OK, it may not be the Bahamas but Tricia gets her ‘swim with the pigs’
YOU may have had to blink twice yesterday if you were having a stroll along Plymouth Hoe, as you may have noticed there were some pink pigs hogging Tinside lido.
No, we’re not telling porkies, a Plymouth daughter and her partner dressed up as inflatable pink pigs so that her mum could have her dream 70th birthday Covid-style.
Helen Lang and her partner Sarah Allen, from Beacon Park, Plymouth decided to take matters into their own hands (or trotters) when Helen’s mum Tricia was unable to celebrate her 70th birthday as she’d planned due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tricia Moody, who had retired as a legal secretary in March 2020, had a year of events and travel planned to celebrate her retirement – but there was a twist in the tale and it was sadly scuppered by coronavirus.
One of the trips the former secretary had planned was something she’d wanted to tick off her bucket list: swimming with pigs in the Bahamas with her sister.
So thoughtful daughter Helen decided her mum would still get her dream birthday – Plymouth style.
“Swimming with pigs was a bucket list trip, something she’s always wanted to do,” Helen said. “This is the only way we could make it happen this year.
“Mum is a keen wild dipper and swimmer and absolutely loves the lido and open air swimming. She doesn’t own a wetsuit and is always proud of her swims.
“In 2020 my mum had a plan to go and see her sister who lives in Florida and we would all swim with the pigs In the Bahamas. It was a dream, a bucket list trip we hoped would happen.
“Covid said no. So, this year as my mum and stepdad are unable to travel and keen to do small events locally,
Swimming with pigs was a bucket list trip – This is the only way we could make it happen this year HELEN LANG
that’s why [I dressed up] with my partner Sarah in inflatable pig costumes. She will get to swim with pigs.”
Yesterday Helen and Sarah surprised Tricia with their bright pink inflatable pig costumes, complete with pig balloons, and headed to the lido for a swim that would be anything but boaring. Although they were only allowed ankle-deep, Tricia was loving it.
Speaking to the WMN, Tricia said she was so shocked at her birthday surprise.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I never expected this at all, but it’s always been a dream of mine.”