Swimming

It’s been quite a year for swimming with over 175,000 under 16s and over 60s registering on the Government’s Free Swimming scheme. Since the withdrawal of the scheme (in June 2010) we have used local marketing strategies to promote discounted swimming offers and many have seen an encouragingly positive uptake.

The Free Swimming Lesson campaign run in conjunction with the ASA, saw Leisure Connection deliver over 300 funded courses for adult beginners, giving over 3,000 individuals the opportunity to become water confident or learn to swim. The discounted packages were key to giving our customers the opportunity to continue swimming regularly on a low price offer.

• Leisure Connection facilities raised over £52,000 for the Marie Curie Swimathon - an increase of £23,000 from 2009
• Future Jobs Fund Trainee Aquatic Assistants are actively working within a number of different sites
• Harpers Fitness gym membership inductions now include a session in the pool
• We teach over 28,000 people to swim each week and are now focused on further building adult learning and school participation

Our work with the ASA:
We delivered over 300 fully funded courses in conjunction with the ASA including Over 60s sessions, courses for 11-16 year olds, disability specific courses and women’s courses. We also received funding to offer disability swimming lessons and aquatic youth clubs, which helped establish swimming and water based activities firmly in young people’s lives. Paradise Pool in Ely also received funding to become an Institute of Swimming education centre.
We are continuing to work in partnership with the ASA to increase swimming participation in each region and community across our contracts.