Brighton Swimming Club - starting blocks campaign

Aim

Our aim is to fundraise £9000 so Brighton Swimming Club can replace the old and dangerous starting blocks at the City's main public pool

Who are we?

We are Brighton Swimming Club, the UK's oldest swimming club formed in 1860 - you might recognise one of our early photos!

We're proud of our history and heritage, but we're very much part of the community today.

Our 600 members range in age from 5 to 95... some are learning to swim, some want to stay mentally and physically well, others compete - up to international standard... juniors, squad swimmers, water polo players, masters, synchro-ers and year-round sea swimmers. Run almost entirely by volunteers on a non-profit basis, we're one of the biggest and most successful competitive Clubs in Sussex.

But that's just part of our story...

A Club for the Community

BSC plays a vital role providing opportunities and developing life-skills for our swimmers within the Club - many employers have commented on the discipline and work ethic of our young people - developed through the commitment and resilience of regular training. But we also support the wider swimming community across Brighton and Hove. We provide many of the lifeguards working in our local pools, many of the swimming teachers in the City have been trained by the Club - and we work with diverse groups across the City to support aquatics throughout the community - providing coaches, organising events, offering advice and support.  

The diversity of the activities we offer is almost unique for a swimming club - which means our membership is drawn from right across the community. We are one of the few swimming clubs to offer synchro and waterpolo alongside pool swimming. Water polo in particular is enjoying a renaissance - with a new women's team, juniors and intermediates playing alongside veterans. And of course there's sea swimming: the club started on the beach, and today our 300 members continue to swim in the sea day in day out, year round. 

The national and county league galas we host, and the two 'open' competitions we organise, bring hundreds of swimmers and their families into the City from across the South East. With many choosing to eat, drink and often stay for a weekend, these events help generate tens of thousands of pounds for the local economy each year.

How our project will be United by Birmingham 2022

Every young swimmer aspires to compete on a stage like the Commonwealth Games. Following the success of Birmingham 2022, swimming has seen a big upswing in popularity and the club has seen a marked increase in joining enquiries.  

Brighton Swimming Club embodies the values and objectives of United by Birmingham 2022.

Our Club is fully inclusive, brings together and welcomes people from across the community irrespective of age, race, gender or ability.

At its heart, swimming is a sport – encouraging and improving physical and mental health and wellbeing.

We are a catalyst for change: we encourage and support our members to reach their personal goals, often leading to change in lifestyle as well as providing training to help members find new work opportunities and learn valuable life skills.

Our events bring thousands of families into the city each year, bringing tens of thousands of pounds into the local economy, helping our region grow and putting us on the map.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Swimming and aquatics has never been more popular, but the sad reality is that our facilities in Brighton and Hove are getting old and crying out for investment

Brighton Swimming Club currently uses outdated, slip-prone starting blocks at our home pool - the Prince Regent Swimming Complex in central Brighton. 

Numerous swimmers from Brighton and elsewhere have experienced injuries using the existing starting blocks. But their replacement is expensive and needs a significant cash investment. We need 6 olympic starting blocks for our 6 lane pool.

It has been a long term goal of Brighton Swimming Club to purchase new blocks. We need them for own swimmers, but also to ensure Brighton remains an attractive swimming venue for athletes from further afield. 

However, due to the covid pandemic, there have been very few opportunities for the Club to fundraise and our cash reserves have been severely depleted as we've coped with the pandemic and more recently rising costs.  Our swimmers continued to train hard at home during the multiple lockdowns but now is the time to really optimise the training opportunities and get back on track.  Modern competitive training blocks will help us achieve this goal.

Brighton and Hove City Council and the facility operator Freedom Leisure have generously committed to buy 4 new blocks. However, that means that as a club we need to find around £11000 to buy the remaining 2 blocks, protective covers and replace the water polo goals that will no longer fit with the new blocks.

As a Club we've already raised £2500 from fundraising and kit sales, and Sussex County ASA and Brighton Dolphin SC have both made brilliantly generous contributions. But we still need to raise more!

As well as being dangerous, our existing blocks do not allow swimmers to get the best start to their races: to do well they need to practice using "Olympic style" starting blocks.  This is vital for their training and safety.  New blocks will also benefit other Clubs using the pool and the wider community during learn to swim lessons - helping young children with the vital life skills of swimming.

How we’ll spend the money raised

The money we raise will be used directly to pay for new starting blocks at the City's main swimming pool. We also hope that we will have enough to buy protective covers to help the Centre staff avoid unsafe and unsupervised use in public sessions, and contribute to the overall improvement of an important public facility - for the benefit of everyone in Brighton and Hove.

As we replace the blocks, we'll also need to replace our water polo goals. Water polo is enjoying a welcome renaissance in the Club - with increased participation, new women's, junior and intermediate teams. In the last 18 months our polo section has played a lead role in rejuvenating the Sussex waterpolo league as well as playing fixtures across the South East.

• 2 new blocks - £5000
• Covers and accessories £3000
• New waterpolo goals - £3000

The Club has worked hard to raise £2500 outside this Crowdfunder - hence our £9000 target.

How you can play your part

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

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us 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 by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Create a fundraiser of your own. Use the button on our page to get started. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

This project successfully funded on 1st December 2022