Bill Smith is 104 years old. He has spent more than 50 years swimming in the sea off the Isle of Wight, but in recent times, rising concerns about pollution have led him to stop. These days, he swims only in an indoor pool.
“I look at the sea. How lovely it is. But regrettably, I feel I won’t be able to swim here again.”
To mark his 104th birthday, Bill is sharing his story in a short film produced by Blue Marine Foundation as part of the Solent Seascape Project. It reflects on a lifetime spent beside the sea and the changes he has witnessed.
From the comfort of his small camper van parked on the seafront, Bill still enjoys the view and the sound of the waves. “The reason I come down to it is because I can park it on the seafront there, which is right against the water and right where I live. So, it’s very convenient. I come down here, put my bench out, stretch my legs out, and think: England is a wonderful place.”
His love of the sea goes back to early childhood. “I was only about three years old. I went swimming on my own in a reservoir. I pushed off from the other side. I hadn’t worked out what would happen if I couldn’t swim. I did the dog paddle. Never heard of it before. But I just did it and just managed to get to the other side. I think I’ve loved water since then.”
For many decades, Bill swam outdoors all year round. “A pool is static water. There’s no movement, no infinity. Whereas the sea goes on forever. It’s much more buoyant. I think there’s a magnetism there in the sea that pulls me in.”
But the freedom he once felt in the sea has gradually been replaced by concern. Born in a cottage where the toilet was at the bottom of the garden, he remembers clearly how sewage was managed. “Down comes Cart, we called it. He would take the bucket out, pour it into his cart, and there was a trail of sewage all the way down the road. What was left drifted into the river.”
Bill is still following the news, and the problems feel familiar. “Only the other day I heard on the radio that the water board is being fined quite a lot of money for discharging sewage into the rivers. Raw sewage.” He adds, “The one thing that’s got to be dealt with, and dealt with soon, is pollution. Must get rid of that.”
He also remembers swimming near homes that released waste directly into the stream. In the 1970s, when he was living near the sea, the local Medical Officer of Health, Doug, would stop by each morning to join him for a swim. “There’s some houses up above. Their sewage goes straight into the stream. I said, ‘You see that, Doug? Raw sewage coming down.’ He said, ‘You know, Bill, you don’t so much as go swim here as go through the motion.’”
Pollution isn’t just something Bill hears about on the radio. It is why he stopped sea swimming altogether. “It’s worrying to think that the pollution is there. The sea now is not like it used to be.”
His sense of loss also extends to the wildlife he used to work with. As an apprentice chef in 1935, he remembers handling turbot and halibut so large they had to be carried with both arms. “To carry a turbot I had to put both arms around it. It would cover the whole of my body. The halibut — the eyes would look you straight in the eyes and the tail was dragging on the floor.” Now, he says, “they’re getting smaller and smaller. Certainly the fish I used to take in from the delivery van, I don’t think we’ll ever see again.”
Even so, Bill is not without hope. “The sea is remarkable in the way it can recover. I’m going to live to see it. A nice clean sea. Nice clean rivers. And I’ll be able to swim back in them again.”
He believes that staying active has helped him stay sharp. “Sea swimming is an exercise. A very excellent exercise. I do believe that exercise of all kinds will help you to live longer. It not only helps you to live longer, it helps your brain to live longer. And I feel, and I’m told, that I’m quite lucid. At 104, I suppose I can’t grumble.”
Bill still keeps up with environmental news. “The radio said the other day that all the rivers in Britain were polluted. They never mentioned the sea. But there’s no need to, because all the rivers come into the sea.”
“We are alive one minute and it’s gone tomorrow. Yesterday is already gone. But the present is already disappearing.”
He spends more time sitting by the sea than swimming in it now, but that has not weakened his bond with it. “We’re living on memory all the time,” he says, recalling swims, salt water, and the sense of freedom the sea gave him.
“If I had my time over again, I was so satisfied with it. I wouldn’t want to change any of it. I couldn’t wish for a better way to live.”
Bill’s story is more than a personal history. It reminds us what is at stake when our coasts and rivers are no longer clean. It also shows that recovery is possible, and that restoring the sea benefits not only nature, but people and communities too.
The Solent Seascape Project is helping to make that future possible. By restoring habitats, reconnecting ecosystems, and working towards cleaner waters, the project supports a thriving Solent — for wildlife, for local communities, and for generations to come.
All quotes in this article are taken from the film Bill’s Story, produced by Blue Marine Foundation and filmed by Matt Jarvis as part of the Solent Seascape Project.
