"The simplest things are usually the most important.

My own experiences of the sea as a child stuck with me throughout my life. I had spent two years living in and travelling up and down to Bundoran in Co. Donegal. The resonance of that experience inspired most of the music I wrote for many years through the wild ride of my professional life. There were some incredible highs but far more lows. It's not a job for the fragile, and I had thought I was able for anything.

But we are all fragile and despite the positives the relentless toxicity of this industry eventually catches up with us all. While it surely brings out the best in us, it also brings out the worst.

But the sea was always there for me and eventually it called me back to it after decades of surviving on memories of it. If I hadn't started swimming all year round ten years ago I probably wouldn't have made it this far.

I've encouraged the young people that I have worked with to hop into the water whenever they can. Feel the cold water. Take some of the heat from their lives. There is no skill to it just a willingness to acknowledge their own fragility and to accept that the sea is ever changing and uncaring. No need for pretence. Just be the animal in the water.

The cold water scrapes away the infection of anxiety and hurt. Sometimes it's not enough, other times it is everything."

Song enclosed is ANÚNA singing "Island" - written by Michael McGlynn, text based on the writings of St. Colmcille and dating from the 7th century
ISLAND

On an island I long to be, gazing out upon the shining surface of the sea.
I hear the sound of the ocean wave on wave, crying “You, who have turned away from home”.

On an island I long to live, sea-birds lament the coming of the winter wind.
I hear the endless sound of sea on shore, crying “You, who have turned away from home”.

On an island I long to be, evening brings a whisper of the summer breeze.
I hear the sound of the ocean wave on wave, crying “You, who have turned away from home”.

To sail across the wild sea back to Ireland