Eden Big Swim receives grant from the Fellfoot Forward community fund

June 2023

A grant of £5,980 from the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme’s community fund was awarded to the Eden Big Swim project, which saw a group of swimmers take on the full eighty mile length of the River Eden in summer 2023 to raise awareness of the environmental issues impacting our waterways and inspire community action to reduce sewage dumping and pollution. Read a blog from the swimmers written as they progressed along the river here.

The project was supported by Eden Rivers Trust, an environmental charity dedicated to improving and protecting the River Eden to make it a better place for people and wildlife, and a partner in the Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme.

The Fellfoot Forward community fund supported the creation of a short film, capturing the highs and lows of the swim as well as spotlighting bank side tree planting, to shade and cool the water for fish, and identifying stretches of river bank where fencing would prevent livestock breaking down banks and silting the river bed.

The film will be used to engage schools and the wider community, and to promote involvement in citizen activities which will be taking place after the swim. Watch highlights of the swim in the video below.

The Fellfoot Forward Landscape Partnership Scheme, 2020-2024, was led by North Pennines National Landscape team and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.