Thame’s swimming talent hampered by lack of facilities

THAME Swimming Club has been so successful that it has reached the limit of what it can do to take its talented young swimmers further forward into the world of serious competition.

The facilities at Thame Leisure Centre and particularly the time slots available these days as so many groups, Lord Williams’s School and individuals are using the pool, that there are insufficient hours in the day for the club’s most talented swimmers to get the training in needed for them to progress.

It is these concerns that led Thame Swimming Club’s Chair, Phil Evans, to attend Tuesday’s meeting of Thame Town Council’s Neighbourhood Plan Continuity Committee.  He asked the town council to work with the club, and other stakeholders, to develop a ‘vision for aquatics’ when/if both the Neighbourhood Plan and the council’s Sports Strategy are revised.

Phil told Councillors: “We are losing good swimmers out of the sport once lessons have finished because of a lack of local facilities.” As well as the pool only having five lanes and the limit of only two-hour sessions at a time, the Spectator area is limited for galas etc and access not good for wheelchair users, he added.

Thame Swimming Club has gone from strength to strength since it began in 2009, with a membership now of 130, from a catchment area including Long Crendon, Haddenham, Chinnor and Wheatley, and a waiting list. It has competed successfully at both regional and national level, with children starting at aged 7 years, and has an annual turnover of £120,000. In order to get pool time and training in bigger pools, the club has to utilise other pools in the area but these two have limited time slots available.

Phil concluded: “We are now at the point where coaching has achieved as much as it can. We can go no further. Swimmers will just leave; one has already gone to High Wycombe.”

Whilst the town council made no promises to the Swimming Club, Cllr Anne Midwinter suggested that they go to South Oxfordsire District Council in the first instance because it has responsibility for the pool, and tell them what the club needs.