Lynn swim club's final dive
A LONG-standing Lynn swimming club which helps disabled people is closing its doors at the end of the month, owing to lack of support.
However, West Norfolk Council has come to the rescue by allowing its established sessions to continue, albeit without an organised club running them.
The Kingfisher Swimming Club, which started 30 years ago, will hold its last session at St James' Pool on Saturday, November 24.
"Falling numbers and a chronic shortage of helpers mean that the club has reached a point where it is no longer viable," said treasurer Mrs Gunilla Holt.
The club – which meets at the pool on Monday and Saturday afternoons – was started in October 1977 by a small band of dedicated volunteers, including the late Mrs Bobby McHugo and Mr Norman Elcombe, who were convinced of the benefits of swimming and water therapy for people with disabilities.
It flourished for many years but recently recruitment of new volunteers has proved increasingly difficult, said Mrs Holt, with the running of the club coming to rest on the shoulders of just a few long-standing members, and nobody available to step into their shoes as they retire from their positions.
The decision to close was taken by an extraordinary meeting of the club last month.
"The little core of 'hardy perennials', both swimmers and helpers, are going to miss the Kingfisher sessions very much indeed as these sessions have been a part of their lives for a long time, with many friendships made along the way," said Mrs Holt, adding the club thanked all those who had helped over the years and also wished its disabled swimmers all the best for a future that, hopefully, would still include swimming.
A spokesman for the borough council said sessions at the pool for the disabled would continue at the same times – Mondays 1.30pm to 2.30 pm (small pool) and 2pm to 2.30pm (main pool) and Saturdays 5pm to 6pm (both pools).
"Disabled swimmers will come under the Leisure Card pricing scheme and their helpers will swim free of charge," she said.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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