Free swimming for Pendle primary school children

The swimming sessions are being funded by a number of individual town and parish councils – Barnoldswick Town Council, Brierfield Town Council, Colne Town Council, Nelson Town Council, Earby Town Council, Kelbrook and Sough Parish Council, Reedley Hallows Parish Council, Goldshaw Booth Parish Council and Foulridge Parish Council, as well as St Michael and All Angels CE Primary School, Foulridge.

Children aged 5-11 years in these towns and villages will be entitled to swim for free at Pendle Leisure Trust’s three pools – Pendle Wavelengths, Nelson; Pendle Leisure Centre, Colne and West Craven Sports Centre, Barnoldswick, during this year’s school holidays – starting this Easter.

The full list of holidays include Easter, May Half-Term, Summer, October Half-Term 2022 and February Half-Term 2023.

Pendle primary school children will be allowed access to the pools at certain times on certain weekdays during the holidays.

When this scheme was first introduced a few years ago, it was very well received, with hundreds of children taking up the offer to swim for free.

Chief Executive of Pendle Leisure Trust, Alison Goode, said: “I’m delighted to say that thanks to cash contributions from some of Pendle’s town and parish councils, we will be able to keep local youngsters active at our facilities during the school holidays.

“It is important for us to be able to provide a safe environment for young children to be able to exercise and keep active; and we are grateful for the generosity of the town and parish councils to support this initiative.”