Anna Bates

30th October 2025 - 1km swim. 8km challenge complete!

8km swum

7 swim sessions

4 different swimming pools

2 counties 

1 GOSH swim challenge complete

A million thank yous to everyone who has sponsored me

I swam my last kilometre with my biggest supporters (A&K) joining me for the last 50 metres. We then finished with random races, dive sticks and handstands to celebrate! 

Thank you to everyone for supporting me. It means the world to me. I’m not sure I would have pushed to get to 8km in a month otherwise. I plan to stick to my weekly swims but mix it with other exercise. Although my swimming definitely did improve over the month before I got poorly. 

Thanks again. Hopefully you have all bought some joy to a child who is unfortunate enough to need help from Great Ormond Street Hospital. 

28th October 2025 - 1km Swum. 7km complete. 1km to go. 3 days til the end of the month

16th October 2025 - 1 km swum. 6km down. 2km to go.

My friend didn’t come swimming with me today so another solo swim. But there were more people in the pool today - I accidentally bumped into two of them. Opps! 

I really wanted to be able to swim 1.5km today but I didn’t have time and I couldn’t push myself to it as I was conscious of not overdoing it. But I still swam 1km so it is definitely still a win. Today the Baz Luhrmann Sunscreen song was in my head. Specifically, “sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself”. 

I also found out my MIL figure can swim 1.5km in 30 minutes. I thought I was a decent (ish) swimmer, but I have no idea how I can take 20 minutes off my time. But I am reminded of the phrase “comparison is the thief of joy”. 

I am still moving my body in the water and raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. I’ll focus on my own lane (and trying not to bump into people!) and doing what I can. :-) 

14 October 2025 - 1.5km Swim

Tuesday was swim night. We went to a pool at a school that reminds me of Hogwarts. After 1km and half an hour, my husband and I had to decide whether to keep swimming and try to swim 1.5km in the allotted 45 minutes, or leave early. The pool was so nice we decided to keep swimming. We started a few minutes early and ended a few minutes late but made it! 1.5km swum in 50 minutes. 60 lengths of a 25 metre pool. I am past half way now! 🎉

10th October 2025 - 1.5km swim. Mind games.

1.5km completed today. Total 3.5km completed. 4.5km to go. 

Today I swam the furthest I have ever swum. And I did it in around 55 minutes. I am so pleased. 

On Wednesday, I was looking at the calendar. The last week is written off for swimming in my mind as it’s half term and I’m not sure what’s happening. So to give myself a days rest between swims and swim 1 km each session I needed to swim 3 times next week which doesn’t work with our family swim on a Tuesday. So I knew I needed to up the length I was swimming. 

I passed the time playing numbers mind games. I don’t have a fancy watch to track my distance so I spend the entire length repeating the number in my head. Knowing that I was planning on swimming 60 lengths, I was struggling when I got to length 24 as I knew I wasn’t half way yet. But then I reminded myself I have swum 24 lengths before. At 30 lengths I was half way there. But started again at number 1, as somehow it was easier to do two sets for 30, than one set of 60 lengths. I totally doesn’t make sense …mind games. The next time I got to 24, I was feeling much better and was trying finish strong as I knew I only had one repetition of each stroke left. 

I had done it! I had swum 1.5km! To celebrate I did a mushroom float (to help my back) and a handstand (because I can and they are fun), but as I walked to do the handstand my legs almost gave way , he he, must have gotten used to swimming and now walking! 

To put it into context I used to be really thrilled if I saw 800m less than a year ago, in the summer I managed to swim 1km for the first time. Swimming 1.5km in under an hour is definitely an achievement for me. 

My plan is to rest as much as possible over the weekend and swim again on Tuesday. My aim for Tuesday is 1km as I only have 45 minutes. Then possibly to try 1.5km again next Thursday - depending on how recovery from today goes! 

Ps 25 meter pool. 60 lengths. Alternating - 50 metres breast stroke, 50 metres front crawl, 50 metres back stroke. 

8th October 2025

Apologies for the random tenses. I wrote the below before I swam today but knowing that I would finish and post it once I had completed my swim. But then I decided to have it as two parts given what happened! …

Today I did not feel like swimming. I was already feeling like I was swimming against the tide. My oil might not be delivered (company taken over and chaos ensues) and life admin. Plus a birthday party to organise and prepare for at the weekend. 

But… it’s now the 8th and I haven’t swam since the 1st. So with words of encouragement ringing in my ears:

• husbands “it’s a war of attrition” approach 
• brothers “I am expecting a refund if you are a meter off 8km”! 

I headed off to the pool. GOSH has sent me a swim hat and T-shirt. So I definitely have all the gear (no idea) but was hoping to see someone else doing it too. 

Post swim

I performed a u-turn about 5 minutes away from home with the words “all the gear , no idea” mocking me as I realise I forgot to put my swimming costume in my bag. I am easily distracted at the moment, and this was just another example. Too much on my mind. 

Today I swam 1km. A 25 metre pool this time. So 40 lengths. The first four were hard. I completed them and thought 10% there. Then the next four 20% there. Two more and I was getting back into the swing of it. For the first twenty lengths I alternated 50 meter breast stroke then 50 meters front crawl. Then tired, I added in back stroke - a nice restful stroke so i include that: 50 meters back stroke, 50 meters breast stroke, 50 meters front crawl. And I got there. 

Back stroke was lovely. And by the end all my strokes were lazy. I did complete 1km in just under 40 minutes so amazing. I was fast pretty to begin with! Trying to keep up with the people in the lane next to me. 

Luckily, I double checked the changing room before I left as I almost forgot my phone! Back to normal non-swim life with a bump! 

But I swam 1km. So a quarter of the way there now. 2 km down. 6 to go. 

And I received an email from GOSH on the 1st October they had raised more than £58k to make GOSH extraordinary for patients and families. Let’s hope it’s even more now. 

Thank you so much for donating…I am slowly getting there. 8km in October it can be done! 

Ps I’ll try and load a pic of what I have been up to (not swimming) and my wonderful t-shirt to hopefully get some more attention to a worthy cause. 

1st October 2025 - 1km swim completed!

I’m swimming 8km in October for GOSH Charity!

I’m challenging myself to swim 8km this October to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity).

Childhood is special. It should be a time of joy, wonder, curiosity and fun. Of making friends, making mistakes, and growing into the adults we become. But it’s also fragile, and sometimes all too brief.

That’s why Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity raises funds to help give seriously ill children childhoods that are fuller, funner and longer. For the children from all over the UK who are treated by Great Ormond Street Hospital every day, for children with rare or complex illnesses everywhere, for this generation and all those to come. Because no childhood should be lost to serious illness.

And with every kilometre I swim, and every pound raised, we’ll be helping to give seriously ill children the best chance and the best childhood possible.

Please help me to achieve my goal by giving whatever you can; no amount is too small to make a difference.