Free Swimming Safety Sessions & Crash Courses at Alive

We are proud to announce we will be running FREE Swimming Safety Sessions at all ALIVE Swimming Pools, which include educational sessions followed by a practical session for children aged 4-12 yrs, in order to measure their level of water safety. Sessions will be held in June to raise awareness of Drowning Prevention Week.

After assessing children in the water, we will inform you if we feel your child would benefit from a swimming crash course. The Swimming Safety Sessions will be held at Alive St James on Monday 16 June at 4pm-5pm, Alive Downham – Wednesday 18 June at 4pm-5pm & Alive Oasis on Thursday 19 June at 4pm-5pm. Simply call the centre to register your child for any of these sessions – spaces are limited.

If your child is recommended a Free Crash Course at any of our pools this summer. These sessions are created to help children build confidence in the water and equip them with essential life-saving skills.

These sessions have been kindly funded by King’s Lynn Priory Rotary Club for St James Pool sessions and Hunstanton & District Rotary Club for Oasis sessions.

Our popular Swimming Crash Courses Cover:

• Float to Survive: Teaching children how to remain calm and float to increase their chances of survival in an emergency.
• Emergency Response: Educating them on how to call for help and respond effectively during emergencies.
• Safe Rescue Techniques: Demonstrating the use of equipment like throw lines to assist others while ensuring their own safety.

These courses aim to give children the confidence and skills they need to protect themselves and others in the event of unexpected water submersion. By participating, they can learn how to stay safe and even save lives in critical situations. Together, we can build a safer community by empowering our children with vital water safety knowledge.

Cllr Simon Ring, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Business, at the borough council said,

“Learning good swimming skills early in life can help save lives and is indispensable to the development of young people. I welcome the action that Alive are taking at our swimming venues during Drowning Prevention Week and thank the organisations who have agreed to fund these sessions. I urge families to take advantage of these free safety courses and hope that many of our young residents benefit from them.”

Siobhan Cleeve, Head of Leisure at Alive said,

“Drowning prevention week for us, is all about making sure our local communities and those living near our beautiful coastlines feel completely at ease and safe in their surroundings. Whether they're splashing around at the local beach, taking a dip in open water, or just enjoying a swim on holiday, we want everyone to have the confidence to truly enjoy these experiences. We hope the sessions make a difference to our residents and empower them to embrace the amazing surroundings we are so lucky to have in the Borough."

"A huge thank you to the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk and the local Rotary clubs for their invaluable contribution to this effort, and to our talented team whose expertise will be making this week a real success!"

Oasis Crash course will be held every Saturday 11am–11.30am & 11.30am-12 noon from 19 July until 26 August.

St James Crash Course will be held 28 July 11 August and 26 August. Sessions are 30 minutes between 9am-11am daily (depending on age and ability).

Downham Leisure Courses will be held 4- 8 August and18-22 August. Sessions are 30 minutes between 9am -10am daily (depending on age and ability).

Information about our Centre Managers and staff who will be leading these sessions

Mair, Operations Manager at Alive St James has been training and delivering lifeguard & first aid courses for the RLSS for the last 13 years – teaching a wide varied of people the basic life support skills to use in an emergency situation. She is also a swimming tutor for the Swimming Teachers Association – training adults to become swimming teachers up to level 2 standard. With 20 years of teaching experience from child lessons all the way up to adults, she knows how to get the best out of the swimmers and how to progress through the levels.

Cathryn is a trainer assessor for the RLSS delivering lifeguard and first aid courses for the last 4 years. Since completing this Cathryn has also become qualified in an open water tutor to be able to lifeguard and train adults in the rescue techniques of open water swimming. This has allowed the BCKLWN to put on swim safe sessions in the sea last year – teaching children the basics of swimming in the sea and being safe in the water.

Dave, Centre Manager at Alive Oasis for nearly 30 years holding many different positions over the years all supporting the local community to keeping active. Dave is an experienced Lifeboat Crew member for the last 28 years being the helmsman and trainer assessor for the Hunstanton RNLI – providing emergency care to people that are in trouble at the sea. His vast knowledge of the town and surrounding areas over the years is invaluable, he is also the local Watch Manager for the Hunstanton Fire station which has taught him how to deal with difficult situations and to help the local community in their hour of need.

Louise has worked for the council for 30 years and been at Alive Downham Leisure for 23 years. Louise has seen the importance of swimming lessons for children and adults and has seen the learn to swim programme and the competitive swimming club grow through the years.  Louise has a strong passion to ensure high quality of service is delivered through our swimming lessons to ensure the essential life skill of swimming is achieved by all.

Drowning prevention stats

Over the last 5 years 22 people have drowned in Norfolk

In England in 2022 there was 436 deaths with the following breakdowns:

• Accidents = 145
• Crime related = 4
• Natural causes = 6
• No cause recorded = 127
• Suicides = 154

Generally, men are 3 times more likely to die from drownings than women.

Norfolk fire and rescue service attended over 200 incidents related to water safety over the last 5 years and 22 resulted in fatalities.

When someone hits 15 years old, statistically the water is more likely to claim a life.