Swims completed:
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English Channel 5 person Relay
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Thames Marathon x 4 coming second 2/4
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Henley Swim Unlimited - 7k
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Henley Classic x5
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Wild Wye - 10k
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Winter Swimming World Champs - Bled, Solvenia
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Welsh winter swim, Snowdonia (3rd in 250m)
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Summer Swimming Champs - Bled, Slovenia 5k
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Club 2 Pub x2
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Henley Mile
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Great Fjord Swim, Ireland
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Robben Island S.A
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North Channel 4 person relay
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Bristol Channel 4 person relay
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English Channel Solo 15:23 (56k)
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Scilly Isles 1-day event 15k
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20 Bridges Manhattan Island 48.5k​, 9:15
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Catalina Channel 20.5 miles 14:09
​​Laura Reineke - Founder & Volunteer Lead FoTT, activist & ultra-distance swimmer.
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Born in Henley-on-Thames, I returned home after studying violin at Trinity College of Music in London. For more than 20 years I have dedicated my life to building organisations that strengthen communities, widen opportunity and create lasting change.
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I am the founder and volunteer director of Henley Music School, a charity that provides accessible music education for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. More recently, I founded Henley Community Hub, a project to restore a historic 1908 building as a vibrant community space and permanent home for the music school.
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An ultra-distance open water swimmer, I am one of around 150 women worldwide and swimmer #390 globally to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming — the English Channel, Catalina Channel and Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. I use swimming as a platform for environmental advocacy, highlighting the threats facing our waterways and inspiring others to connect with and protect the natural world. I am currently working towards the Oceans Seven challenge, with the ambition of becoming the first British woman to complete it.
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As a keynote speaker, campaigner and charity leader, I work with communities, businesses, regulators, politicians and the media to drive change. By day, I am Campaigns and Public Affairs Manager at the National Federation of Women's Institutes, helping to champion the issues that matter most to women and their communities across the UK.
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The Thames has shaped my life. She brings me calm, challenge and perspective, and my ambition is simple: to see her healthy, thriving and full of life once again, with restored biodiversity, connected communities and a legacy that future generations can be proud of.
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Nominated Sue Ryder Woman of achievement 2016
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Community Champion Award - 2018
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Nominated Charity Champion - 2021
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Nominated Charity Champion - 2022
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Coronation Award 2023 - Her Majesty The Queen Consort & Royal Voluntary Service​
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Paul Powlesland - Rights of nature advocate, founder, Lawyers For Nature, Barrister, founder, River Roding Trust
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Really Paul needs no introduction, but this piece by Oliver Balch sums up Paul's passion & why he is a fantastic addition to FoTT.
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By Oliver Balch - Positive News
The environmentalist and barrister Paul Powlesland made history this summer when he became the first member of a UK jury to swear an oath on river water. Powlesland, the co-founder of Lawyers for Nature, explains why he considers the River Roding to be sacred
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“I swear by…” What? The options for members of a UK jury are fairly standard: ‘by Almighty God’, ‘by Allah’, ‘by Waheguru’, or ‘on the Gita’. Paul Powlesland chose none of these when he was called to jury service in July. Instead, the 38-year-old barrister opted for the River Roding, “from her source in Molehill Green” to her “confluence with the Thames”.
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Powlesland admits that the judge was a “little perplexed” at first, but, after some discussion, he let the unorthodox oath slide. This was partly because Powlesland also declared the juror’s secular ‘affirmation’ (“to make sure the legal boxes were ticked”), but mostly because the judge believed the sincerity of the river lover’s position.
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“I explained that I believe the river to be sacred, but also I could demonstrate that this wasn’t just something I was saying but that I do care for the river constantly in my spare time,” says Powlesland.
He’s not exaggerating. When not donning his barrister’s gown and advocating in court (usually on housing or employment issues), he’s dredging rubbish from the River Roding on his canoe, or planting trees or placing benches along its banks.
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As founder of the River Roding Trust, Powlesland has made it his business to protect and help regenerate the 31-mile river, which rises in a patch of rural Essex and then flows west towards London, travelling under the M25 before ending up in the heavily urbanised borough of Barking and Dagenham.
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The latter provides the mooring point for the 45-foot narrow boat that Powlesland has called home for the last seven years. Pretty as the reed beds that immediately surround his barge are, the barrister admits that the kilometre-or-so long stretch where he concentrates most of his conservation efforts is “on a knife edge”.
Libby Hooper- Volunteer - Social Media & Communications​
Having grown up beside the River Thames, Libby has witnessed the devastating consequences of the mismanagement, abuse, and outright neglect of our waterways. With so much at stake, she was eager to get involved with FoTT, and the mission to restore the river and better the lives of the human and non-human communities which depend on her. With a background in social and political sciences, and particular passions for human-nonhuman interaction, sustainability, and conservation, she hopes to aid FoTT’s mission of reconnecting people to their natural world through social media communications, and helping people embrace and recognise the value and importance of upholding strong relationships with our non-human world.
Claire Robinson - Trustee, Policy & Governance
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Living on a houseboat on the Thames at Taggs Island, Claire has developed a deep appreciation for the wildlife, communities, and ecosystems that depend upon the river and the lagoon where the boat is moored.
Watching the swans and cygnets that live on the island outside her boat has given her a close connection to the natural rhythms of nature and an awareness of the environmental pressures affecting the Thames and its wildlife.
With a professional background in governance, compliance, and developing responsible digital technology, Claire brings extensive experience in risk management, policy, and organisational governance.
She is particularly interested in how ethical and sustainable approaches to technology, governance, and community engagement can support long-term environmental stewardship.
As a Trustee of Friends of the Thames, she hopes to support the charity both strategically and practically, helping strengthen awareness of the river’s environmental importance and encourage stronger connections between people and the natural world around them.
Anya Gleizer- Trustee, River Guardianship
Anya Gleizer studied conservation and ecology in Dartmouth College, US and worked in freshwater conservation in Siberia and Alaska, from Lake Baikal to the Yukon River.
Pivoting in 2013 into activism and art-based communication and teaching, she did her Masters in Fine Art at the University of Oxford and is now pursuing a PhD on indigenous practices of protest, conservation and reconciliation in the School of Geography and the Environment at the University. She began working on the Tamesis Robe, a community artwork dedicated to the Thames, environmental grief and slow violence in 2024. She is devoted to her local rivers, the Thames and the Cherwell, which first lured her to the UK, and have kept her rooted. She is an avid rower, kayaker and swimmer, holding the record of the youngest female to solo kayak lake Baikal.
Ella O'Neill- Trustee, Rights of Nature
Growing up in the countryside of Ireland, Ella developed a deep appreciation for the natural world. Dismayed by the widespread ecological degradation devastating the planet, she was inspired to be part of the fight for a world in which Mother Earth is respected and her rights upheld. As a graduate of a masters in Global Environment and Climate Change Law at the University of Edinburgh, Ella found that conventional environmental laws are often incapable of truly protecting nature or recognising its intrinsic value. This led her to the Rights of Nature movement, which she believes holds the power to bring about the necessary paradigm shift away from systems based on exploitation, limitless growth, and profit maximisation, towards one grounded in harmony with nature. As Rights of Nature Trustee for Friends of the Thames, Ella’s work focuses on gaining legal recognition for the River Thames, promoting formal recognition of its longstanding rights in order to allow the Thames to survive and thrive while continuing to support the many ecosystems and communities that rely upon it.
