Huge rush to swimming lessons as Fife pools return to normal operations

Fife Sports and Leisure Trust (FSLT) said nearly 6500 youngsters had participated in its ‘Learn To Swim’ programme in its first week since the region moved to beyond Level Zero restrictions.

The charitable trust, which was badly hit by the complete closure of all facilities during lockdown, said it was delighted with the response.

All of its gyms, leisure centres and pools across Fife are now operating normally, with full indoor and outdoor fitness sessions, junior activities, no social distancing in gyms and the return of its soft play centres, and even birthday party packages bringing people back through the doors.

In the past 16 weeks since facilities re-opened following the lockdown, 430,569 attendances were recorded, with 226,045 being visits to wet side, 148, 872 indoor and 55,652 to outdoor facilities.

But the trust said it will need more time to recover from the huge financial impact of the pandemic.

Emma Walker, chief executive of Fife Sports and Leisure Trust, said: “It is fantastic to see our centres up and running under near normal conditions and local communities getting back to enjoying our programmes and facilities as they did prior to COVID.

“The impact of COVID has been far-reaching for the business and we would ask for customers’ support and patience, particularly around our operating hours, as we work to recover and strengthen our position so that we can get back to investing in community leisure for the benefit of local communities.”

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V