In 2015 Osprey Leisure Centre introduced FREE swimming classes to local parents and toddlers, the sessions were initially funded by the Olympic Legacy fund.
Sally Pepperell a local mother who took part in the initial classes said “My son who was one and a half at the time, and I were lucky enough to be included in the initial sessions. As he had not yet been in the water, apart from an occasional family trip, he was very unsure about it all, and spent the first fifteen minutes of the lesson clinging to me and crying. However, the instructors at Osprey Leisure were cheerful, enthusiastic and encouraging, making the lessons fun and exciting with a combination of songs, actions to get us moving in the water and toys to chase and play with. As the weeks went by we both started enjoying our swimming time enormously and my little boy started to become much more confident in the water. He loved joining in with the songs and games and splashing me as much as possible! In addition to the benefit of the exercise for us both the social side of playing with new friends in the pool and relaxing having a snack or a coffee in the cafe afterwards became a really enjoyable part of our week. A year on and my little boy is now confident enough to swim by himself with a ‘noodle’ buoyancy aid and to be splashed and swished under the water and come up laughing. Living by the sea, as we do, it is very important to me that he can swim well and is aware of how to be confident and safe near the water. I really believe that this course has given him a really good start on the road to being a happy, enthusiastic swimmer.”
Up until now the pool has been open to both family swimming and public swimming at the same time, with no allotted time for pre-schoolers. The toddlers found it difficult to move back and forth across the shallow end, without creating too much noise and splashing which got in the way of swimmers using the swimming lanes. The FREE swimming for toddler’s course was due to end in Spring 2016 but local Mum, Sally Pepperell set about trying to find a way and some suitable funding to continue the course.
Sally applied to the Portland Court Leet committee and her application was received favourably and secured £500 to allow the pool to open, with a lifeguard, for half an hour on Wednesday mornings for parents and toddlers exclusive use for a period of twelve weeks. Sally went on to say “This new swimming session will be open to any parent/carer and pre-school child at a cost of £2. This money will pay forward for the sessions to keep going as long as they can. I would like to thank Osprey Leisure Centre and the Outlooks Children’s Centre for their support throughout this time and I really think that the benefits, physically and socially, for the many parents and their toddlers who have attended the courses so far has been truly significant and I hope that many more people will have a chance to share in this in the future.”
Nigel Williams, General Manager and Director at Osprey Leisure Centre said “It is great to see the youngsters and their parents not only enjoying themselves in the pool but also increasing their confidence and ability in the water, after all we do live in a seaside environment so who knows how important water confidence will be in years to come for them all. We had been hoping to get a baby or toddler session off the ground for several years but the funding and the hard work of staff at Outlooks allowed this to happen.”
For more information on Osprey Leisure Centre please call 01305 824378 or visit www.ospreyleisure.co.uk
