The initiative, which is part-funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, enables children and young people under the age of 17 to swim for free during the school holidays. Gwynedd’s leisure centres provide a wide range of activities that children and young people can take advantage of as part of the initiative, including water polo, swimming lessons, snorkelling and life saving skills.

Councillor Roy Owen, Portfolio Leader for Lifelong Learning on Gwynedd Council, said:

“I am extremely please to see that so many of Gwynedd’s young people are taking advantage of the free swimming sessions which are held during the school holidays. It is important that people of all ages take advantage of the wide range of resources available here in Gwynedd, and it is also excellent to see that people over the age of 60 are also making use of the free swimming sessions.”

As part of the campaign to encourage more children to take part in the initiative, Huw Hwyaden (Huw the Duck), the free swimming mascot has been helping the Council’s officers with their work. Huw is a popular character who visits Gwynedd’s primary school pupils to encourage them to swim – he’s proving to be a very popular character.

Following his tour of primary schools in the Arfon area prior to the autumn half term holidays, there was an increase of 15% in the number of children and young pupils who attended the free swimming initiative at the Arfon Leisure Centre, Caernarfon compared with the same period last year. There are plans to hold similar tours of other areas of Gwynedd in the near future.

It isn’t just young people who are making the most of the free swimming initiative here in Gwynedd, every person over the age of 60 can also swim for free during public hours at any one of the County’s swimming pools. More than 3,000 older people are members of their local swimming pools here in Gwynedd.

The latest figures suggest that there will be an increase of around 2.5% in the numbers of over 60 year olds who have taken advantage of the initiative compared with 2005.

With the support of the Gwynedd’s Older People Strategy, the initiative has also extended to recruit older swimming coaches to help with swimming lessons for those over 60 years of age.

Sion Gwyn, the Gwynedd Free Swimming Co-ordinator, explained:

“As part of the initiative to encourage older people to make the most of the resources available, we saw that a number of older people were keen to see older coaches available to help with swimming lessons.

“A number of older coaches are already at work all over the County, and we are confident that they are doing good work, as is underlined in the fact that more and more people over 60 years of age are taking advantage of Gwynedd’s free swimminh initiative.”

The Free Swimming Initiative gives people the opportunity to take part in new activities and to learn new skills. Arthur Roberts, 66, has been getting over a fear of water by attending free swimming lessons at the Bro Dysynni Leisure Centre in Tywyn.

“I’m a keen runner and biker and it has been my dream for a number of years to take part in a triathlon is close to being realised,” said Arthur.

Free swimming opportunities will be available for children and young people during the Christmas holiday. Gwynedd’s swimming pools will be open for them to enjoy the free swimming sessions from 2 January until 8 January. What better way to start the new year?!

For further information regarding the scheme, contact Sion Gwyn, Gwynedd’s Free Swimming Co-ordinator, on 01758 613 437, or e-mail: SionGwyn@gwynedd.gov.uk