I tend to do a bit of reflection at the end of each month. However, the end of December also marked the end of a decade. So I thought I’d cast my mind back a little further. I’d be fascinated to hear how you’ve grown and learned during the last 10 years.

Time seems to disappear fast in our modern society. Blink and another day, week, month and year have disappeared before us, seemingly ever faster - something referred to as the toilet roll syndrome (ask me about that sometime!). But does it? When you take the opportunity, as I am now, to see what has happened in a decade or compare yourself to what you were like 10 years ago, then you realise just how much has changed and how far you’ve come. I barely recognise the person I was 10 years ago - physically, emotionally and mentally.

So, with that in mind, let’s start at the beginning, the start of the brand new decade, the second decade a row that I don’t really know how to refer to (the tens, teens?)

2010

I thought I’d start with reminding myself how life was at the beginning of 2010.

It was the year after my first channel solo.
I was married and had been for 21 years.
I was working for Serco, a company I had worked for for over 13 years at that point.
I had three wonderful children:
- Georgia (17) who was in her final year of A levels
- Josh (16) who was in his final year of GCSEs
- Lauren (10) still in junior school
I was super morbidly obese
I was an active swimming official
I was a qualified Master Practitioner of NLP and a hypnotist but not practicing

So fast forward to the end of 2019 and what has changed? EVERYTHING!! My life is so full of wonderful things, it’s hard to believe that so much can change. OK, Emma, enough with the arm waving generalisations - what has actually happened in the 2010s?

Family

Married life

My channel solo in 2009 gave me the courage to own up to the fact that I was not happy in my marriage. It is something that I had been living with for some time. There was nothing bad happening, I wasn’t mistreated or anything dramatic like that, I simply wasn’t happy and it was affecting who I was. He was (and still is) a nice person. So in 2011, the relationship ended and we went our separate ways.

I always wondered if I would regret it after it was done and see whatever it was that I couldn’t see before, but no, it was most definitely the right thing for me to do for my own wellbeing.

Kids

If I think I’ve had an incredible decade, the kids have been something else again.

Georgia completed her secondary education she took a gap year and then went on to Marjon University to study Secondary Education PE. She passed with honours and is now head of PE at a London school. Along the way she has visited some lovely places, worked in Camp America, played league basketball. I am so proud of the lovely young lady that she is. The children that she teaches are very lucky to have her.

Josh has had an equally busy decade. From GCSEs he went on to A levels and has done so much since then it’s hard to believe. He’s worked in our local sports centre and worked his way up to a fairly senior level. He spent two years in Canada and gained the EMT qualification at the start of his quest to become a paramedic. He worked at Canada Olympic Park. Latterly he’s taken a role as a 999 call handler for South East Coast Ambulance Service. A far cry from the political career he thought he might follow at the start of the decade.

Lauren has gone through all her teenage years and is now 20 (although I demand a recount!). Lauren found basketball in secondary school and is an amazing player, the result of serious dedication, practice and great coaching. She made the England under 18s team. Lauren took the bold move of changing school for A levels to enable her to attend a basketball programme. Unfortunately that folded after a year, so rather than changing her mind on that, she decided to restart the A level years and move away from home to go to an outstanding programme in Loughborough. From there she improved yet more and is now studying at a US college on a basketball scholarship!

Dad

At the end of this decade, just before he would have turned 90, I lost my Dad. He was an incredible man who achieved so much and has left a void behind. I’ll do my best to strive to take the best of him forward with me throughout my life.

Relationships

As sad as an end of a relationship is, it gives the opportunity for a new start. During this decade I met Paul and I feel like I’ve known him for decades. We’ve had some great adventures together. We travelled to some lovely places. He’s supported my marathon swimming and I’ve supported his (bet he didn’t think that would be something he’d do when he met me!!).

I’m hopeful for a future full of love and adventure.

Work

Serco

A the beginning of the decade it was not long after SAP had been implemented across the company. i’d been in a divisional change role within this exciting programme. Now we had to protect the good work that we had done by centralising and standardising everything and I found myself in a role in the centre of the company doing just that. It’s a role that we now call Global Process Owner, though we didn’t know that then. In fact I was part of a group that spanned multiple large organisations that sought to define what a Global Process Owner was and did. I had no idea that this would be a work theme that I would specialise in over the decade.

Despite being super busy and challenged by volume, I found myself with an urge for more. Two things were driving this - first being bored and secondly I noticed that the company that I had loved all these years was changing, and not for the better. The culture was becoming a bit toxic. I guess it wasn't too much of a surprise when all the things that nearly brought the company down happened (fraud on a major government contract). I learned a lot from that episode, especially on the importance of values and company culture. However, it was time to move on. That was inevitably the hardest decision in my working life. I loved that company. It wouldn’t have taken much for me to change my mind.

