Hampstead Heath Ponds

• I WRITE to correct the wildly inaccurate and misleading letter from Robert Sutherland Smith (Any attempt at charging for the Heath ponds will be resisted, January 23) about my documentary The Ponds and its relationship to the rise in popularity of the Hampstead ponds.

As much as we would like to take responsibility for the exponential rise in pond swimmers (and the ticket sales that might suggest!) there are a number of other reasons why swimming at the ponds has become so popular, mostly reflecting national trends.

• Sport England’s Active Lives survey found that the number of people who regularly swim outdoors almost doubled between November 2017-2018.

• The same survey found that 7.5 million people went outdoor swimming in the past year.

• The Outdoor Swimming Society’s membership has grown rapidly in recent years and now numbers 80,000.

• Followers of the Wim Hof Method are increasingly using the ponds for training.

• There has been almost constant press about the benefits of cold water swimming, as well as a new collection of essays about the Ladies’ Pond: At the Pond.

• The summers of 2018 and 2019 produced some extraordinarily hot days – it’s no surprise people sought the ponds to cool down in.

The writer says the film is a “short-sighted bit of unbudgeted marketing and promotion” by the City of London and conjures up a relationship between us and the City which simply didn’t exist.

The City agreed to us making the documentary – as custodians of the Heath they had to support it – but they had zero editorial input in the film. The first time anyone from the City saw the film was at its premiere.

He asserts the City “staged showings” of the film. They did not. All screenings were arranged by the producers, our distributors and cinemas or swimming groups, although a number of City employees attended one public screening at the Barbican.

I do agree with the writer on one point – the ponds are a “marvellous scarce” resource, a natural environment we sought to celebrate in The Ponds.

We’ve been thrilled at the reception to film and the joy it has brought swimmers and non-swimmers alike and if anyone would like to share in the cold water “buzz”, DVD copies are available from our website.

PATRICK McLENNAN
Co-producer/director
The Ponds