OLYMPIC gold medallist Rebecca Adlington is helping Droylsden get in the Swim! with the opening of a new facility.
And the swimming champion showed just what it is there for by bringing three-month-old toddler Thea to one of its baby classes.
The town’s Greenside Retail Park is now the home of the 14th facility belonging to the company she and fellow Olympian Steve Parry are behind.
Yes, she has heard all the complaints about there being a pool down the road at Active Medlock, but the fact this is for babies and children only and that some 1,000 signed up before its opening day on Monday, June 22, shows it is needed.
Giving The Correspondent a tour of the new premises, Rebecca – who won gold in the 400 metres and 800 metres freestyle at Beijing 2008 – said: “Why Droylsden? We’ve been looking for East Manchester for a while.
“We’ve got a site already in Oldham and we wanted another one this side of Manchester.
“We were looking for ages. Space on a retail park is like gold dust. You just don’t find them.
“But this unit came up in Droylsden and we absolutely jumped at the opportunity.
“East Manchester, well all of Manchester really, has a real lack of swimming pools and when you’re putting a swimming pool in a unit, you’ve got to understand its size.
“We don’t want a unit too big because obviously it’s not a leisure centre. We don’t need a gym. We don’t need all this other stuff. So it’s got to be the right size unit.
“We also have to have a decent head height and room for a plant room and things like that, plus it’s a landlord that’s willing to let us put a swimming pool in a unit as well.
“If you find a great landlord that really wants to invest in the area, get kids to the area, understands what we’re trying to do here with swimming, it’s fantastic.”
As soon as you walk into Swim! it is clear it is not just another swimming pool.
And the weekly theme for classes is the first thing you see – the first week is pirates, as the balloon display shows.
Children will wear different coloured hats depending on their skills, much like the belt system in karate – and there will be a ‘star of the week’ – which is not just recognition of the best swimmer.
All the facilities are ultra-modern, even down to the area reserved for leaving pushchairs and car seats, and all cubicles have baby changing facilities.
All classes take place in the 18-metre pool, which is about one metre deep, and have a maximum of six members, starting right from newborns with their parents with them, until 11-year-olds.
But behind the fun – the first intention – there is a serious message.
“We’ve pretty much got 1,000 kids on the programme already,” Rebecca added. “We’re doing really well.
“We’re open seven days a week, we don’t shut for a day. We want to make it accessible for parents. We are trying to open up.
“Our baby classes are zero to three-years-old. Parent comes in and they’re in the day.
“Then after school is three to 11-year-olds and the classes are themed.
“We’ve got numbers, space, pirates, sports and TV and movies. That’s so the teachers can tailor the games, just so it feels fun.
“Our ethos is make kids not know that they’re learning a vital life skill. Making it fun, making it that they’re confident in water. That’s why we introduce the theme.
“You will learn to swim a lot quicker here. As there are only six kids per class, you often find they progress through the levels much, much quicker.
“Star of the Week isn’t all about ability. It’s on if a kid’s listened really well or done something kind to another child in the class – helped them out – that could make them Star of the Week. We want to reward that social value. Not just, ‘Wow, you can swim high elbow. You’re a really good swimmer. Your technique is really good.’”
Swim! is charging people £10 for the first month and then £39.99 per month, but as Rebecca highlighted, it works out at £10 a week, or £8 in a five-week month.
And the pros far outweigh the cons.
“It’s not cheap, cheap,” she conceded, before addressing moans that Active Medlock is just over half a mile away, “But at the same time, we’re certainly not one of the most expensive.
“There is a pool nearby, but a lot of people is they can’t get lessons.
“They can’t get the day and time they want. They’re not progressing well there and leisure centres have gyms. No-one says anything when more gym providers open up.
“A leisure centre has to cater for swimming clubs, adult lessons, general swims. We are children’s swimming lessons only. So we can really cater for a bigger flexibility.
“They’re battling all sorts of people wanting to use it. For us, we can just concentrate on children and really enforcing that.
“In May, 19 people died from drowning. That’s almost like a class full of kids at school.
“We’ve got to be really careful. We’ve got to make sure children can access swimming pools. For us, it’s just absolutely vital to concentrate on those kids.
“Leisure centres can look at everything else, getting all the provisions of everyone in, and we can just focus on getting as many children in as possible.
“Kids have got such a range of varieties now. Parents don’t see swimming as a life skill. They see it as, ‘It’s another sport they want to do.’ Actually, it’s not.
“This is a life skill. I’ve made sure my kids go to swimming lessons and it’s not because that’s one of their sports.
“I’m like, ‘No, this is a fundamental life skill.’”