GSK

However, move on I did. I took a Global Process Owner role at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Compared to Serco, this was a HUGE company. With Serco we were aiming to protect the recent investment in SAP and focus on continuous improvement. With GSK, the world was very different with a very fragmented IT landscape that was going through significant change. Even their shared services environment was not standard. I hadn't appreciated how good Serco had become at some things and the challenges to fix at GSK were very real. I spent about a year working on a big IT implementation project which went well as it had senior backing. But back to business as usual and the culture of the company (that word again) hampered any meaningful improvements which was frustrating. I was headhunted at this point - and an easy target as a result.

AstraZeneca

So, I moved to AstraZeneca! Again in a Global Process Owner role. Another FTSE 10 company - enormous! With its own challenges of fragmented processes and aged systems that make my process very difficult for users to run. The big difference I noticed here when I started was the willingness to consider change. There was energy and enthusiasm and I actually had the senior backing and mandate to do what I needed to do. That’s becoming more difficult now as the company is flooded with opportunities for change and the teams receiving them become bombarded. However, the real challenge here is location. I’ve never worked away from home before and AZ is in Cambridge which is a 2.5 hour commute away. I had no idea how tough that would be. I decided to buy a boat to stay on while I was in Cambridge, a great idea to minimise the commute challenge. BUT, the only place I could find to moor the boat was still an hour away AND I found that finding somewhere to actually swim was near on impossible. Getting around Cambridge is ridiculously difficult.

This combined with being away from home (where I can train) was something that impacted me more than I would ever have guessed.

In 2019 I reduced to 4 days a week to reduce the impact and also to start my own business. Something that will definitely feature in the next decade.

Emma 2 France

Ever since I did my NLP training something like 15 years ago, I have had the idea in the back of my mind to make a living out of helping people through NLP and hypnosis. I just didn’t know how I could go from employed on a very good salary to self employed. I could visualise being employed and working for myself, but how to make the transition?

That’s something that I have explored with my coach over the last couple of years.

Reducing to 4 days a week gave me the opportunity to make a very small start towards my own business. It’s been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. I hope those clients that I have worked with have found it useful.

However, working in a very senior role in a big company, running my own business, running Dover training on a voluntary basis, supporting the bookings for one of the channel pilots on a voluntary basis, dealing with a poorly dad and doing my own training was a lot to take on at once and something needed to change. Things are afoot for the next decade. Watch this space to see what I do next.

Health

This has been quite a decade for my health.

It started with shingles over the new year into the decade. Luckily no nerve pain, but the fatigue was something else again.

Then, in the winter of 2010 was when I got flu. Now when I say flu I don’t mean a nasty cold, I mean full on nasty flu. It was the year of bird flu, and I suspect that was what I got. It was scary. I remember taking myself to the GPs and feeling so dreadful in the waiting room that I decided to move from sitting on a chair to sitting on the floor. Another patient was kind enough to call help but as the GP came to take me to a consulting room, I passed out. I then had two GPs, a flu diagnosis and a while before I was well enough to leave the practice. I even had to get someone to come and pick me up as I had foolishly driven myself to the surgery! Several more home GP visits and a few weeks later, I finally recovered. I totally understand why people die from the flu. I never want to feel that ill again!

Then we had the joy of pernicious anaemia - what’s that? Well, it’s when you can’t absorb vitamin B12 through diet. It’s an autoimmune disorder. The symptoms were the need to sleep - all the time! I would stop on my way to work (a 45 minute journey) once or twice for a sleep - bonkers! B12 injections and folic acid saved the day. In bygone eras this was something that would ultimately kill you.

The next winter was no better. In November 2011 I was having some pre-op checks for some elective surgery and something spine chilling was found. I was immediately referred onto a gynaecologist who after various scans referred me onto a gynae-ocologist. I had an ovarian cyst the size of a melon inside me, yet somehow I had no symptoms. My blood tests were all clear and it was marginal as to whether anything sinister was going on. So I was given a very clear plan. I would need a large vertical incision as the cyst had to come out in one go in case it was cancerous. Once out they would send it to the labs for some initial checks. While they waited for those checks they would perform a complete hysterectomy and basically remove everything in that region. I was told that if the tests came back as cancer that they would then remove the other ovary and the lymph nodes. If it was not cancerous that it was my choice as to the other ovary. I decided have both removed as a precaution. The initial response was that it wasn’t cancer BUT I would have to wait longer for a definitive answer until the full cyst had been analysed. I found out the results of that test on Christmas Eve. It had been cancer, but it had been contained within one ovary and therefore the surgery should be curative. It’s hard to know how to react to that. By the time you know you had cancer it was gone. But the psychological recovery takes longer. What if it comes back? It also took a while for the physical recovery. You’re taught how to cough again, how to breathe deeply. How to walk with such a wound. And then there was the wound infection. Thirteen weeks and as many courses of antibiotics, further surgery and finally I was healed!

