Ladies of the lake: fundraisers swim Lake Geneva

On 23 July, IIED's director Camilla Toulmin and four other "ladies of not such youthful appearance" donned their wetsuits and braved the cool waters of Lake Geneva.

This was no research trip or networking opportunity but a physical challenge that the swimmers endured in memory of their common friend Richard Sandbrook, who died in 2005.

Sandbrook was an environmental leader with international influence. After helping to found Friends of the Earth, he joined IIED in 1976 and was the institute's executive director from 1989 to 1999.

The 'ladies of the lake' swam to raise money to help to fund the Richard Sandbrook Memorial Scholarship (see ), and made the 5-kilometre crossing in 3 hours and 15 minutes.

The scholarship will support a student at Exeter College, University of Oxford, during internships at IIED and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Toulmin's fellow swimmers were Frances Cairncross (Rector of Exeter College), Julia Marton-Lefèvre (Secretary-General, IUCN), Jane Smart (Head of Species, IUCN) and Johannah Bernstein (environmental lawyer).

 

For more information on the Richard Sandbrook Memorial Scholarship, see:

http://www.sandbrooktrust.org/exeter_college.html

Read Richard Sandbrook's obituary in the Guardian by Jonathan Porritt