The Winter Swimming Council executives are Tamsin Lane, Dan Earthquake and Paul Watson. Meetings are held in the lake (Sandwell), out of earshot of warm bloods when the water is below 45oF.
Honourary membership of this mythical group is granted by the executive to those who have either suffered alongside them during winter months or have demonstrated significant toughness to withstand harsh conditions. (Of which I have the privilege of qualifying for).
As well as Dan and I, the other members of the Winter Swimming Council Channel Relay team are:
Paul Watson has swam continuously through the year since the summer of 2007, suffering greatly to become a winter swimmer despite his lack of bulk. Paul is a scuba diver with training in both instruction and dive rescue and has dived many of the deep lakes of Britain, as well as having swam 2- way Bala and a six hour swim last year.
Julie Ryans works for the International Rescue Corps who help manage disasters all over the world. Her solo channel attempt was aborted in 2009 when the weather turned mid channel and her 6 person relay team reduced to just her and a stand in when others backed out, and the stand in had to retire half way. Julie is very tough and will likely attempt a solo swim again in the future.
Caroline Thorn joined the Coldwater Culture team in September 2010 in preparation for her 2011 solo attempt. Caroline has continued to swim at Folkestone Beach throughout the winter.
Tejesh Parsekar lives in India and is a champion Backstroke Swimmer indoors as well as being the World Record Holder for swimming the Gibraltar Strait Backstroke. Tejesh is training to gain the English Channel Backstroke record in his solo attempt in 2011.