London Pools Campaign: newspapers

'Londoners won't have more public swimming pools by 2012' | 2012 London Olympics

webteam — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:35:51 GMT

"Olympics chiefs' plans for the sporting legacy of the 2012 Games took a blow today as the provision of public swimming pools in London was revealed.

An unprecedented audit of facilities by the London Assembly shows that after decades of closures 40 per cent of Londoners live more than one mile - or 20 minutes' walk - from their nearest public pool.

The report's authors warned that provision of public pools was unlikely to improve before the 2012 Olympics.

They said the findings suggest ministers will find it difficult to boost participation in sport - a key legacy aim of the London Games - through its £140 million free swimming scheme for children and over-sixties. The survey adds to concerns about public sports facilities raised by the Standard's campaign for a legacy from the London Olympics."

(Via 'Londoners won't have more public swimming pools by 2012' | 2012 London Olympics: .)

London sports facilities are costly and thin on the ground

webteam — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:01:30 GMT

"The poor state of London's council-run sports facilities is exposed by the Evening Standard today.

Figures show a postcode lottery in sports amenities, with six out of 33 local authorities lacking an athletics track."

(Via London sports facilities are costly and thin on the ground | 2012 London Olympics: .)

Why are we all swimming in red tape? - Telegraph

webteam — Mon, 19 May 2008 17:51:39 GMT

"Council swimming pools are shutting at the rate of seven a month, with the mendacious excuse of underuse generally cited as the reason for closure. Everywhere, the arrival of summer is marked by the sight of stomachs spilling over waistbands. It cannot be a coincidence."

(Via Why are we all swimming in red tape? - Telegraph: .)

Mark Foster's Beijing Olympics dream- Telegraph

webteam — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:32:01 GMT

"'The Government is doing its best to promote healthy living - that's what the smoking ban is about. They know they need to crack down on obesity, but if you are closing swimming pools, how does that help you to promote good health? What's more, if you close pools, you will ultimately diminish our performance in the sport.'

Foster worries that swimming is no longer an option in this country for millions of potentially talented children whose local pool may have been closed. 'If a teenaged Mark Foster was coming along today it would be a lot more difficult than it was when I was young,' he said.

'I think the sport in general is becoming a lot more middle-class. Your parents have to have a car to drive you to the nearest pool or you are stuffed, and that can't be right.'"

(Via Mark Foster's Beijing Olympics dream - Telegraph: .)

Government include closed pools in their data- Telegraph

webteam — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 05:06:09 GMT

"The Government face further embarrassment today over the figures they claim for swimming pool and diving provision in the country.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that almost 40 per cent of Sport England's database of 171 diving facilities listed on the Active Places website are inaccessible to the public, with almost one third of them belonging to public schools.

Of the 171 on the list, 51 diving facilities belong to independent fee-paying schools, six have 'closed' written beside them, five others are known to the Great Britain Diving Federation to have closed, while six are on military bases."

(Via Government include closed pools in their data - Telegraph: .)

Derby City Council involved in court case- Olympics - Telegraph

webteam — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:13:34 GMT

"Campaign groups across the country are taking local governments to task over their 'willful disregard' of many of the nation's swimming pools. But one group is relying on more than petitions and protests to keep their pool open: it has taken their city council to court.

In December last year, supporters of the swimming pool at Gayton Primary School, Derbyshire, took Derby City Council to Birmingham High Court over the pool's closure and are now waiting anxiously for the judge to deliver his verdict on whether the pool must stay shut. As yet there has been no date set for the ruling.

Derby City Council is accused of failing to comply with a covenant in their lease agreement for the buildings that house the pool and its changing rooms, which stipulates that the council is responsible for maintenance."

(Via Derby City Council involved in court case - Olympics - Telegraph: .)

Pupils fight to stop swimming pool closures- Olympics - Telegraph

webteam — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:10:54 GMT

"Schoolchildren in Fylde and Nottingham will take part in protest marches tomorrow to register their disgust that their local pools are to be closed. They will raise their voices to save Kirkham and St Anne's in Fylde, and Victoria Baths in Nottingham.

Swimming is Britain's most popular sporting activity. Twenty-two per cent of adults and half of all schoolchildren regularly go to pools. Yet the decline of swimming facilities mirrors an explosion in childhood obesity."

(Via Pupils fight to stop swimming pool closures - Olympics - Telegraph: .)

Problem parent Q&A - Times Online

webteam — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:29:38 GMT

Why do people assume that a swimming teacher is the only person that can give their child to the desire and techniques that will help them to swim. The prize for stupidest letter of the month goes to Belinda with:

"....... Stop the lessons now and don't try again for several years. Of course it is important that all children learn to swim, but her life isn't going to be blighted by not being able to swim at the age of 5. "

(Via Problem parent Q&A - Times Online: .)

The recovery of John Deeks, who was once pronounced 'clinically dead'

webteam — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:29:51 GMT

"After a swimming accident, John Deeks was reportedly 'clinically dead' for between 40 and 60 minutes. Yet, after a few days in hospital, he has made a full recovery. How is this physically possible, asks Alice Wignall "

(Via Alice Wignall on the recovery of John Deeks, who was once pronounced 'clinically dead' | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited: .)

Swimming vs cycling | Health and wellbeing | Life and Health

webteam — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:25:24 GMT

"Swimming

Quick results: Engages all major muscle groups, and is a strenuous workout for heart and lungs. Water supports body weight, so there's no stress on joints, and being about 14 times thicker than air, it offers ideal muscle-toning resistance.
Fighting flab: Prolonged exercise at lower intensity is better for fat-burning, which is why swimming is so effective - a man weighing around 70-80kg will burn about 750 calories an hour while swimming breaststroke at moderate intensity."

