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Lifeguard Amy plunges back into academia

I am grateful to the Council that alongside school and then university, I got a chance to interact with many different people at the leisure centre
Amy Fowler, 22

Everyone who enjoys Wymondham Leisure Centre's fantastic pool can look up and be reassured by the presence of South Norfolk Council lifeguards.

But few would expect to be rescued by someone with a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Geography and a Masters degree in Resource and Environmental Management!

Yet that was the case until recently when 22-year-old Amy Fowler of Barnham Broom decided to call it a day watching over swimmers, and return to Lancaster University.

There she will be jumping back into the deep end of academia - a three-year PhD course. But before she returned, Amy wrote to South Norfolk Council with a special - and unprompted - thank you.

She said afterwards:

"I wrote because I am grateful to the Council that alongside school and then university, I got a chance to interact with many different people at the leisure centre.

"That gave me some of the useful skills you really need, and which universities and employers are looking for, such as good time management, team building and meeting people."

The former Wymondham High School pupil, who was born in Norfolk and grew up in Barnham Broom with her parents Cliff and Lottie, is now back in the North West at Uni.

There, her love of the environment and geography takes her off to the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales many weekends; as well as playing Canoe Polo for the University.

And when she's not fell walking, she will be studying. Only Amy can explain it in her own words:

"My PhD research topic is ‘Citizen science and local climate change: an interdisciplinary approach to public participation and the formulation of data sets to model urban heat island effects'."

For the rest of us, she explained: "Urban heat islands occur in our big cities, where the urban area becomes much warmer than the surrounding countryside, and that has an impact not just on the climate, but people's lives.

"I will be researching how local people collect data about urban climates, how reliable that data is and how it is used by organisations like the Met Office."

Amy wanted to work for a National Park Authority, or local council, but she was persuaded to embark on this new challenge.  

On her time as a lifeguard, she has happy memories:

"I really enjoyed it because the hours and the flexibility meant that I could work at weekends and study hard during the week. Thank you South Norfolk."

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