S3 Ep.4 If you heard my interview with Andy Triggs Hodge last year you may remember him talking about the brilliant charity, London Youth Rowing, which does fantastic work changing young people's lives through rowing. I was keen to get one of their coaches on the podcast to talk in a bit more detail about their work. So step forward Lawrence Farquarson.
Lawrence has been a coach at LYR since 2012. In this interview we talk about:

• How Lawrence got involved in LYR
• NJIRC (National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships) and why they're so great
• What LYR does
• A day in the life
• Why avoiding rowing jargon is helpful
• Why the young people in the LYR programmes aren't expected to row on water unless they want to
• The biggest misconceptions about rowing
• The perceptions about rowing among working class kids
• Expansion of LYR into Yorkshire
• The difference that rowing makes to young people
• The importance of promoting exercise because of how it makes you feel, not how it makes you look
• Whether there's a difference of approach between male and female rowers
• How you can support London Youth Rowing
• Race the Thames 2022

You can find more about London Youth Rowing here
The email for enquiries that Lawrence mentioned is admin@londonyouthrowing.com
If you'd like to get involved in Race the Thames (and I strongly recommend it), the link is here
Find out more about NJIRC here

S3, Ep 3. As many of you know, I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, and had a mastectomy, chemo and immunotherapy, and since then I've been on a bit of a mission to inform people about things they might need to know about the condition. Which is why I was so thrilled when Napoleon Griffin agreed to come on the show. As both a rower and a male breast cancer survivor, Napoleon and I had LOADS to talk about.

You can find Napoleon on Instagram here

We talked about:

• Coming to rowing later in life
• Background as a track and field athlete
• Discovering he had breast cancer
• The importance of getting any symptoms of male breast cancer checked
• The treatment and the mental battle
• Second run-in with cancer
• The financial implications of having cancer
• Finishing treatment - regenerating
• The resources available re male breast cancer
• The importance of self-examination for men as well as women
• Getting fit after cancer and the benefits of being fit in bouncing back (and outcomes)
• Learning to scull in Puerto Rico with sharks and manatees!
• Rowing vs running
• Making history as the first all black quad at US Masters
• Diversity in rowing
• World Masters 2022
• Plans for a breast cancer survivors' 2022
• How cancer changes your attitude to life
• Representing your country at international events
• Athletes Without Limits

Resources

Information about male breast cancer:

• NHS page re signs and symptoms
• BreastCancer.Org information
• CoppaFeel information re breast cancer in men
• CoppaFeel information re how to check your chest / breasts

Athletes Without Limits - encouraging people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to get involved in sport.

S3, Ep.2 It would have been lovely not to need to do this interview, but sadly our rivers - and the River Wye in particular - are in crisis, and as rowers and river-lovers you ought to know what's going on. So today I'm talking to Charles Watson, founder of charity and campaigning group, River Action UK, to find out what's wrong with our rivers and what we can do about it.

• How Charles went from PR boss to environmental campaigner
• What's wrong with the River Wye
• The elephant in the room dressed as a chicken
• Three solutions
• What you can do
• How much time we have left

Resources
River Action UK
The Rivercide documentary
The BBC Panorama documentary , The River Pollution Scandal
River Action petition
Petition to ban discharge of raw sewage into watercourses
Find your MP here
Find your local Rivers Trust here

Where to report pollution incidents:
In England: Environment Agency https://www.gov.uk/report-an-environmental-incident

In Wales: Natural Resources Wales https://naturalresources.wales/about-us/contact-us/report-an-environmental-incident/?lang=en

Find your water company here
Find your water company's contact details here

Groups
Rowers United to Save the Planet
The Rivers Trust
Friends of the Lower Wye
Friends of the Upper Wye
Wye Valley AONB

Find them on Twitter!
DEFRA @DEFRAGovUK
Avara Foods @AvaraToods
Tesco @tesco
Sainsburys @sainsburys
Waitrose @waitrose
Marks & Spencer @MarksandSpencer
Morrisons @Morrisons
Asda @asda
Co-Op @coopuk
Aldi @AldiUK
Lidl @LidlGB
River Action UK @RiverActionUK