Building a future for swimming in Aviemore

Aim

Creating dedicated community swimming provision in Aviemore, with reliable access to swimming, learning, exercise and water safety.

Aviemore needs reliable access to swimming.

Swimming is an essential life skill - especially in a rural community surrounded by rivers, lochs and open water. Yet across Aviemore and Badenoch & Strathspey, access to swimming is limited and often depends on hotel pools, restricted availability or travelling elsewhere.

SwimWise Scotland CIC wants to change that.

We are exploring the feasibility of creating a dedicated community swimming facility in Aviemore, providing reliable, year-round access to swimming, lessons, aquatic activities, exercise and water-safety education.

What does the £150,000 Crowdfunder target mean?

£150,000 is not the full cost of creating a community swimming facility.

Delivering a project of this scale will require significantly more investment, brought together from a range of funding sources.

Our Crowdfunder is one important part of that bigger funding picture. The money raised will go directly towards getting the project off the ground and moving it towards delivery, alongside the larger grants, investment and other funding needed to create the facility.

Just as importantly, every donation demonstrates that people are willing to get behind the project. That community backing strengthens our case with larger funders, partners and investors for the substantial additional funding we need.

We're not asking our community to fund the entire swimming facility. We're asking you to help us build the foundations - financially and practically - that can make it possible.

Why does Aviemore need better access to swimming?

Right now, access to swimming in and around Aviemore is limited and fragmented. There is no dedicated community swimming facility serving Aviemore and the wider communities across Badenoch & Strathspey, and much of the available swimming relies on access to hotel or other privately operated pools.

For people living in the village and across the wider Strath, that can mean limited public swimming, restricted timetables, difficulty accessing lessons and coached activities, or having to travel elsewhere to swim.

We see this first-hand through SwimWise. We already support children, adults, families, schools and swimmers with additional support needs, but what we can offer is continually shaped by the pool space and access available to us.

Swimming here matters for more than exercise. We live in an area surrounded by lochs, rivers and open water, making swimming ability, water confidence and water-safety education particularly important.

We want to create reliable, year-round swimming provision that gives people across our community more opportunities to learn, swim, exercise and enjoy the water.

What we're working towards:

Our aim is to create a dedicated community swimming facility in Aviemore, providing reliable, year-round access for people across Badenoch & Strathspey.

At the heart of the project will be a swimming pool capable of supporting learn-to-swim, public and family swimming, fitness and coached swimming, school swimming, aquatic activities, water-safety education and accessible and supported sessions.

We want the facility to be welcoming, accessible and financially sustainable, with a programme that works for children and adults, beginners and experienced swimmers, families, schools and people who may need additional support to access the water.

We have already explored potential sites and pool solutions, and that work continues. We're also talking with funders, potential partners and other local organisations as we explore the strongest route to delivering the project.

The final location, pool specification and delivery model are not yet fixed. That gives us the opportunity to develop the project around the evidence we're gathering, the funding available and opportunities to work with others - rather than committing too early to one solution.

Why SwimWise Scotland?

SwimWise Scotland CIC is already delivering swimming opportunities within our community. Every week we work with children, adults, families, schools and swimmers with additional support needs, alongside our wider work in water safety and open-water swimming.

We know the challenges of accessing pool space because we work within those constraints every week. We also know the difference that reliable access to swimming can make.

As a Community Interest Company, our purpose is to create community benefit. Developing dedicated swimming provision is a big step, but it builds directly on the work we're already doing and the need we see around us.

We're not starting with a pool and looking for a purpose. We're starting with the people we already work with - and asking how we can create something better for the whole community.

Help us make it happen

If you believe better access to swimming would make a difference to Aviemore and the wider Strath, please support the project in whatever way you can.

A donation of any size helps move the project forward and demonstrates the strength of community backing behind it. Sharing the Crowdfunder with friends, family, colleagues, and local businesses also helps us reach people well beyond our existing SwimWise community.

If you're a local business, organisation or potential partner interested in supporting the project in another way, we'd also love to hear from you.

This is an ambitious project, and we know it won't happen overnight. But with community support, strong partnerships and the right funding behind it, we believe we can build a better future for swimming in Aviemore and across Badenoch & Strathspey.

💙 💚 Thank you for being part of it. 💙 💚

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 24th November 2026 at 8:47pm