Gilly McArthur On Building Communities Outdoors

Gilly McArthur describes herself as "a cold water swim coach, presenter, writer, and illustrator with a passion for ice, climbing, community and well-being." Throughout the past 20 years of Gilly working in the outdoors industry, she has mastered a fine skill of bringing people together. Whether it's a tight-knit men's swimming club, or a grand get-together of trad-climbing women, big or small, Gilly is a complete expert on creating warm, friendly, safe spaces for people to assemble and enjoy the outdoors. We wanted to pick her brains on what brought on this passion for building communities, and what some of her favourite moments and proudest achievements are while doing so.

Firstly, how did it all begin? I would love to know a little about how you first got into outdoors adventures.

I grew up in the North East of Scotland and as a little girl was often left on beaches or on the side of lochs to do my own thing and as our family often joke “just to sit down, shut up, and watch the sunset.” So the connection to the outdoors has always been in my blood. However, when I went to university in Edinburgh, a lot of the outdoors of my childhood fell away. I really only started my deep connection back to the outdoors after I graduated whilst living in the mountains in the French Alps. I now live just south of the border in Cumbria and I’m a cold water swim coach and help people connect to nature for well-being.

I work with charities, individuals, corporate groups, and high net worth individuals to help them connect back to themselves and to the water for improved mental well-being. It’s basically a lot of getting folk cold and wet for wellbeing! Having studied planning at university, it’s a path I never knew I would find, but I’m very grateful I have. 

How was it growing up in Scotland? Do you think this influenced your love of the outdoors?

I definitely think growing up in the North East of Scotland shaped my love of the outdoors. I was never far from a beach or a forest or a river and every summer and autumn (the tatty picking holidays) we would spend on the West Coast of Scotland, fishing from our wee boat, walking, beachcombing, drawing grasses with mum, and all that good stuff being a kid in the 1970’s delivered. It was wellies and Peter storm jackets and a lot of sand most of the time!

What sparked the idea to build the communities you’ve built (both within wild swimming and rock climbing)?

I’ve got a quite active mind and in both the rock climbing and cold water world noticed that some groups were being left out from experiencing the benefits.

The rock climbing festival and the men’s swim group were both founded on the principles that representation matters. Sometimes people just need to see someone else like them, doing that sport or activity or hobby, to realise it can be for them and both the women’s rockclimbing festival and men’s mental health swim club were founded on those principles. I find linking people and connecting the dots easy and so perhaps it’s just a strong trait of my personality.

My dad and mum are quite similar in this way. My dad has worked tirelessly for charities and community groups his whole life whilst working in the banking and oil industry, so perhaps me watching my mum and dad doing those things when I was a little girl has also affected that side of my nature! 

I would love to know more about the communities you’ve built around cold water swimming! It seems as though the social aspect plays a big part in the joy of wild swimming as well. Can you tell us about the cold water swimming communities you are part of/run?

Every year in January since I’ve moved to the lake district I have swam each day of the month to raise money for mental health charities. Most years it’s actually quite a challenge, to fit in with work and weather, especially when the nights are long.

Some days it’s just too wild, too cold, or too late to get into the ice water, but when you set yourself a challenge the nasty piece of river behind Screwfix is the only place you can get to - so needs must! I swum in some truly awful places that aren’t in any guide books.

Three years ago, I wanted to do something different but I wasn’t sure how to still make it fun.

My great friend Jonathan had just moved up from London and had never swam every day in January so we set a little challenge for ourselves to swim every day of the month with different men. The plan was to highlight how cold water swimming can be great for men as well as women, to raise money for a men’s mental health charity, and to set up a man’s swim club.

75% of all suicides are male, and men are less likely to access talking therapies, so it seemed like a great idea, especially with the newfound understanding that cold water is very good for mental well-being.

But the media hasn’t really portrayed this side of cold water swimming, and we wanted to change this. It proved to be harder than we suspected!

I’d love to hear a little about what pushed you to begin the men’s cold water swim club, Blue Mind Men? (plus maybe a little about the benefits of cold water swimming for our readers who don’t know too much about it yet?)

On the first day of the month, the man I was planning to swim with, my husband, was simply too hungover to join me for a swim.

I ended up standing in some icy water in a remote lake shore in the north of the lake district looking for a man to swim with, I finally managed to persuade a passerby to get into the water with me, it was all very funny. Poor guy. He actually sent me a message six months ago saying that he was still swimming. That really lifted my heart!

Mid month we had ran out of men to swim with, I think word had got out that there were two swim coaches on a bit of a mission, so we actually came north of the border and swam at Portobello just outside Edinburgh and joined the Edinburgh blueballs - a men’s Swim group.

