Nile Swimmers is a registered UK charity (number 1152395) administered by a trustee board. The board of trustees currently consists of:
Dr Rebecca Sindall PhD: Chair of the Board
Becky joined Nile Swimmers in 2015 as the organisation’s first female instructor. She has first hand experience of living, studying and working in African countries and has volunteered as a swimming and lifesaving teacher and coach since she was 16.
Becky works as a public health engineer and sanitation researcher and brings a wealth of research and project management experience to the team. She has presented at a wide range of international conferences on everything from the benefits of adding bubbles to sewage or using high performance computer models to model fluid flow, to the role of women in drowning prevention and how drowning links with the Sustainable Development Goals.
On behalf of RLSS Commonwealth, Becky developed the Emerging Leaders Workshops which give young people from Commonwealth countries the project management skills necessary to run drowning prevention programmes.
Mr Dan Graham LLB : Co-founder
Dan Graham is one of the three co-founders of Nile Swimmers, and currently serves as Charity Secretary and Trustee.
Dan has taught water safety and rescue skills in a variety of environments for over fifteen years. He is currently a Rescue 3 qualified Advanced Swiftwater Rescue Instructor, and Swiftwater Rescue Boat Instructor, an RLSS (UK) Trainer Assessor & Mentor for Pool Lifeguarding, Beach Lifeguarding, and Lifesaving. He is a National Tutor for the RLSS National Water Safety Programme (NWSMP).
Dan currently represents the RLSS (UK) on the Rescue Commission of the International Lifesaving Federation, and has co-chaired the review panel of the Rescue theme for WCDP in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Dan is a contributing author to two chapters of the second edition of the Handbook on Drowning, and presented at every World Conference on Drowning Prevention since 2011. He is a contributing reviewer to the World Health Organisation “Preventing Drowning: an implementation guide“. He co-authored the Rescue 3 European Modular Manaul for Swiftwater.
Mr Tom Mecrow BSc MPH : Co-founder
Tom is a co-founder of Nile Swimmers, and has a significant experience working on public health programmes in low income countries, with a particular focus on drowning prevention.
Tom has previously worked as a Research Fellow for the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research in Bangladesh (CIPRB), and as a drowning prevention consultant in India. Tom authored the RNLI International Beach Lifeguard Manual for use in low-resource settings, and is currently working with stakeholders in the UK and Africa to develop a low-resource aquatic survival teaching toolkit
Tom holds a Masters qualification in Public Health in Developing Countries, is an experienced swimming and lifesaving teacher, and holds qualifications in Swiftwater Rescue.
Tom has presented at a number of international conferences, including the South East Asia Public Health Seminar and the World Conference of Drowning Prevention in Vietnam. He has co-authored two chapters in the Handbook on Drowning Prevention (second edition), and has a number of research papers undergoing peer review.
Tom enjoys travelling, swimming, surfing and a good cup of tea.