Swimming club seeks £20,000 to pay bills

Ludlow Swimming Club faces pool hire costs of up to £25,000 a year

A swimming club is looking to raise £20,000 after suffering a fall in members and increasing pool hire costs.

The treasurer of Ludlow Swimming Club, Dave Johnson, said it had kept going by spending its reserves.

The club has been running for 30 years and counts British 50m, 100m and 200m champion Oliver Morgan among its swimmers, but since the Covid pandemic has declined from around 100 members to 70.

Mr Johnson said in the long term it needed to bring in more money through subscriptions to survive.

Mr Johnson, who took on the role of treasurer recently, said children came to the club for fitness, friendship and " to try and reach competition at the highest level".

The top performers trained up to five times a week, he said.

Mr Johnson said the financial issues had a number of causes, but added: "I don't think its anything that the club has done necessarily, it just seems to be how it is for many clubs since Covid."

British swimmer Oliver Morgan trained at Ludlow since he was a child

The club spends up to £25,000 a year to use the town's swimming pool.

Mr Johnson said the number of fundraising events run by the club declined during the coronavirus pandemic and have not recovered, leading to a shortage of funds.

He said: "We're not quite in that terrible situation yet," but he admitted: "If subs don't pay the bills then ultimately it will have to come to an end."

Sport England has pledged £6,000 to the appeal, but that is on the condition it raises the remaining £14,000 in the next six weeks and so far the club has raised £435.

"We've got a long way to go yet," Mr Johnson said.