It was at this point that I then focused on weight loss. In this decade I have lost about 7 stone. Yes, I’m still overweight and probably always will be, but I am a shadow of my former self and I am proud of that.

Give it a couple of years and a hernia became apparent from my cancer surgery - a mahoosive hernia that needed surgical repair. Another wound infection, another 13 weeks of an open wound and antibiotics with further surgery and countless hospital visits and stitches and that era was over too.

I enjoyed pretty good health after that for a few years until severe reflux became an issue. I would be sick most days. Eating solid food was almost impossible, so I existed on soft food. But it was when it impacted a swim that I got really ticked. Surgery was the answer and with time it has improved.

Other than that(!!!) I’ve enjoyed pretty good health. More recently. I’ve discovered that I have a scarred liver (annoying for someone who doesn’t drink) but hopefully we can turn that around.

Still, however you look at it, I ended the decade a lot better than it started and I have come through one hell of a lot. All of this has shaped who I am today and my attitudes and resilience. I’m hoping for a less challenge decade in the 20s!

Swimming

The 00s where pretty amazing when it came to swimming and I never thought I’d be able to match it. How wrong was I!! Here’s what happened…….

2010 & 2011

Took a couple of years off! I really didn’t feel like doing much of anything after the work and emotions that went into my 2009 channel solo

2012

After my cancer surgery I was determined to come back stronger

A three person English Channel relay - ‘Repeat Offenders’ 14hrs 39mins

2013

Following the complications of surgery I was unable to swim this season

2014

This was a year that I will never forget. It was kind of a line in the sand, a year that you worked out when other things happened in comparison. Arguably one of the best years in my life so far! I spent the previous winter and the lead up to the season completely reconstructing my swimming stroke. That’s not an easy thing to do. There were years of old muscle memory to re-write with a new technique. This was done by doing hours and hours of drills and video analysis. It all clicked at just the right time.

English Channel Solo in a time that I remain astounded by - 12 hours 58 minutes
Round Jersey Solo in a time of 11 hours 46 minutes (just 7 days after my channel solo)
‘Castaways’ three person English Channel relay in a time of 17 hours 45 minutes

After the fun of the EC & RJ solos, I wasn’t ready to stop training so I got back in the water and had another attempt at the channel. I had hoped to complete a two-way but injury pulled me out after only 10.5 hours.

2015

I had the bug again:

Jersey to France solo in a time of 8 hours 18 minutes

I was also involved in a North Channel three person relay. That was probably the most terrifying swim that I’ve done with Lions Mane jellyfish and cold water. It wasn’t successful but we were tantalisingly close at the point that the tide prevented us from landing.

2016

Still at it and now into the swing of having something planned each season:

I successfully completed 3 of the 4 stages of SCAR. The 3rd leg was the toughest and I bailed out at the halfway mark. I hadn’t been well with a parasite I picked up in India or Costa Rica, though I only found that out after the event.
‘Cancer Survivors’ English Channel relay in a time of 13 hours 10 minutes. As the name implies, all team members were cancer survivors - a pretty special team
‘The Bubbles Made Me Do It’ 4 person English Channel relay in a time of 13 hours 6 minutes. I was a last minute addition to this team - it was a scorching day out
‘Intersplashional Relay’ English Channel relay in a time of 19 hours 32 minutes (the longest relay swim of that season). It was on the 8th October and it was already getting pretty chilly. A lovely team that included the legendary Jackie Cobell (record holder for the longest ever English Channel solo).
I also competed in the European Masters Championships held in London

I also had another attempt at the English Channel, again it wasn’t successful (this was becoming a habit!). This time I couldn’t pee - sounds ridiculous I know, but I ran the risk of kidney damage and no swim is worth permanent damage. With hindsight I suspect it was my head.

2017

Lake Zurich solo in a time of 10 hours 44 minutes. This was unfinished business from 2009. A truly beautiful swim both in terms of the location and the way it is organised.
‘#FudgegateFugitives’ 5 person English Channel relay. This was probably my favourite ever relay. It was formed from a number of swimmers who had helped on the beach or fudged their own solo swims that year. It’s a team that remains incredibly strong friends to this day and who I’d swim with again and again at the drop of a hat. Success in a time of 16 hours 32 minutes.

