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We Need your Support!
Dear Valued Clients, Firstly let me take this opportunity to thank you for your business and say that, it has been my priviledge to teach your children to swim over the past 5 years, it was always my dream to provide quality swimming lessons where swimmers are taught by a dedicated team of professional instructors where the emphasis was on quality, safety & fun. We are one of the few private swimming companies in Scotland to be fully affiliated with Scottish Swimming (the Governing body for swimming in Scotland) and are presently working, extremely hard, to achieve SwiMark Acreditation (swiMark is Scottish Swimming’s quality aquatic development programme). This week I received a letter from North Lanarkshire Council informing me that they would not be renewing our swimming pool leases, despite us having an exemplary record with them in the past. A Trust would now manage swimming lessons in North Lanarkshire and our services were no longer required, with a 5 week notice period. We are extremely disappointed, to say the least that, despite providing an excellent service as well as reducing the waiting times before being able to provide lessons, we have been totally excluded from any consultations, communications or correspondence that may, or may not, have taken place before this decision was reached. At present we have 800 children in lessons, many of whom tried to secure lessons at their local council pool, however, due to the extended waiting time, and the time critical importance of this vital life skill, chose to seek lessons elsewhere. Choice is always a good option to have, however, because of the Council’s stand on this matter, and the manner in which we have been forcibly removed from our current venues, regrettably, may not be something we will be able to provide in the future. I spent all day yesterday endeavouring to speak to someone at the Council and when I eventually did, I was given no firm reasons for the cancellation of leases, only that all lessons would be provided by themselves in future. When I pointed out, on a number of occasions, the Council are, at present, unable to keep up with the demand for lessons and what provisions had been put in place to deal with the additional influx of swimmers in 5 weeks time, when our current block ends. This question was one that the Council are unable or unwilling to answer at this time. Under the current rules, we are now unable to lease any pools within North Lanarkshire and that is why we are, in an attempt to continue providing lessons until the matter is resolved, are having to outsource to alternate venues for Block 4 Two sites we have currently available are DW Fitness in Coatbridge or DW Fitness in The Fort, although both of these sites are out with the Cumbernauld area, they are fantastic venues with superb facilities. The website www.dwsportsfitness.com lets you look at the facilities and pool on offer at both venues. Another site available to us is:-
At present their website is under construction therefore, unfortunately, we are unable to supply pictures of the pool and facilities on offer at this venue. Lessons, at all of the above sites, are operated by our existing instructors and pool co-ordinators, the lessons still operate in the same way just at an alternate venue. Once again let me apologise for the inconvenience this letter will bring, I am still endeavouring to communicate with the Council, and hopefully we can come to some compromise. In the meantime we are asking parents to sign up for our online petition, recruiting friends and family to help us in our quest. We have also provided a template letter that we would like sent to 3 key people. Jim Logue, Jim McCabe and Sam McClung. All have been involved in the decision making. A positive outcome would be enough leverage to allow a meeting to place between us and the council giving time to present our case and achieve a suitable outcome. Our local MSP Cathy Craigie and Scottish swimming are also dealing with the situation and give regular feedback to any progress made. I would appreciate your thoughts and support in this matter,you will be able to speak to either myself, or any one of my members of staff on 01236 823245. Yours sincerely |
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