(Via Swimming vs cycling | Health and wellbeing | Life and Health: .)

Days Like Those - to schmeiss or not to schmeiss

webteam — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:25:28 GMT

Spa culture is a mystery to us ... but we feel that a change is in the steam.

"Matthew has been fighting a battle on behalf of a man with a nipple ring who has been banned from massaging his friends in the steam rooms. Massaging soap on to the schmeissee's body by hand is apparently a precursor to the actual schmeiss and all massaging and soaping of any kind has now been outlawed. Matthew, hearing of the outrage, took it upon himself to ask the manager how this could be when schmeissing is the very soul of the Turkish bath, and the manager told him that schmeissing per se was not banned, just massaging, on account of a council licence. Matthew then expressed his confusion about the distinction between massaging and schmeissing in the strongest terms and his meeting with the manager ended on a note of some tension."

(Via Rebecca Tyrrel: Days Like Those - Independent Online Edition > Rebecca Tyrrel: .)

Study 'finds' commercialism harms Britain's kids

webteam — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:38:04 GMT

With less time, space, and funding available for youth sports club, with a generation of adults lacking the experience, wit or will to work together and create cooperative clubs and with adults 'squatting' the early gym hours are we surprised? Now that every leisure facility must 'wash its face' and toddler-facilities are so much more fun to build than youth-facilities young people are bound to fall prey to the desire of advertisers to have them on their backside watching a screen or a monitor. While seated being fed new 'wants' they are induced to consume fizzy drinks and deep-fried, mashed, root-vegetables.

If they go out they are sissy if they aren't downing neat Vodka. If female they denigrate any of their peers still doing sport and smoke to suppress their appetite in order to remain thin - so much more desirable than fit [LINK TO SIMILAR].

School fairs, pantos, clubs, teams and any adult gathering annually parades shrieking raffle-winning adults and their bottles of alcohol and boxes of chocolate in front of young people then berate the same kids for being just as interested in what is in the bottles. School PTAs put on a bar at school concerts and the dads stand there all night - no bar, no dads - kids notice these things.

We will continue to report these regular and blindingly obvious surveys but it is about time that we all realised that young people are taking their lead from adults, many of whom just want the kids out of the house or in their room so they can down that £3.99 Merlot from the end of the road. Britain is drunk (get used to it) and much of it is online with their back to the rest of the family and it is not good enough for adults to blame the young for the situation they perpetuate.

"The increasing commercial exploitation of children is fuelling a rise in bullying, obesity and depression among Britain's youngsters, according to a recent study. [LINK]

The National Union of Teachers warns that children must be "protected" against increasingly sophisticated marketing and advertising tactics that present "several levels of danger" to young people.
Children are bombarded with 'unrealistic and unachievable images' of what they should look like, leading to an increase in anorexia, bulimia and eating disorders.

Boys as young as 14 are using anabolic steroids to grow faster and bigger.

More than half of children know someone who has been bullied because they did not have the latest gadgets or most fashionable clothes.

Nearly three quarters of seven-year-old girls want to be slimmer.

There is a disturbing trend for pre-teenage girls to wear sexually provocative clothes and make-up.

About 70 per cent of children say there is too much pressure to look perfect and wear the latest fashions.

Nearly a third are unhappy with how they look."

(Via Study finds commercialism harms Britain's kids - Telegraph: .)

Mapp quits Sport England

webteam — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:46:13 GMT

"Ged Roddy, head of sport at Bath University, is the leading contender to be appointed acting chairman of Sport England with Derek Mapp resigning yesterday after just 14 months in the chair. Roddy, the deputy chairman, could be asked to take the reins of an organisation facing another period of instability.

At a heated meeting on Wednesday the culture secretary, James Purnell, demanded Mapp's resignation, and although the secretary of state has no power to sack him, Mapp stepped down.

He left with a warning that the change in direction, in which Sport England will focus on competitive sport rather than general activities, will damage sports participation for years to come: 'Sport England will be in restructuring mode for another two years now, and while it's doing that it's not helping anyone.'"

(Via Credit crunch spurs White Hart Lane rethink | Columnists | Guardian Unlimited Football: .)

Scheme To Streamline Swimming

webteam — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:02:56 GMT

"Proposals to strengthen support for top level competitive swimmers in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics and create more chances to use pools in Greenwich have been discussed between the council and clubs.
Councillors want a single structure for the borough's pools, with better use of pool time for competitive swimmers to train and more facilities for those learning to swim or swimming for fitness.

They also want coaching expertise to be pooled across the borough."

(Via News Shopper Scheme To Streamline Swimming (from News Shopper): .)

'Pooling Resources' writes to the Sports Editor - Telegraph

webteam — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:57:36 GMT

"Sir - Businesses that invest in sport (Letters, Nov 9) will want to see a return on their money, or some profit. Sports with a high financial turnover may therefore be attractive (football being the prime example), but swimming, per se, rarely makes a profit.

In previous decades, local councils were allowed to exercise their common sense and 'invest' in people's long-term health. But the 'best value' system of reckoning, introduced under the Local Government Act 1999, put paid to that and positively encouraged councils to think of saving money by closing leisure facilities down.

As public pools closed, the government was driven to mask this decline by changing the way it calculated pool provision; and thus, during Richard Caborn's reign as sports minister, private pools as well as public ones were included for the first time - pools in hotels and in private health clubs. This is how Derek Mapp is able to claim that the net number of pools has risen since 2004.

But recent research released by the University of Leicester has shown that commercial health clubs, by their very nature, cannot benefit the community at large. Sport England must make up their mind as to what their priorities truly are: if 'community sport affordable by all' is near the top of the list then some sort of subsidy must be provided; otherwise the closures will continue.

Sally Wainman"

(Via Letters to the Sports Editor - Telegraph: .)