Bedworth Disabled Swimming Club provides free weekly swimming sessions for members of the community with a disability or difficulty with mainstream swimming. They support around 50 members including their carers or parents.
The organisation was awarded £1,000 through the Alan Higgs Community Grants to provide a level 1 swimming course for four volunteers.
Sheila Carey, Coaching Co-ordinator at Bedworth Disabled Swimming Club, explained:
“The funding was needed as we have a severe shortage of qualified teachers, the volunteers will be able to improve the confidence in their teaching as well as securing a qualification.
“Most of our young swimmers would not be able to learn to swim in the mainstream system and older swimmers often need specialist equipment and help to be able to swim. If we were without teachers our club would not be able to continue and the service to the disabled community would be lost. We are so thankful to the funders for their support.”
Jean Noonan, a volunteer benefitting from the swimming course, shared:
“It’s very important to receive this training to ensure I give the correct level of support to the service users and sufficient professional support to the coach. I feel that I’m helping to provide safety and confidence for our service users when they’re entering and leaving the water and performing exercises at the required levels.”
In November 2022 Bedworth Disabled Swimming Club took part in the NASCH National finals gala in Leamington Spa. Sheila added:
“We won the Junior Team Trophy and had quite a lot of individual success. It’s been great to see our swimmers improve and it’s been helped by our new qualified volunteers!”
If you’d like to apply for the Alan Higgs Community Grants, click here.