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Legend has it that to be a bona fide @BrockwellLido Icicle, you have to swim in the waters of Lake Brockwell for 365 days of a calendar year, and on one of those days, forge a path for your fellow bathers by breaking the ice with your bare hands.

The urban myth became reality at midday on the winter solstice around the icy waters of SE24. Fresh water swimming enthusiasts gathering for the third annual midwinter swim were greeted by a glacier pool more suited to curling than front crawl.

The initiation of the old Brockwell Icicles Swimming Club was in serious doubt for a short while. What would it take to cancel the event, I asked the lovely Jeremy, Fusion’s man on the ground. “Ice so thick that we can’t break it,” came the reply.

A bit of Brockwell improvisation later, and the hidden talent of a stepladder as an icebreaker soon paved the way for the fools and the folly that followed.

Brockwell was bloody cold on those sad, final days of the summer season (yeah, right…) back at the end of October. The onset of the winter chill has seen the water temperature hover around freezing point. What were those crazy ladies thinking of, when they turned up to Brockwell Park with nothing but their bikinis?

I came prepared for the endurance. A wetsuit and a bright pink day glow swimming hat - if I got into trouble having hit an iceberg, I wanted to make sure that at least my head was still visible.

A pre-swim briefing and a consent form signed (alcohol in the past twenty-four hours? Not me, Sir…) and it was time to get stripped off. By this stage and my body and mind was already in another dimension. This is one of the highlights of the year for me. I couldn’t wait to re-enter the water of what has been my official summer home for the past fifteen years.

Much like those balmy (and slightly tepid) summer days, you’ve overcome the main mental obstacle by simply turning up. Once you are by the waters edge, then yep - yer gonna swim - or even splash and splutter around like a big girl wearing a skimpy bikini.

I launched myself into a frantic front crawl. My body had no reaction. My mind experienced a head rush that no comparison with illegal substances combined with carnal pleasure could possibly compare to. Now wouldn’t have been a good time to experiment with illegal substances and carnal pleasures.

It was when I made it to the centre of the pool that I first started to panic. My path was blocked by huge chunks of ice that had survived the earlier stepladder purge. I was isolated, with solid and not liquid around me.

Eeek.

With a pair of goggles to protect my eyelids from freezing over, I dived down deep below the beautiful blue waters of Lake Brockwell, and found a gap within the ice in which to emerge. Still no reaction from my torso, but I was grinning with a smile as wide as the gap in the ice itself.

I wanted more, but by now, my body was physically incapable of continued movement. My toes were starting to lock, and I could feel the sensation rapidly moving upwards. Time to get out, time for some TLC @TheLidoCafe.

Cripes - that felt absolutely fantastic. I could cycle away from SE24, take on board as many illegal substances, and indulge in all the carnal pleasures fit for a King, knowing that I had achieved something with my day; I had achieved something with my week and even with my year. Anything is possible now.

We swim outdoors because we can. It’s as simple as that. So can you. Why be held hostage inside a soulless, sweaty indoor environment? The heated (sort of) lido at London Fields is open all year, and is a good place to start. Tooting and the lovely South London Swimming Club should be your next progression.

This is not a loner, isolated individual activity either. Sure, you do the swim for yourself, but the sense of community around Brockwell continues to grow. These are the people I spend half my year with, and so meeting up during the winter months to catch up on all the gossip has got to be worth the ice experience in itself.

With a donation made to the nearby Wheels for Wellbeing charity (recently the victim of a shocking arson attack,) all that was then left for me was to pick up my Brockwell Icicles badge, designed by a number of local artists and commissioned specifically for the midwinter swim.

The Brockwell Icicles initiation is now firmly established on the calendar of lido events. Hitting gold / ice with a genuine frozen pool experience added to the ocassion. Four months and counting before the Best Day of the Year in South London…