News archive

Year 3 have a visit from English Channel Champion Swimmer

Year 3 pupils were delighted to receive a virtual visit from former RSM pupil, Mr Peter Taylor, who talked to them about swimming the channel in memory of a close friend.

Mr Taylor hosted a Q&A session on Microsoft Teams and Year 3 were very interested to learn all about how he found the temperature of the water, whether he had enough food to eat for the duration of the swim and whether he saw evidence of rubbish and plastic in the ocean.

After some very interesting questions from the pupils, which included asking how he kept warm during the 13 hour and 24 minute swim, Mr Taylor invited the children to feel water in a bowl and measure the temperature with a thermometer so they could understand how cold 14 degrees really is. They also felt a sample of ‘Channel Grease’ a mixture of half vaseline and half lanolin sheep wool extract that Mr Taylor had covered his skin with prior to the swim.

Mr Taylor said of the meeting “I was asked some really mature questions from this very thoughtful group of children. They were interested to hear about my motivation to do the swim, whether I felt like quitting midway through and about my welfare throughout the duration of the swim. I really hope they came away inspired to try and achieve something beyond their current limits in the future.”

Back to Latest news