I had yet another attempt at an English Channel solo, yet more disappointment. This time I got too cold and wasn’t making sufficient forward progress. I also couldn’t get my feed in. This is when I found out that reflux had been the issue and when it gets in the way of swimming it’s time for it to be dealt with!

2018

English Channel solo (yay - at last!) in a time of 16 hours 1 minute. Finally, I finished it again!!
‘Return of the Fudgegate Fugitives’ 5 person English Channel relay in a time of 13 hours 28 minutes. We had 3 of the core team from before and a couple of new additions to the team. A lovely day out on a warm October day.
An ice mile qualifying swim (1250m in 6.6C)

It wasn’t a 100% success rate though as I had intended to be the first woman to do a two way Jersey to France solo. I hadn’t realised just how low my resilience had become with all the pressure that I was under and the stupidly long work commute and as a result my head completely went very early on and I stopped my attempt. Something that I had never done before. Given it was just a couple of weeks before my English Channel solo window it took a lot of courage to get back in the water and try a swim that has beaten me more than I have succeeded. But I did and the rest is history.

2019

This was supposed to be a year off of solo swims as it was Paul’s turn to do a swim. So anything I did would have to be on restricted training. It was a 100% success rate on swims:

Windermere solo - 7 hours 31 minutes. This was the furthest that I thought I could do on last year’s residual training
‘The Lion, Another Witch, and the Same Old Dryrobe’ 3 person two way English channel relay in a time of 32 hours 7 minutes.

I was due to be in two other channel relays but the weather had other ideas and we got blown out. Hopefully, they’ll both go ahead in 2020.

So in total, during the decade I had the following successful swims:

2 x English Channel solos
3 of the 4 stages of SCAR
Round Jersey solo
Jersey to France solo
Lake Zurich solo
Windermere solo
9 English Channel relays (one of which was a two-way)
European masters championships (800m)

When you write it all down it really was a pretty busy decade with some years that were extremely busy.

Everything else

You’d think that would be enough, but I do lead an impossibly full life. At the beginning of the decade I was still an active swimming official, often seen refereeing at galas, particularly in the winter. The more involved I became in channel swimming, the more difficult it became to juggle both. Ultimately, I had to make a choice and I chose to stay with channel swimming.

I took on voluntary support to Freda Streeter on the beach, helping with the administration of training and on the beach where I could. We introduced processes to deal with the ever increasing numbers each year. Freda also asked me to help with Neil’s bookings, something that I only gave up at the end of 2019.

If I wasn’t already busy enough, Freda decided that it was time to retire from running training in Dover, she had, after all, run it for over 30 years. She then informed me that I would take on running training. And that is exactly what happened. I had a fast learning curve and I’ve kept much of what Freda set up and added a few of my own twists. I’ve now been running training for 4 seasons and I LOVE IT. It does make my training a lot more complicated though and something that I continue to work on.

One of the things that we’ve introduced under the ‘Dover Channel Training’ umbrella as well as a name and logo (it never previously had as clear an identity), is an annual seminar weekend. The swimming community is amazing and people have offered their time freely to help the next generation of swimmers.

Other random things

I acquired my Power Boat 2 qualification, became a beach lifeguard and an open water coach. These enabled me to become a swim guide for SwimQuest.
I had a lot of fun supporting the ‘Sink or Swim’ TV series with swim coaching and safety support.
I served on various boards - swimming clubs and governing bodies

Also, when I first bought the house I live in (2002), I really wanted to change the carpet in the living room. It was a revolting green colour. But I couldn’t do that without taking a pillar down and that pillar had water, electrics and the heating system on it. Not only that, but it was supporting the ceiling. So ‘just’ changing the carpet was a big thing. Still, in 2017 the pillar was finally removed. In doing so, a number of other walls were also removed and the electrics needed fixing and we found out that the whole house needed re-wiring. That meant destroying every room in the house - pulling up floorboards and knocking holes in plaster (walls and ceiling). I do now have new flooring in the living room, but no carpet at all upstairs. There is a still a way to go with what is now a whole house renovation. Hopefully, by the end of the 20s this will be complete. I only wanted to change the carpet!!

What do the 20s look like

Well, I have an inkling that they are going to be very exciting indeed. What will actually happen remains to be seen, but what will happen will be what I choose to let happen and I have very high hopes.

I intend to start 2020 very strongly.

I hope you do for your years ahead too.

A Decade to remember

2010