind of be working potentially with Thwaite Mills.
00:56It's reopening soon and seeing how we can build links with them as well, as well as other parties to
01:03make the most of our wonderful waterways,
01:06from our becks and streams and rivers through to our lakes and reservoirs.
01:12People talk about wild swimming as a new thing, but actually, everybody's always done wild swimming.
01:17Before there were swimming pools, people used to go and have a dip all over the place.
01:22But now, 21st century, we have to make a thing of it.
01:25I've only had a couple of occasions when I regretted going in the water because of pollution, and it really
01:31isn't on.
01:31You have to have clean water for survival and living well, and we're not doing right by our water.
01:38And then there's the wildlife and the scenery and the small children and, you know, some things are more important
01:45than money.
01:46We know we have fantastic green spaces in Leeds, and we win awards for our parks and the quality of
01:51our parks, and that's really wonderful.
01:53And we really want to be starting to think about blue spaces and make those really accessible for people as
01:59a restorative nature and climate regeneration initiative.
02:03I'm actually a public health doctor by background, and I'm now a psychologist, so I kind of like have both
02:09hats on.
02:09And so I really know, you know, in terms of the very, very strong evidence around the importance of water
02:15and being in nature for emotional regulation, for mental health, for calming people down.
02:21We know that we have real problems with our river infrastructure around the country, with only 14% of them
02:27meeting the criteria that our government has set for the standards for our rivers.
02:32Swimmability, it's a marker for river health and water health, and water is so fundamental to our physical health, to
02:40our mental health.
02:41It's a great kind of way to bring people together and build community, and also great for leisure and commercial
02:46opportunities as well.
02:48So we're going to be talking to Leeds City Council with a view to asking them to become signatories to
02:55this international movement, and that's what we've been celebrating today.
