Penrith Swimming Club

🏊 PROTECT THE PATHWAY | DO YOU RECOGNISE THESE SWIMMERS?

Another trip into the Penrith Swimming Club archives...

Do you recognise these swimmers who competed at Copeland?

For generations, competitions like this have been an important part of growing up with Penrith Swimming Club.

They're about much more than times and medals. They're about travelling with your teammates, representing Penrith, building confidence, experiencing competition and making memories with friends.

Some of the youngsters in our old photographs are now adults. Some continued swimming, some moved into other sports and some have returned to the club in different ways.

But they all had the opportunity to be part of the pathway.

And that's what we want for the next generation.

Every competitive swimmer starts somewhere.

That's why we're standing against the proposals affecting Penrith Swimming Club's

Learn to Swim provision. Protecting the beginning means protecting the opportunities that can follow.

Who will be the next generation travelling across Cumbria wearing a Penrith cap?

Protect the beginning. Protect the pathway. Protect the future.

Please sign and share our petition. https://c.org/Sq6bFDGKtx

For Penrith Swimming Club, learning to swim isn't the end of the journey.

It's the beginning.

Our swimmers can progress through the club, compete for Penrith and ultimately continue swimming into adulthood through our Masters section.

Harry, pictured here, is a great example.

Having swum competitively as a junior, life has changed. Work and adult commitments have to fit around training.

But swimming hasn't disappeared.

Harry continues to train with Penrith Swimming Club through Masters and also takes part in our Adult Water Polo.

That's what a lifelong pathway can create.

Masters swimming provides fitness, friendship, competition for those who want it and, importantly, a way to remain part of your club long after junior swimming finishes.

And many of our adult swimmers started exactly where today's youngest members are starting.

Our junior pathway feeds our future Masters, Water Polo players, coaches and volunteers.

Take away the beginning and the consequences will be felt throughout the club in years to come.

We want today's children to have somewhere to swim at 8, 18, 28, 48, 68 and beyond.

Protect lifelong swimming in Penrith. Protect the pathway.

Please sign our petition. https://c.org/Sq6bFDGKtx

MEET A FAMILY OF

On the day we returned to pool it felt especially relevant to celebrate the family feel our club is famous for.

This is the Grace Family.

The 3 Grace children joined PSC a year ago. They joined PSC to socialise, learn new skills, and improve their fitness. PSC caters to the needs of each child individually. The squad structure allows each child to swim multiple times a week, on the same days, supporting the family to ensure each of their children has access to high quality swim training. For many of our members, PSC is a true family affair.

All 3 children started their journey in the development squad that GLL want to cull.

Daisy now swims in C squad and has started competing with great pride in her first galas for both the club and her primary school.

Freddie swims in D squad and has progressed well, recently swimming 34 lengths in the club's lengths challenge session. He is very excited for the upcoming club champs and can't wait to represent PSC in diddy league.

Poppy is in the Teaching pool and is one of our bravest learners. Nervous of the water when she started, she now puts her face in, dives for sinkies, and has a great kick technique. It is amazing to see her swimming independently and playing tea parties underwater!!

Dad George has been swimming with Master’s for a number of years, and attends the waterpolo sessions on a Friday night too. George started coaching a year ago and recently competed for the club in the Cumbria sprint league; the first time his children had watched him race.

Mum Becky is a very supportive (and tolerant!) swim parent and is a force of encouragement to coaches and swimmers alike in our gallery.

The Grace family believe that the passion and knowledge of swim club members and volunteers has been passed on to their children, who have made new friends, improved their swimming ability and fitness. Learning to swim has given them the confidence to swim in the lakes and the sea, and try other watersports too.

This is what a family-feel club is all about.

Do you recognise any of these faces?

Back in 2016, these youngsters represented Penrith Swimming Club at the Diddy League Grand Final.

Diddy League is a friendly Cumbrian club competition that gives many young swimmers their first experience of competitive swimming.

They were only 9, 10, 11 and 12 years old.

Ten years later, those youngsters are now around 19 to 21.

Some may still swim. Some may be working or studying. Some may be involved in completely different sports. Some may be coaching or volunteering.

But once upon a time, they were the next generation of Penrith swimmers taking their first steps into competition.

Who will be standing in their place ten years from now?

That's the question we have to ask when considering proposals affecting the beginning of our pathway.

Without young swimmers entering the club, developing and progressing, eventually there aren't Penrith swimmers reaching competitions like Diddy League.

