Lymington Swimming Club could go under without chair and level two teacher

A HISTORIC Lymington community swimming club is set to close this summer if crucial roles cannot be filled.

Lymington Swimming Club, which meets at the town’s health and leisure centre on Saturday evenings, is struggling to recruit a chairman and level two swimming teacher.

The group, founded more than 130 years ago in 1891 after a child drowned in Lymington River, offers low cost swimming tuition to dozens of local families and bursaries to those who cannot afford to pay.

However, the committee run club will be forced to close in July if it cannot fill the positions, which could be paid at a rate of £50 per week.

A teacher would be expected to run two sessions alongside other teachers between 5pm and 6.30pm.

Current Lymington Swimming Club chair Beth Bray is to step down after three years in the role, having served on the committee for eight years.

She said: “If we can keep the club alive then it is my belief that the next step would be to look for someone who can get the club registered as a charity and help us apply for funding.

“The aspirations is always that we can offer swimming lessons to families that cannot afford it and that is something we would like to expand.”

She said: “The club started life as swimming and water polo activity held at the seawater baths. It continued in this way until the 1990s when the group got involved in fundraising to build the leisure centre, raising £40,000.

“The club then moved to the centre and has run on Saturday evenings since.”

Currently, the club is run solely by volunteers, and relies on parents to be involved in training as teachers, coordinating the activity and raising funds.

Sessions cost £4 per week, with bursaries available for those who cannot meet the cost.

There is a waiting list in place.

The club has a strong committee of volunteers, and Beth estimates the chairman role only takes up around two hours a month, in addition to the poolside teaching.

“Everyone is doing all they can to keep the club going – but without a level two swimming teacher and chairman we cannot continue,” she said. “I feel like time is running out and we just keep hoping that the right person will come along with a solution.”

New Forest District Council member, Cllr Jacqui England, has now joined the campaign after learning to swim with the club as a youngster.

Back in the 1960s she remembers travelling to Southampton for lessons arranged by the club when there was no indoor pool in the town.

She said: “I feel it is imperative that the club can continue – Lymington has such a diverse community and the club has provided basic swimming training to such a range of children for over a century. It has such a rich history since it was first established at the baths.”

She continued: “The selflessness of generations of volunteers has given Lymington and Pennington children and young people the opportunity to learn to swim in a safe supporting environment through the clubs activities. It will be a huge shame for the town if that comes to an end.”

To find out more about supporting Lymington Swimming Club, email Beth at bethlymswim@gmail.com