Biddulph Swimming Club Crowdfunding Campaign

Aim

Campaign to protect the long term future of the Swimming Club by raising money for the replacement of our damaged and obsolete equipment.

Who are we?

Biddulph Amateur Swimming Club, or BASC as we are commonly known, is one of the premier swimming clubs in Staffordshire.

We strive to ensure all our members reach their full potential, whilst training within a friendly and stimulating environment. It is through our structured swimming programme that we have elite level swimmers consistently reaching County, Regional and National level. This year, we are proud to say several swimmers have been selected for the Swim England Talent Pathway.

Our aim has always been to develop well rounded young athletes with a passion for swimming. This remains the goal of our local Head Coach, Sarah Nixon and her dynamic coaching team.

We currently have over 150 members from 108 families, of ages ranging from 7 to 61 years old, who is part of our very successful Masters squad. 

We are much more than a swimming club

Next year will see BASC celebrate it’s 50 year anniversary. In that time we have taken great pride in making swimming available to all ages and abilities across the community. Our desire is stronger than ever to promote our sport, so that others can fall in love with swimming.  

We’ve come to realise that teaching swimming at grass roots level can create a lifelong involvement in the sport, and through continued training comes personal growth and friendships that can last a lifetime. We strive for inclusiveness within the club so that each member feels valued and part of our team.

We are proud to have some of the most dedicated young swimmers in Staffordshire and Cheshire.  As a member of a competitive team, they develop resilience, become organised and self-disciplined. They learn to set goals and maintain focus as they plan for the year ahead.  Some of our swimmers regularly train twice a day, before and after school/ work.  It becomes a way of life to many, not only helping to maintain their physical fitness, but support their mental wellbeing too.

The commitment of its swimmers is undoubtedly matched by the enthusiasm of its supporters. Ever present at events is our army of friends and family, guaranteeing our young swimmers are never far away from a friendly face and positive words of encouragement.  The club has always encouraged the promotion of new officials. They show complete dedication, attending galas throughout the country, ensuring children have the chance to achieve their dreams.   

BASC is more than just a swimming club, it is a family and we hope to be an integral part of the local community for many more years.

How are we part of the Community?

BASC has had a long lasting and strategic role within the community.   

We have forged a strong partnership we our leisure centre and it’s through the equipment and coaches we provide that so many children from various schools can hold their own galas.  It's thoroughly satisfying to see children experience this race environment for the first time and then go on to express a desire to join the club. This is a fantastic achievement, when so many schools are unable to reach national curriculum standards in regards to swimming as a result of Covid and reduced local facilities. 

It's no surprise that as it stands a reported 1 in 4 eleven-year-old children leave primary school unable to competently and confidently swim a required 25m in a variety of strokes or perform safe self-rescue (reference swim.org).

It is through shared resources the local leisure centre can offer lane swimming to the general public to all ages and abilities. 

We recognise that safety in the water is very important and this life skill is normally at the forefront of every parents’ mind when they book swimming lessons for their child.  It is sad to see young swimmers stop lessons before they complete all of their badges and therefore miss the opportunity to progress to a swimming club. In many respects, they have been denied the opportunity to truly enjoy their swimming and develop a love for the sport.   Our answer has been to introduce a 'Junior Squad', whereby younger swimmers who have not yet completed their badges can join our classes. This has proven extremely successful and parents are often amazed how adding a competitive element to their swimming, re-ignites their childs’ enthusiasm.

We can appreciate that not all swimmers want to compete. We always try to provide an enjoyable environment whereby recreational swimmers can still feel part of a club and enjoy all the physical and mental health benefits, without the pressure to compete.

Why are we Crowdfunding?

BASC hosts an annual “open” gala for swimmers from other clubs across Staffordshire and Cheshire. This is a fantastic event for all the swimmers. Traditionally, it is the revenue generated from this event that keeps the club financially stable for the year. 

To host such an event relies on: reliable timing equipment; up to date starting blocks and lane ropes that are fit for purpose.  It is of huge concern that our electronic timing equipment is now obsolete and unreliable. Replacement parts are no longer manufactured. Current lane ropes are damaged and in desperate need of replacing. Our existing blocks are out of date following a major change in starting platforms back in 2008. As a result, we have not been able to host this event and subsequently lost the income that it brings to the club and will continue to lose in the future. 

It has been a massive achievement to come through the Covid pandemic, but we are now amidst the “cost of living crisis” and leisure centres are experiencing spiralling fuel costs. This will soon impact on the club and we envisage there to be challenging times ahead.  Our pool hire costs are over £64,000 annually. Covered largely by membership subscriptions the ever increasing energy and operating costs that are crippling many other swimming communities, are certain to have an impact.   As a committee, we feel it is vital to bring back our extremely popular “open” gala to regain its revenue stream for the future.

It is critical that we renew the electronic timing equipment, replacing the lane ropes and blocks. Calculations show that the club has lost approximately £20,000 as a direct result of not hosting the gala over recent years.

Ultimately, we hope that our crowdfunding project will safeguard the long term future of the club.

How we will spend the money we raise?

The money raised will go towards:

A new six lane timing system for club competitions, which will include touchpads, scoring board and software.

New anti-wave lane ropes. These are approximately £600 and we need 5 of them. 

Replacement 'race start' blocks. These are approximately £1100 and we need 1 in each lane of our 6 lane pool.

What we have. What we'd like.

How can you help?

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target and make this project a reality:

1. Make a pledge and support us. Don’t delay because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards & get involved. If you are a local business please donate a gift or service we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

As a Community Sports Club we will be applying for funding from the Sport England 'Active Together' fund. Should we be successful in our application, we could receive an additional pledge of 30% of our target. 

We will only be eligible if we hit our target and do so with a minimum number of unique supporters, as stipulated by Sport England. This genuinely matters to everyone associated with the swimming club so please help to support us by donating to our campaign.

We have been serving the local community for nearly 50 years and we hope that all of our extended swimming family, former swimmers, supporters local people and  businesses will be able to help us.

We can't see our club suffer because of financial impacts outside of our control and we must succeed to support our communities next generation of swimmers.

From each and every one of us, thank you.

Biddulph Amateur Swimming Club

This project successfully funded on 26th July 2023