Humans of Frome: Sally Hooper

I’m not sure about the rest of you but the thought of throwing myself into a 40m deep quarry pool in all weathers is my idea of hell. The opportunity to be so massively out of my depth (and comfort zone) just fills me with absolute horror, and yet, the joy-filled (and stunning) photographs of Sally Hooper’s exploits at Vobster Quay had started to really intrigue me.

She swims there all year round, yes even in deepest winter…the seasons may change around her but the expression of absolute joy and delight remain ever present. I was curious to understand how this woman could find such joy in such a seemingly inhospitable place and such adverse conditions.

Sally is someone who has been on my radar for years and yet, we have never properly met before. I saw her over the years on the school run, her four children in tow, the oversized 50s pram pushed before the Mother duck and ducklings assemblage – and they always had a smile for me and other passersby.

I meet Sally at the lovely Rye Bakery at Whittox Lane. We finally introduce ourselves and settle into a chat which surprises me at every turn. Sally, born and raised in Bath mentions that she worked as a maternity nurse for a while and then took a few years out to go travelling before returning to Frome – glossing over the travelling years she talks of how she happily settled in Frome, a town she truly loves.

Back track a little and I casually ask where she travelled in those years. “All over really,” she says “far and wide, but I stopped in Romania for 6 years.” Six years, in which Sally, then in her 20s, was so overwhelmed by what she witnessed in Romanian orphanages that she couldn’t leave without doing something to help. Compelled to do whatever she could to help the young children, many of whom were HIV positive and living in appalling conditions, she established her own charity, Sally Carr’s Romanian Orphanage Appeal.

The HIV virus was not fully understood at the time, in fact, it was considered to be a highly contagious disease, a fact that did nothing to deter the young Sally and her co-volunteer workers from giving a little love and care to these children.

Tragically, most of the children died but a few were re-homed and adopted to loving families. Sally speaks with fondness of one such child, a Titian-haired beauty named Tatiana who she is still in touch with today. She still lives with her loving gypsy family in a remote Romanian village.

Sally tells how she brought her own family out there to meet her. An emotional and poignant moment where she introduced her own daughter, Tatiana to her namesake.

Lasting and meaningful relationships were formed in Romania, not least Sally’s marriage to Geoff Hooper. They met when he was on a volunteer placement at the orphanage in which she worked. Geoff, then attached to someone back home, left Romania and a part of Sally left with him.

When she returned to the UK they sought each other out and haven’t looked back since. The pair went on to study nursing together in Hertfordshire. Now the proud parents of Tatiana, Jago, Tallulah and Boudicca, the pair, who clearly have the innate ability to care for and help children, continue to open their hearts and their home to foster children. They have fostered many babies over the years and in some very happy cases have managed to retain relationships with those children even today.

All has not been plain sailing for this loving family though and when their son had an accident in which he severely burned his hands, they pulled together to help him through the two long years of recovery. In the end, they realised that his accident (and other less serious ones along the way) were due to his poor eyesight, which they had failed to spot!

But news about their youngest daughter’s health that followed soon after was utterly devastating. Boudicca, then aged 3, had been suffering with various symptoms for weeks, symptoms such as throwing up in the morning following breakfast, and tiredness. The type of symptoms that most of us would at first consider to be the result of food allergies or the like. A visit to the doctors though revealed the shocking news that the young 3 year old had a brain tumor.

The Hoopers’ life was thrown into disarray when she was whisked into hospital, where Boudicca underwent a life-saving surgery. It’s hard to imagine exactly how stressful a situation this must have been for the family, and they had no idea of how the surgery would effect their little girl. Following surgery, Boudicca was left debilitated, barely able to walk but as her mother says, they were delighted that she was alive.

In the months and years that followed, Sally explains that they pushed Boudicca hard. They wanted the same for her as for any of their other children. They pushed her to walk up hills, they took her swimming in the sea, they worked alongside her to help her improve in strength. They were tough times but their hard work and commitment to their daughter’s rehabilitation have happily paid off.

At the age of 14, Tatiana, their eldest daughter, announced that she wished to be part of a channel swim relay team. Accustomed as the Hoopers were to throwing their full support behind their children, they took to the cold seas of the English Channel and went into training with their ambitious daughter. As Sally says, “We could hardly have supported her through her training if we didn’t fully understand what was needed.” Roll on the gruelling months of training and a number of the relay team (including their daughter Tallulah) were forced to pull out. Of course Sally and Geoff stepped into the void and on a cold September day swam the English Channel with their daughter’s team. As the light faded, Sally describes how she and Geoff sat on a boat watching their daughter swim into the darkness, with three of her team mates, until she reached the French coast. A terrifying, yet exhilarating experience for any parent and child team…what an accomplishment.

Since then, Sally and Geoff continue to swim in the sea….they are currently undertaking one of their greatest challenges yet…swimming the length of the Dorset Coast. I ask Sally if she is frightened of being out of her depth? She laughs and says no, but she has a certain respect for the sea. She describes how she recently struggled to climb ashore following a lengthy swim. Battered and bruised against the rocks she found it hard to get a grip. I asked her what runs through your mind at a time like that? She replies “’How will I get up there!”….and this is where I think she differs from so many others, perhaps it is the years of overcoming such seemingly insurmountable struggles…but I think I’d be right in saying that most people in the same situation would be panicking and thinking “Oh God, this is impossible….I’m done for.” She made it out, of course she did….and she’s here to tell her incredible tale today.

Now I understand that joy that I see in her photos. Swimming in freezing cold waters is visceral and exhilarating, it reminds her of how lucky she is to be alive. Sally Hooper has helped so many to survive, she is a survivor herself…..and survivors understand the importance of delighting even in the smallest of things.