Free holiday swimming for thousands of children

Thousands of children will be able to swim for free again this year, during the school holidays.

Wiltshire Council is offering swimming sessions to all primary and secondary school pupils who receive free school meals.

Trialled last year, the scheme attracted more than 5,000 visits to council-run leisure centre pools, with most people using their free ticket five times.

Councillor Jon Hubbard said: "Swimming is an absolute key skill, whether you live by the sea or in a landlocked county. I'm thrilled we can continue this offer."

The scheme, which will be available at all council-run leisure centres with a pool, is due to start at Easter.

Eligible children will be offered one free swim per week for up to 13 weeks during all school holidays.

Hubbard said he was "delighted" last year's pilot was such a success.

"There are around just under 13,000 young people across the county who have access to free school meals," he said.

"There was a really good uptake of [the offer] during last summer's school holidays, so we're hoping that second year in even more young people will be able to take advantage."

He said the cost to the council of having "five or six more people in the pool" for each session was negligible.

"We're still running the pool for that session," he said.

"We want every child and young person to enjoy healthy, active opportunities."

The council said the scheme would be reviewed after each holiday period.

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