It is with a heavy heart that I write this Blog, but I have to tell you that after over 40 years of existence Sleaford Swim has been faced with no other option but to close.
Covid was the crippler, not the bug directly what caused the problem was that during lockdown the centres lost a lot of money. That bit I can understand, they had to keep the pool filled with water in order to stop the sides caving in, that meant the plant had to be kept running. The centres then cut their activities when the restriction were lifted. For us that meant that our Saturday evening slot was cut and we had to go to an early Friday evening slot. For many there was not enough time to come home have tea before the visit to the swim. The Chairman and Treasurer met with the manager of the Centre to try to persuade her to let us go back to Saturday but she was adamant.
We were then contacted by the manager of Better Gym who offered us a Saturday slot but again it was earlier than our original, pre-covid, time. On top of this the pool was much smaller and there was nowhere to sit round the pool. Although the gym was available many thought it was not as good as the one at the Centre. The upshot was many of our members moved elsewhere.
The facts: At the Leisure Centre an attendance of 40 was a bad night; at Better Gym we were lucky if we got more than 15 attendees. We decided to carry on and see if numbers could improve but it was a vain hope and our reserves dwindled. The Treasurer has been asked if we could have increased the attendance fee in order to make up the difference. It wasn't going to work, we would have had to charge twice the price that the other (textile) Gym attendees pay.
The Treasurer approached the management to see if they would be prepared to run naturist events as part of their programme, like they do at Edwinstowe. They were not interested in doing that.
I said to the folk last Saturday that I would continue to look at finding another venue but it would seem that there is nothing in the running at the moment. However, keep an eye on this blog and if anything come up I will let you know.
So for now I wish you all God speed, for me, personally, it has been an absolute pleasure working with you all over the years, and we have all made some very good friends.
Malcolm
