Swimming in the Thames

[Ginfizz2]

Today I took my child to the ‘beach’ on the Thames. There’s a lovely sandy beach type area on the south bank which for a moment you can think your actually at the seaside. The water is obviously the Thames and therefore questionable around how clean but then I guess the sea probably isn’t all that clean. Anyway my child just sat digging huge holes to burry things and had a nice time. but there was a child around 9 years old with her mum. This child kept swimming off in the Thames maybe 2-3 metres away from the shoreline. The mum was sat with her friend drinking their bottle of Prosecco (there are now loads of places you can buy drinks from along the south bank to take away). The mum and her friend would occasionally call the child back trying to get her to come back to the shore. Not really sure why I’m posting this really, I think I was just so taken aback by the complacency of the mother. Intrigued to hear others thoughts.

I assume this is the beach the OP is referring to. We were there a couple of weekend ago, not swimming though.

@bobbiester

There is no way the OP can be referring to The South Bank in London. There is nowhere in Central London where you could imagine you were at a beach.

This bit feels very beach like when you're on it ericflamant.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/southbank-beach/

I wouldn't have allowed my dc to swim but i also wouldn't have allowed them to do what your child was doing.

I passed a sign on the Thames yesterday for a 'super sewer' and looked it up: DescriptionThe Thames Tideway Tunnel will be a 25 km tunnel running mostly under the tidal section of the River Thames through central London to capture, store and convey almost all the raw sewage and rainwater that currently overflows into the river. (Wikipedia)

So no I would not swim in it and that's not taking into consideration the current at southbank.

I would not do so on a tidal river, regardless of cleanliness.

As for the Prosecco, never has passed my lips. Ancestors worked in vineyards in France and if I drank any I would feel as if I was trampling on their graves.

Swimming there is madness but frankly I wouldn’t be letting my child dig huge holes and bury things on the shore there either like you did OP. God knows what shit (literal and otherwise) is there.
It’s the sort of place that I might go and sit for a couple of hours on a roasting day if I lived in a flat with no outdoor space. Definitely nothing more than that. If you want somewhere a child can play, or cool down in water, there are hundreds of pleasanter safe places with fountains in London.
Ugh, I’m feeling a bit gross just thinking about this!

I swam in the Thames at Twickenham as a teen and in Richmond occasionally but wouldn't dream of swimming any further down river.

www.pla.co.uk/Safety/Swimming-in-the-Tidal-Thames

Blimey, I live by the Thames, but about 100 miles upstream where it's a mere baby and I wouldn't even swim in it there, so damn dangerous.

Swimming in the Thames at Lechlade, Buscot etc is absolutely fine. Our DCs did it all the time when they were kids, along with lots of other local families.

My son rows in the Thames, if they fall in they have to drink a can of Coke (allegedly good at killing off bugs). Where they row can get a lot of effluent after any storms as sewers overflow into the Thames. Also they have to be strong swimmers. They do not want to fall in as the water is foul and the currents dangerous, and they have a safety launch to get them out of the water.
My son had a cut on his leg and it got infected due to the dirty water he would have to stand in getting the boat in and out of the river. That mother was very naive.....

I know the Thames well as a boater, both through London and upstream towards oxford.

That part of the Thames is a busy navigation route, including used by high speed vessels and has a significant and dangerous current. It’s also full of shit. It’s filthy at that point. And it can be shockingly cold on a hot day.

Hugely dangerous at that point.

I’d have called the river police tbh, who have jurisdiction over the water and shoreline.

I’d have called the river police tbh, who have jurisdiction over the water and shoreline

me too, that child was in immediate and serious danger. It was a 999 job

Exactly @caelano I wouldn't even let my children touch the sand on the shoreline...gross

Have attempted to attach pictures to clarify the area. I don’t venture out of zone 1-2 much, sadly, and haven’t since covid, so it’s nice to get away from the high rise estate we live on.
Thank you for spotting my typo, never been good at spelling.
Valid point about let my child bury his cars in the sand though, thankfully didn’t see any needles etc. However, these have also been found in parks local to me which is really sad (also shit loads of nitrous oxide canisters).
@ shallow submarine, not sure what your comment means but there was no module on paddling in the Thames, I have however ‘received’ drowning victims within the emergency department.

In hindsight I should have called 101. Interested about the monthly clean up along that stretch one of the posters mentioned about?

* there’s probably a few more typos in the sbove*

Yes that’s the area I was thinking. I totally get that being in a high rise in weather like this must be a nightmare but I honestly wouldn’t do anything more than just walk or sit there.

I know needles and canisters can sadly be found anywhere, but the problem with digging is that by the time your child’s ‘discovered’ something, the damage is done. What about a children’s play area with sandpits if he’s a keen digger? That’s likely to be far safer

PS from memory most of the major parks have play areas which include sand pits

That looks so tempting though. It would be hard to be hot and a child and not go in the water. Kind of seems pointless being there.

I've spent years rowing on the Thames in London and wouldn't dream of wanting to go in it - Weils disease is a very real risk, and the currents are unbelievably dangerous. Not to mention the fact that although the water company is only supposed to allow sewage to be released into the river when there has been exceptionally heavy rain, in practice because the current sewage system is inadequate for the volume of people it's happening on a far more regular basis than we'd like to think.

The cross currents are very strong there. Child could have been swept away in seconds if they lost their footing

I get that on a hot day, water is very tempting. But omg, that water looks filthy! I don't think I'd be tempted to paddle, let alone swim in that no matter how hot it gets. It looks like mud.

I’ve kayaked almost the whole length of the Thames. There is a definite difference between the tidal and non tidal sections. Non tidal, felt very safe, we didn’t bother with bouyancy aids, went for a swim at the end of the days paddling. As soon as we hit the tidal section it was a different matter. A lot choppier, you could feel the currents pulling you in certain directions, had to look out for boats, barges, bridge piers, bouys. The tidal flow is very quick, we needed to be on our guard.

Sewage does flow in to the river, but only after a storm surge floods the sewers so not an issue at the moment. Thames Tideway sewer will rectify that.

It is actually illegal to swim (or enter the water) in the tidal Thames. I believe the PLO implemented a bylaw due to the volume of boat traffic.

You can swim at St Katherine’s Dock a couple of miles downriver (it’s a well-controlled and monitored environment), there’s a ticketed wild swimming area around Canary Wharf somewhere, and a wild swimming club swim in the Thames at Hammersmith.

All these areas are either ticketed and closely monitored, or areas where you can only swim as a member of a swim club. The problem is people hear about this, and get a vague idea that it’s safe to swim in the Thames in general, without having the skills to know which areas are swimmable or what level of experience you need.

Ernie's Beach on the foreshore at Gabriel's Wharf on the Southbank @bobbiester

I would be really worried about the currents. I have kayaked on the Thames a fair bit and that part of the river is very dangerous.