Bromley Swimming Club Fund Raising Appeal

Bromley SC is a highly successful swimming club in South East London.  We are home to over 200 members ranging from those who have only just learnt to swim, all the way up to those competing at a junior international level, as well as offering a home to 28 Masters swimmers. 

Over the last 10 years Bromley has transformed into a nationally recognised club and what we saw of the 2019/2020 season was our most successful year to date. As a team our athletes pushed the club to new heights by qualifying for the National Arena League A Cup Final for the first time in the club's long history. We finished as the 8th best team in the country. We also scored enough points to achieve the Top Club in Kent at our County Championships for the first time ever, as well as having two swimmers selected to represent GB at the Junior European Championships and the European Youth Olympic Festival. These selections in 2019 led to further accolades in 2020 as Bromley produced its very own British Record holder. Keeping the home fires burning we also had many swimmers selected for the National, Regional and County talent programmes. It was a fantastic start to the season and we were looking forward to seeing nine of our swimmers compete at the Olympic Trials in April 2020 before its obvious cancellation.  

The achievements above are the result of a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication from our coaches, our athletes, their parents and the many volunteers who give up so much of their time to help us operate. Much of this same spirit has powered us through the pandemic and helped keep our club glued together even when there was no water in sight! We were all so happy to be back under one roof again in August following the initial National Lockdown, and the uptake for our summer sessions showed us just how important swimming is to the lives of our athletes and our Bromley family as a whole. Even through the November lockdown, followed by tier 4 and then the renewed National lockdown introduced just after Christmas, our team has stuck together and remained dedicated to their fitness, health and goals, and the wellbeing of their teammates. 

The effects of Covid-19: 

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a hugely detrimental effect on all swimming clubs, and at Bromley we have seen pool hire costs double, a reduction of pool time available, our membership decreased, and a reduction of our operating capacity coupled with increased coaching staff in order to ensure we are following Covid-19 guidelines. 

In our bid to continue to provide as normal a service as possible to our members at minimal cost during this time we have vastly depleted our reserves. This, combined with the fact that the lockdowns clashed with what would usually have been some important sources of fundraising for our club (namely our Open Meet competitions, club championships and other opportunities created by hosting league galas) has meant we have been unable to secure the funds we need over the past season. 

We hope to use this campaign to raise money in order to ensure we can keep all costs to our membership low, and help swimming remain a sport that is accessible to all. 

Any money raised will go towards: 

• Helping to cover the additional costs incurred due to the Covid-19 pandemic to limit the need to pass these on to our membership. 
• Funding our S&C sessions which have been and are being provided online during lockdowns. 
• Paying our coaching staff who are providing what services they can during lockdowns. 
• Increasing our hardship fund to enable those who are struggling financially to continue to access the sport. 
• To help us safeguard against any future restrictions. 

Sport England Funding:
Sport England have launched a funding stream called 'Active Together' which we would be eligible to apply for should we raise 25% of our target from 50 different donations. If successful Sport England would potentially match 30-50% of our total target (up to £5000) which would be a huge help to our campaign.

We intend to run a series of crowdfunder prize draws (T&Cs in 'Updates') and other activities in order to help us reach our target and secure the extra Sport England funding. Please join in and support our club as much as you can, either by donating or by sharing our campaign far and wide. We really do need your support to help us keep Bromley running for all our members, both current and future.