By the end of the month Jonathan and I had swam with over 150 different men, 67 had beards, we swam with recovering drug addicts, ex prison officers, professional athletes, and artists. The stories they told us were thought provoking, heartwarming, and quite emotional.

Blue Mind Men is still going to this day and we meet every Sunday, it’s for men and friends and it’s great fun! 

You are the former director of Women’s Trad Festival. If we’re talking community and bringing people together, festivals are as good as it gets! How did you find being director of WTF? And do you have any favourite moments from your years of directing?

I’m very proud of what we set up with the Women’s Trad Festival.

By the time we decided to close the festival out, we had seen thousands of people coming through our festival doors.

It was the largest festival of its kind in the world. Being a director of the festival was really hard work. It was all done in our spare time - we created a rod for our own back by making a very bespoke boutique festival where everyone that we were serving had such a wonderful time, the tickets ended up selling out less than a minute in the last few years that we ran the event.

We had free and subsidised places, were completely off grid, had no plastic, and at the end of each festival for 350 to 400 people only had five rubbish bags. People could come to the festival who had never climbed before, never camped before, and didn’t have any suitable kit. The first few years we even cooked for everyone, I’m honestly not even sure how I’m still here today from this early days of the festival! Quite mad times.

It just showed me that it is possible to run events with a very delicate touch on the land, and by pulling the right levers you can make a huge difference.

I read about the "Climbers Like Me" project (a project aimed to celebrate and champion the diverse faces and voices within the climbing community), which sounded incredible! Can you tell me a little more about it? Is this something that’s still ongoing, or want to revisit in the future?

The project was to really to shine a light on the diverse faces in outdoors that were not being represented at that time, and on the back of the project, many of those climbers featured have gone on to bigger and better things, representing and supporting the communities they work with in the outdoor spaces in the UK.

There is still long way to go. I’m very grateful to still call many of those women featured good friends. They are true trailblazers and are incredible women. 

What do you think your proudest achievement has been so far in your work of creating outdoors communities?

That’s a great question and one which is really brought a smile to my face.

There are so many people that I’ve met since connecting to them through climbing and swimming who took their first steps within one of the groups, sessions, or festivals I’ve been privileged to have been part of.

We must never underestimate the effect that one small action can make.

I believe that if we all offered more kindness and smiles and a bit more empathy this world would be a better place, there is far more that binds us than divides us, and helping people feel confident in a new environment can deliver more than just the confidence to act and play safely in that environment. It always warms my heart to see someone climbing with new friends or introducing new people into the water when I know that I’ve helped offer them that first glimmer.

Life is all about glimmer and everyone does them - even just by sharing a smile. That’s kinda cool to remember. 

We’d love to know one of your favourite places to take people wild swimming?

I’d say it’s not so much my favourite place but more of my favourite season, which is autumn. It’s the perfect time of year to start getting into cold swimming as the water is still quite warm, often warmer than the air temperature. The light is normally crisp and clear and winter is just stirring round the corner.

I am part of a team delivering a wider NHS research project running randomised control trials across the UK into coldwater to help alleviate depression and anxiety. The study only started a few weeks ago up here and already, we are seeing some truly remarkable results. The cohort are already loving the cold.

In terms of my favourite places, remote beaches on the West Coast of Scotland, lochans held high up in the mountains and waterfalls not noted on OS Maps - they all hold a deep magic to me. Basically where there are no people! Perhaps that’s as I spend a lot of my days with people.

Can you tell us about a few of your favourite Scottish spots to explore?

My two most memorable swimming spots in Scotland are based on the West Coast.

I sailed to Saint Kilda when I was 17 years old on a tall ship and I returned there two years ago to swim and it was absolutely incredible. Words can’t really describe the feelings I had being in the water there. I think unless you have been there it’s hard to describe. I’m obsessed with the islands and the wildlife there.

I was also very lucky to be able to swim in Fingals Cave. Again, I sailed there on a small boat. It was quite a wild and rainy day and we got to the entrance of the cave. The tide was perfect. It was beautifully still inside the cave despite the heavy rains outside, with no one else around. My husband and I got into the water and swam. The acoustics, rock architecture, and colours were sublime.

I can fully understand how Mendelssohn was so transfixed. 

Anything exciting coming up for you in the near future that you’d like to share with us?

I don’t swim much distance , but I am hoping to go to Finland next year for a long distance swim in some really stunning national parks with a friend. I am a bit of a luddite and have finally redone my website and so fairly delighted about getting that finalised and looking forward to spending winter in the water and hopefully finding some ice!

The one thing I’m certain of is that my meander hat will be firmly on my head for most of the winter - it’s undoubtebly the best piece of kit for any winter swimmer! 

Thank you so much to Gilly for taking the time to chat to us about the fantastic work she does. We highly recommend dropping her a follow over on Instagram, by clicking here.