Exciting plans for a unique swimming festival in the River Thames have been unveiled.
Henley Swimming Festival is set to take place on Saturday, July 9 and Sunday, July 10.
As well as swimming events in the Thames, film viewings, musical performances and talks are also planned.
Ahead of the festival, the organisers have submitted a licensing application to the Public Protection Partnership, which is in charge of licensing for Wokingham Borough Council.
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Swimmers can camp on Saturday night, and enjoy a whole day of swimming related activities by the river on the Sunday.
As well as the focus on swimming, festivities include an opportunity to try paddle boarding, a synchronised swimming display, music from a local Rock Choir, yoga, Zumba, children’s activities and the usual food and drink.
In full, the organisers have applied to conduct indoor sporting events from 8am to 5pm, conduct amplified speech for commentary from 12pm to 8pm on Saturday and 8am to 5pm on Sunday, have live music and recorded music from 10am to 11pm on Saturday and 9am to 5pm on Sunday, and sell alcohol from 10am to 11pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday.
All of these activities have been applied for both indoors and outdoors, with the festival site open to the public from 7am to midnight on Saturday and midnight to 5pm on the Sunday.
Prior to the main festival, the organisers are also hosting the ‘Selkie Henley Classic’ event, where participants will take part in a dawn swim.
Here, the swimmers will arrive on site from 2am and go into the water at around 4.30am as the sun is rising.
Participants will then swim the regatta course and return to the event area for coffee and breakfast sandwiches.
Therefore, the organisers have applied for a licence for late night refreshment from 2am to 5am on the day of ‘The Classic’ which will be held on Sunday, June 26.
Juliet Hume, the director of operations for the festival, said: “The Henley Classic and Henley Swim Festival are well established in Henley’s event diary.
“We are very much looking forward to returning to Temple Island Meadows in 2022 to showcase this stunning stretch of the Thames to open water swimmers and their families.
“The Classic remains a quirky, event, the only opportunity to safely swim past all the landmarks of the full Regatta course.
“To do this as the sun is rising makes this an unforgettable experience.
“The Festival is fast becoming the must-attend event for anyone involved in open water swimming, and it is exciting to watch it grow as more and more people get hooked on this amazing sport.”
You can sign up to participate and attend on the Henley Swim website.
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‘The Classic’ is an older event, first established in 2004, with the wider swimming festival established in 2011.
The events bookend the Henley Regatta boat races, which runs from Tuesday, June 28 to Sunday, July 3.
Although the festival has Henley in its name, it will be held at Temple Island Meadows in Remenham, which falls under Wokingham Borough.
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