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New campaign to encourage more people to swim
Swim England and Everyone Active aim to achieve 10 million swims in Everyone Active pools by the end of 2019 as part of their new three-year partnership. The two organisations are working together
to encourage more people to swim. To achieve this year one goal, they will target occasional swimmers and focus on the benefits that swimming regularly offers. Understanding the reasons why individuals currently swim and what is stopping them from doing so more often will help the two organisations to secure the continued participation of swimmers, as well as attracting new audiences into the pool. Swim England and Everyone Active will work
together to carry out the research, utilising insight from Everyone Active’s 120 pools and the local communities in which it operates. They will also work together to identify and challenge the common misconceptions around swimming, which they believe can act as a
barrier to participation. “It’s well documented that swimming is a
fantastic way for people of all ages and abilities to keep active. However, there is still a reluctance from many people to get into the pool. This may be because they aren’t fully aware of the many health and social benefits swimming offers, or perhaps there is a misunderstanding
about the skills you need to enjoy the water. Through our partnership with Swim England, we are aiming to tackle this and revive the nation’s love of swimming,” says Jacqui Tillman, head of swimming at Everyone Active. Public swimming is the first area of focus for
the partnership, which aims to make improvements across all areas of aquatic activity.
Government needs to do more to offset decline in UK play and activity spaces
The Association of Play Industries (API) has welcomed the £13m government pledge to help improve Britain’s parks but says a
sustained commitment is needed to offset years of decline. Last month, the government announced
£9.7m for councils to maintain, protect and increase recreational spaces, from day-to-day maintenance costs to playground repairs and the creation of new green spaces. An additional £2.75m will be made available for the pocket parks plus programme to support communities to transform neglected and derelict spaces. A further £1.2m has been provided to the
National Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Future Parks Accelerator initiative, which supports local authorities to test new approaches to managing and funding parks. Mark Hardy, chair of the Association of Play
Industries, said the funding was “an important step in the right direction and recognition of the positive impact playgrounds have on millions of children’s lives”. “We need a clear, unequivocal and long-term
commitment to play and activity in the UK and the benefits it brings to young people. An investment now of £100m would provide a further 1,600 playgrounds and play spaces – which is only 10 per cent rise on the number that local authorities reported to be running in 2011. However, the long-term savings made by government in terms of children’s physical and mental health and the cohesion of communities, would far offset this relatively modest investment.”
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pactfacilities.co.uk
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