We want Penrith represented for generations to come.

Protect the beginning. Protect the pathway. Protect the future.

Please sign and share our petition. https://c.org/Sq6bFDGKtx

WE ARE BACK!

Tonight Penrith Swimming Club returns to the pool.

After an extraordinary few weeks, tonight is about bringing our swimming community back together and showing exactly what we're fighting to protect.

Our campaign against the proposals from GLL/Better and Westmorland and Furness Council continues and our volunteers will keep working to protect the future of our pathway.

But our club is standing strong.

Our swimmers are swimming.

Our coaches are coaching.

Our volunteers are volunteering.

New members are joining.

And Penrith Swimming Club keeps moving forward.

We're still pushing towards 2,500 petition signatures, so please keep signing and sharing.

For tonight, though, it's good to be home.

Welcome back, Penrith Swimming Club.

Sign our petition to protect what generations before us have created: https://c.org/q8M4JYmsyS

ONE MORE SLEEP!

Tomorrow Penrith Swimming Club is BACK TO POOL.

It's certainly been a different summer.

We've campaigned. We've spoken publicly. We've challenged the proposals from GLL/Better and Westmorland and Furness Council and thousands of people have stood alongside us.

Through all of it, our volunteers have remained determined to protect this club for the generations that follow.

Tomorrow we get back to what this is all about.

Our swimmers. Our coaches. Our volunteers. Our club.

Everything is continuing as normal and we cannot wait to see everyone again.

Sign our petition to protect what generations before us have created: https://c.org/q8M4JYmsyS

Every competitive swimmer was once a beginner.

Nobody simply arrives in our competitive squads.
Before the races, medals, personal bests and team competitions comes something much simpler.

Learning.
Learning to float. Learning to kick. Learning the strokes. Building confidence.

Discovering that swimming might be something you love.

At Penrith Swimming Club, that isn't the end of the journey.

It's the beginning of it.

Our introductory swimming feeds into Development and from there swimmers can
progress through our competitive pathway.

Some will compete seriously. Some will swim for fitness. Some will eventually join Masters or Water Polo. Some will become coaches and volunteers.

But they all need somewhere to start.

That's why the proposals affecting our Learn to Swim provision matter to the whole club, not simply our youngest swimmers.

If you protect the beginning, you protect everything that can follow.

Please support our campaign and sign and share the petition. https://c.org/Sq6bFDGKtx

PROTECT THE PATHWAY.

WHAT MAKES PENRITH SWIMMING CLUB SPECIAL?

The friendships.

The competitions.

The first PB.

Moving up a squad.

The coaches giving up their evenings.

The volunteers working behind the scenes.

Parents supporting from poolside.

And generations of people sharing the same club.

That's what our campaign is about protecting.

We will continue challenging the proposals from GLL/Better and Westmorland and Furness Council, but our club remains strong and our sessions continue as normal.

Now it's nearly time to bring everyone back together.

Sign our petition to protect what generations before us have created: https://c.org/q8M4JYmsyS

Back to Pool – Wednesday 2 September.

THANK YOU, PENRITH.

More than 60 people at our public meeting.

Over 2,000 petition signatures.

Businesses displaying our posters.

Families sharing our campaign.

Former swimmers telling their stories.

And now Penrith Town Council standing behind Penrith Swimming Club.

What has happened over the last few weeks has shown just how much this club means to our town.

But our introductory swimming provision is still not secured.

So please don't stop now.

Keep signing. Keep sharing. Keep talking about it.

Together, we can protect this pathway for the next generation.

Sign our petition:
https://c.org/Sq6bFDGKtx

Watch the public meeting and hear directly from our community: https://youtu.be/d1VbnBZfyPA?si=PzsdKieBD7pEeVCZ

145 years. One community. One club.

💙 SOS: SAVE OUR SWIMMING CLUB

Penrith Swimming Club has served this community for 145 years.

Generations of volunteers have built it. Thousands of local people have benefited from it.

Our community even helped raise the money to create the Frenchfield Teaching Pool.

We will not simply stand aside and watch that legacy be weakened.

We want to work with GLL/Better and Westmorland and Furness Council. But we are absolutely clear:

Penrith Swimming Club must be allowed to continue developing the next generation of swimmers.

Now we need Penrith to stand with us.

Our target is 2,500 signatures.

Sign it. Share it. Ask someone else to sign it.
SIGN THE PETITION: https://c.org/2mZRdq26qG
If Penrith stands together, Penrith will be heard.