Who are we?
We are the Coggeshall Community Sports Association, a registered charity created to build and subsequently maintain a swimming pool in our village.
Why are we crowdfunding?
The pool's filtration plant is close to the end of its working life and must be replaced, but the funds we had set aside for that purpose had to be used instead for urgent and major repairs to our building. We have to raise the required funds to replace the plant before it becomes inoperable or our pool will close for good.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The money we raise will be used entirely towards the cost of replacing the ageing plant with a new system, which will serve us for at least another 10 years. The new system will also be much more environmentally friendly through the use of less power and fewer chemicals.
We have grant money approved for part of the cost, but to complete the essential work required, we need a further £30,000. If we can raise £15,000 it will be matched by Sport England to provide the total amount we need.
Community impact
We currently run swimming lessons every weekday evening and Saturday mornings during school term time for nearly 400 local young children. There are also lessons for children with special needs, local primary school lessons, private hire at weekends and RNLI training courses to create newly qualified lifeguards. Once the plant is replaced, we also plan to pilot public swimming sessions to expand the range of services we offer to our local community.
Alternative pools for young children to develop their water skills are several miles away, already well subscribed and inaccessible for local residents without access to a car. If our pool closes, there is little doubt that many children, including some with special needs and no obvious alternative pool they can use, will suffer.
There is no need to list the health and safety benefits that come from learning to swim at a young age and we're determined that this important activity will continue in Coggeshall.
How you can play your part
There are four ways that you can 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 maybe your friends and other contacts will also want to get behind us! The more people we reach, especially those living locally who will most appreciate what the loss of the pool would mean, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. If you are a local business and want to support us, perhaps there are goods or services you could donate that we could offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out to make sure they are all made aware of your generosity! We are very grateful to the following local businesses who have already helped us with rewards and prizes.
4. Fundraise for us. If you have an idea for an additional way to raise funds that you're willing to work on – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. That might lead to setting up your own page to publicise your plan. It only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!