Photograph showing Sunny Lowry on the Pilot Boat leaving Calais

Black and white photograph showing Sunny Lowry on the pilot boat leaving Calais en route to attempting to swim the Channel. Sunny is sat at the back and there are other men and women on the boat including Jabez Wolffe her trainer in the bottom right of the picure.

To the left of the background, there is a large wooden boat with four men looking down at the pilot boat. To the right there is a wooden quay with a crowd standing in front of buildings and looking at the pilot boat.

Ethel (Sunny) Lowry was trained by Jabez Wolffe. She successfully swam the Channel on Aug 28 1933, time 15 hours 41 mins from Cap Gris-Nez to St Margaret’s Bay. In 1933 there were 18 attempts and only Sunny was successful. Sunny swam in a two-piece swimming costume now at Dover Museum.

She had two unsuccessful attempts: Aug 10 1932 (time 14 hours 00 mins) and July 27 1933 (time 6 hours 00 mins).

She became the President of the Channel Swimming Association in 2000. In 2003 Sunny was inducted into the Swimming Hall of Fame. In 2005 she was awarded the MBE for services to swimming. In 2014 “The Sunny Lowry Road” was opened in Beswick.

The swim of 1933 was finally recognised by the CSA, in March 1958, through the perseverance of her husband.