Charlotte Empringham recounts her days as a swimming instructor in Beaverton on Lake Simcoe with more than two hundred children a day come to the pier for lessons while mothers waited on the rocks. She remembers taking the small children in the shallowest water with carp nibbling at her feet. She also elaborates on first flat and second flat, where the most advanced swimmers would take their lessons at the second flat, students of middling skill would be on first, and beginners were closest to shore. Jamie Schrader and Carol Wilson would become her assistants once she became head instructor, and swimming lessons continued no matter how bad the weather was since it was believed that if you were going to swim in the lake, you should be able to swim no matter the conditions. Occasionally life guard duty took over instructional duty, and on the coldest days land drills and water safety were taught on shore. Charlotte also recalls how Harold Laudwick and Dougie Hilliard in particular would cause mischief during lessons. She also explains how she was disappointed to hear that boulders had been placed at the end of the pier to prevent people from diving in. One year she trained long enough to swim out to Thorah island from Cedar Beach to Maple Beach, with Jim Bailey riding alongside in a boat for safety.