Laura Reineke - Chief Executive FoTT, charity founder, activist & ultra-distance swimmer.
I was born in Henley-on-Thames, and moved back to Henley after studying the violin at Music College in London.
Around 20 years ago I founded and continue to head-up Henley Music School (HMS), a charity which provides all forms of music education to anyone regardless of age, ability, background or means. I have just launched our newest incitive - Henley Community Hub, a wonderful old building originally built in 1908, to be refurbished and turned into a hub for all, and a permanent home for HMS.
Founder of Henley Mermaids, a group of 4 women campaigning for clean water, I began open water swimming about 7 years ago, after damaging my back running the London Marathon (hated every second of it), and that same year I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Initially I was only able to do very slow breast-stroke but gradually taught myself to do front crawl, then by training hard, swimming a lot and a little bit of coaching, started to love long-distance swimming.I particularly love the contrast between the beautiful summer long-distant swims and the freezing of the Thames in winter, mist rising with the bite of the cold water. Although in the depth of winter I long for the beautiful, wildlife filled long distance swims.
My ambition is to see our river happy, healthy and full of life. To see our depleted biodiversity restored, leaving a legacy for future generations. To connect everyone to their blue spaces, so individuals take responsibility for their watery neighbours, after all, our waterways are first and foremost for wildlife.
My biggest achievement to date is swimming the English Channel, which I did on August 23rd 2023 in a time of 15 hours 23 mins. Closely followed by 20 Bridges, around Manhattan Island, which was the hardest swim I've ever completed, swimming almost 50k in rough waters. My 2025 adventures take me to LA, where I will attempt the Catalina Channel, becoming the 6th British women over 50 to achieve this.
I am then hoping to tick off the Oceans 7 Swims, in a race to become the 1st British Woman. Please get in touch if you can support me on my journey to inspire while giving our waterways a voice.
As a keynote speaker, activist, and charity executive, I have a deep connection with the Thames, she brings me calm, and is a daily part of my life, so I have an unwavering ambition to see her restored and full of life.
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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
Image Credit: Alex Robertson
Assisted by: Shauna McCallion
Both FoTT members & volunteers
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
Paul Powlesland - Rights of nature advocate, founder, Lawyers For Nature, Barrister, founder of the River Roding Trust
Really Paul needs no introduction, but this piece by Oliver Balch sums up Paul's passion & why he is a fantastic addition to FoTT.
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
“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”.
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.
“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.
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.
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”.
Alastair Driver - conservationist - rewilder - explorer. Senior Advisor at Global Rewilding Alliance
Alastair Driver is one of the UK’s best known conservationists and is cited in “Who’s Who” for influence and distinction in the field of environmental conservation. He was appointed as the first ever Conservation Officer for the Thames Water Authority in 1984, pioneering many river and wetland restoration and sensitive river management practices in the process and went on to become the national Head of Conservation for the Environment Agency from 2002-2016. Since 2017 he has played a crucial role in helping to mainstream rewilding as a critically important part of the solution for reversing biodiversity loss and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Amongst many pro bono roles, he is an Advisory Board member for River Action UK and an Honorary Professor in Environmental Management for Exeter University.
Erica Popplewell - Head of communities, River action uk
Erica is the Head of Communities at River Action. She has previously worked for National Trust, Defra, Which? and was the former Head of Government and Rural Affairs at Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) , developing campaigns, policy and political lobbying on affordable rural housing, farm scale and renewable energy.
Erica led CPRE’s political influence on the 2015 Housing and Planning Bill, advocating for a thriving countryside for all. She worked closely with Defra as it redesigned the way agriculture is supported as the UK exited the European Union.
Richard Caines- Director wwf international.
Richard has spent much of his life around the River Thames and other water bodies. Born in Windsor, he grew up near Henley-on-Thames and has lived in six other locations along its course: Fulham, Barnes, Marlow, Maidenhead, Oxford and currently, Sonning. While living aboard, the Potomac in Washington DC, the harbor in Hong Kong and the Bosphorus in Istanbul were never far away. Richard has also spent much of professional career assessing potential or actual impacts on rivers, particularly from hydropower development.
A marine biologist by training, he was introduced to the impacts of sewage pollution on Britain’s coastal waters and beaches in 1990, when he edited the Good Beach Guide for the Marine Conservation Society. He subsequently researched and campaigned on how industrial chemicals - specifically persistent organic pollutants - were affecting the reproductive health of whales and albatrosses.
Richard is the Senior Director of safeguards and human rights at WWF International. Through this work, he understands the importance of rivers: to the people and communities who live alongside or subsist from them, to cultural heritage and tradition and to biodiversity and wider ecological health. Prior to WWF, Richard worked at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a development bank that focuses on promoting sustainable, responsible private sector investment in emerging and developing countries.
