The view from above

IT was a bird’s-eye birthday celebration at the weekend as exactly 100 swimmers dived, jumped, and gently slipped into the Ladies Pond on Hampstead Heath to celebrate 100 years of women-only swimming.

The event marked exactly a century of taking refreshing dips in the spring-fed waters and the Kenwood Ladies Pond Association have organised a series of celebrations taking place throughout the year.

The swimmers get ready for the drone shot

Lifeguard Tanya Soloijova, who is also a synchronized swimmer, gathered recruits and carefully mapped out how they could form ‘100’ to be captured by a drone.

KLPA vice chair Ruth Hallgarten said: “We came together to celebrate what the pond has meant to women over the last 100 years — resilience, community and respite from the stresses of life. It feels fitting to mark the occasion in the water in this joyful, communal way.”