Dear Mr Barber, I’d Like To Swim The Channel

The story behind an old black and white photo of a young Debbie Gowan in a one-piece swimsuit and a white swimming cap, whose smile suggests a mixture of elation and utter weariness. At the heart of the frame lies an old, weathered patch with a coat of arms depicting a castle and a lighthouse, surrounded by two mermaids on either side.

The script at the bottom reads “Channel Swimming Association……

Debbie Gowan (now Treece and living in the USA) began swimming at Reedham (as did so many of us) and she went on to become a very accomplished swimmer.

“Dear Mr Barber, I’d Like To Swim The Channel” is the title of a documentary produced by the National Film School of Britain. It was directed by film student Ben Lewin, photographed by Brian Huberman, and released in 1974. The documentary premiered on Thames Television and was later re-broadcast on the BBC.

Its about a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl whose ambition ”is to be the youngest person to swim the English Channel”. This young girl writes to a Mr Lionel Barber, a truck driver with a hobby of training Channel swimmers.

“People had gotten word of the training I was receiving from Mr Barber, and then in what seemed like no time at all, I was becoming the focus of a film school documentary,” says Debbie.

A small film crew followed Debbie through her training and into the Channel run itself.

Her starting point lies in France, 22.5 miles away. Debbie will though have to swim a much longer distance than that, as the ebb and flow of the tides have often historically increased the length and distance of Channel swims.

In August of 1974, and after waiting through a stormy week for conditions to clear up and having already been sleepless for hours her cold, pitch-black start time of 4:00am came around.

Nerves and a sudden bout of seasickness on the trip to France had robbed her of any rest. Still, as she was covered from head-to-toe in a warming jelly lubricant, 13-year-old Debbie was not about to turn away from this.

Over the span of 16 hours and 45 minutes (officially), Debbie had swam nearly 56 miles from France to England. She followed a small fishing boat, which held the film crew. Debbie by official rules was not allowed to touch the boat, even for food breaks when she would be tossed a simple snack. Treading water was the only way she could stop to rest, and even then she was in constant motion – not only to keep herself afloat, but to avoid jellyfish stings.

The English coast was in sight at the end of her nearly 17 hours of unbroken swimming, but it seemed that fate had other ideas for Debbie. In addition to the storms, which had barely relented enough to make the idea of a Channel run feasible in the first place, an oil tanker had spilled it’s oil nearly 15 miles away from her destination, and the slick had already travelled to her location.

It was then that a consensus was reached on the fishing boat, that for Debbie’s safety, it was necessary to pull her out of the water before she began swimming in the oil-infested portions of the coast.

Despite the technical incompletion of her Channel run, Debbie received a patch from the Channel Swimming Association in 1974. Such patches are normally only given to competitors who touched both coasts.

Debbie was the exception.