Poole Swimming Club Covid Appeal

Aim

We are raising vital funds to get our swimmers back in the water, to support them and keep them safe, through Covid and beyond.

We are PSC - a local swim club with a long history in Poole, with nearly 300 swimmers, aged 6 to 18 and beyond. We have been hit hard by Covid and we are working to keep our swimmers training hard to stay fit, to race and to reach their swimming goals, both in pools and open water, supported by our fantastic coaches and volunteers. 

Why are we Crowdfunding?

We want Poole Swimming Club to continue through Covid, so that our swimmers don't become the forgotten generation; so that our young people can stay safe, stay connected with their team mates and friends and so that they can continue on their swimming journey. 

SPORT ENGLAND has generously agreed to pledge match funding for our campaign of £3000, if we can successfully raise 25% of our £7,500 goal.  

Once this funding has been pledged we need to raise the final 35% of our target from our supporters. Sport England will then donate the £3000 to our club, to support our swimmers!

Let’s make sure we hit our target to secure this amazing pledge!

We are now in our SECOND LOCKDOWN, having worked so hard to get our swimmers back in the water successfully. As we plan for our second return, we know that:

• Our pool hire costs have gone UP and this will continue
• Covid restrictions will limit the numbers of swimmers in each lane/session.
• Our total weekly pool time has been CUT, as our local leisure centres struggle to allow us access and have now had to close.
• We will have to allow extra time for safe social distancing between sessions.
• Extra PPE, training and cleaning have added to our running costs.
• We have to CANCEL our usual Fundraisers and Open meets AGAIN! 
• Here is our amazing cake sale team at our last Open Meet in March.
• Even our annual bagpacks at local supermarkets have had to stop:

Our active programme of fundraisers, organised by our members, to help with running costs and extras like equipment, travel costs and coach courses, has been halted by the pandemic and government restrictions on events and gatherings. 

We urgently need help to get us through to 2021, when we hope to celebrate the club's 90th year of service to local swimming.

PSC trains local swimmers of all ages and abilities, who come from our partner Poole Swimming Academy and other local programmes, to begin competitive swimming. They love to develop their four strokes, to learn about dives and tumble turns and correct technique. 

Most of all, they love to race and they are missing the fun and the buzz of a competition with their friends!

We develop these little fishies, who go on to represent their County, the South-West Region and even compete at National competitions such as the England Summer and Winter Nationals and British Summer Championships. 

Here is our team getting fired up and ready to race at Dorset County Championships in February this year:

• Before lockdown, we achieved a massive 376 medals at Dorset County Championships 2020, with 128 GOLDS!
• We would have had a record total of 52 Regional Qualifiers had South-West Regionals not been cancelled in May, due to Covid rules.
• British Summer Championships and English Summer Nationals, too, were cancelled, where many of our top swimmers were due to compete and do well. 
• At the Swim England Winter Nationals, 6 swimmers represented the club, Jacob P, Jas M, Teagan, Thea, Alex B and Robbie, with Jacob P, Jas M and Robbie H bringing home gold, silver and bronze medals and breaking 8 Dorset records. 
• Five PSC swimmers, Max, Tilly, Luca, Charlie and Milly made National Talent Camp selection and Jess H secured a spot at the Regional Talent Camp.
• Two of our swimmers, Robbie and Alex B gained international selections this past season to represent the South-West in Lisbon, along with Assistant Head Coach Jan Hutchings, on the coaching team, who has this year been selected at National Level too.
• Our Head Coach Barry Alldrick was selected to lead the National Events Camps last season and we are keen to develop and train ALL our coaches, from volunteer level up to the very top.
• We want our swimmers to continue to compete again after Covid, both locally, and across the country and even overseas, as here in January, at the Luxembourg Euro 2020 meet.

We want our swimmers to go on to achieve their dreams next year, at all levels, from Dorset Novice League first-timers, through to the club's very own JACOB PETERS, who after winning Silver at the Commonwealth Games in Australia, was on track to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics after his success at the Edinburgh Open Meet in March, just before lockdown. Jacob is now training with British Swimming at the National Swimming Centre in Bath and we would love other young swimmers to be able to dream big too!

We are appealing to anyone who loves the club, and loves the sport of swimming, to please take a look at our page and help us if you can. Swimming can be a lifelong sport, for fitness, for fun, for friendship. It is a vital life skill for children living on the coast and near rivers and every swimmer knows the confidence and discipline our sport teaches. Our Masters' Swimmers will testify to the lifelong love of the water our club has given them. Our Open Water and Triathlete members need to train in the pool too and need coaches, who are able to deliver safe, quality training on our amazing Dorset coast.

We have worked extremely hard to keep our costs as low as they can be for our swimmers and their families, who are all facing the impact of Covid. We have many volunteers giving their time to support, to coach, to motivate and to lead our club.

Any money we would have raised through our own competitions and events has been made impossible this year and this looks set to be the case for the coming months and through into 2021. 

Our coaches and volunteer parents kept our swimmers together through the first lockdown, with Zoom quizzes, baking sessions, workout ideas and later beach training. 

Coach Jan wrote a song and Coach Barry sent motivational exercise videos.

We kept fit with Joe Wicks. We baked healthy flapjacks with Coach Jan on Zoom, we held our streamline with Coach Chris on dryland and we found ways to adapt without a pool! We are ready to the same in Lockdown 2.

We have worked hard to keep our club together and to ensure our survival, with everything from second hand kit sales, Bakeoff Zoom sessions led by coaches, and going forwards, Zoom Webinars on athlete development, a Commemorative Covid Cookbook, and the sale of PSC face coverings all in the pipeline.

We know we must work for our club's future, but we are calling on your help, too, to support us in our efforts. 

Are you a past member of PSC? Do you remember the early mornings and appreciate the life skills and resilience the club and the sport gave to you? Do you feature in any of these photos? We'd love to hear from our PSC alumni!

Can you spot one current PSC volunteer and one senior local official in this press shot from the 1980s?

Do you remember the club from years gone by and the dedication of past volunteers, who are still remembered and honoured by our club and its members today? Pictured below: Wendy Hooper, who we sadly lost last year, receiving a club award and PSC's minute's applause for Gordon Smart at a club open meet.

• Are you a parent or relative of a current swimmer in the club, who wants to see the club thrive and continue to reach your swimmer's goals?
• Are you a local business who can offer financial help or REWARDS to encourage donations?
• Are you a current or a former swim official, who wants to see the club thrive?

Do you want to support swimming, and opportunities for young people (and slightly older people!) in the local area through these challenging times?

If so, we would be incredibly grateful for any donation you are able to make and on behalf of everyone at Poole Swimming Club, THANK YOU!

This project successfully funded on 19th January 2021