Oban Lifesaving Club

Hi everyone
Hope you have all had a great summer holidays☀️

A new term will soon be here.

We would like to share some pros and cons that we current have within the club just to give a bit of awareness to you all.

👍👍👍👍This club is in its 51st year of operating, teaching children and young people swimming lessons and lifesaving skills.
So much so, we are unique in scotland, the only club that provides both STA swimming lessons and also RLSS lifesaving skills.

We are a registered charity and since the beginning completely run by volunteers. Some of whom are qualified swimming instructors, rookie lifesaving instructors, assistants, and young leaders.
We provide a scheme through the Duke of Edinburgh enabling young people to gain life experiences.

We currently have 92 members and there is also a waiting list. 26 of these youngsters are taking their 1st steps into the learn to swim programme. 29 are going through their rookie training programme which progresses from bronze lvl to silver and finally to gold, all these stages come in 3 parts.
These lifesaving skills are so important where we live, and lead to career opportunities.

Once kids get the the rookie stage beyond the learn to swim programme they learn multiple rescue techniques, learn about dangers, cpr, first aid and many other forms in these areas.

We are an all exclusive club offering only when possible 1 on 1 support in swimming with children that may require it.
In addition to this we try and keep our fees cheap and accessible to all families, with each session at the moment only costing £2.50 for 30 minutes. And more experienced rookie classes £2.50 for 1hr. We welcome any family to come forward if there is difficulty paying confidentiality.

We receive great support from families of our members with the help of fundraising for sponsored swims and raffles to help keep our fees low.

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And now for the negitives and this is as serious as we can be.

👎👎👎👎We are now at a stage where we are low on teachers and assistants and the clubs future is in doubt and we may not be able to continue as we are or at worst close the club.

Since we came back from covid we ask for help every few months to recruit to keep the club moving forward, yet we get such a low percentage of parents or family helping.
Many of our coaches have been in the club for a very long time, some don't even have kids in the club anymore.
This club has always been run by parents and other people's generosity who have spare time regardless of any link.

We now we ask parents of the club to step up come forward for your child/children swimming and learning future and take the club forward and put your stamp on it.

We have some funding in place to cover the cost of teacher training and are looking for volunteers to complete this training. The training is run by the STA and is a lifelong qualification and enables instructor to teach swimming anywhere in the world. Please note you don't have to be able to swim yourself to learn how to teach.

The training is a commitment over a few weeks. It is run over 2 full weekends, usually a few weeks apart. Some of it is online, some in a classroom and some on poolside.
It is actually good fun and very rewarding as is taking classes.

Please if you are interested and/or know anyone who would be interested. Please contact us here on messenger for a further contact and/or email us at....
[email protected]

This is a fantastic unique club and it would be devastating if we had to close the doors, but this is the reality of the situation... Club parents...this is your club, no parents, no club.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, we hope to hear from you soon.

Lifesavers team.

Hope everyone has a great summer holidays🌞

Hi everyone

Last night we handed out the certificates and badges for the Sponsored swim and Badge night.

Great to see faces light up to get their rewards🤩.

They all did fantastically well and we can reveal that the total distance covered by the club was..................................................🔥15.94 MILES🔥

👏🙌👏🙌👏🙌👏

Last night we also awarded our annual "KAYLA'S SHEILD", awarded for hardwork, determination, enthusiasm and all the things coaches look for.

It was a tough decision by the coaches and committee as several names where brought to our attention. So we again decided on 2 children for the 2nd year running.

A massive congratulations to Ashton and Rory for their massive efforts the past 12 months👏👏👏👏👏🏆🏆.

Next week is the last session before the summer holidays☀️ and it's a Inflatable session 🎉 (some restrictions may apply)

See you then

Well done kids😎

Lifesavers team

Hi everyone

A quick update

NEXT WEEK we will present the STA swim badge awards- reveal the total lengths swum by the club and the amount raised by everyone.🙌👏👏

This will fall in line with the awarding of this years 'Kayla's Sheild.' For hardwork, dedication and effort.

We hope to have the Oban Times present to oversee the badges and sheild awarding.🤩

Want to be part of something special?? the only club in Scotland that offers what we can😃 join us🙏 please contact here on messenger, email, or just stop us on poolside ☺️

See you all tonight
Lifesavers team

Well done to all the kids last night at the Badge/Sponsored Swim last night👏👏👏

They all did fantastically well and we are sure they exceeded their own expectations as they did the coaches.

We are all super proud of them🙌

The results individually will be issued individually in due course, in terms of both total distance and the badge award for lenths non stop.🎉

Once we know the combined club distance and sponsors raised, we will share on here.

Also a massive thank you for the sponsors raised for the club, this goes along way and massively appreciated 🙏.
Thank you to the families that have already handed in there forms and funds😊. Could everyone else bring in their forms etc over the next week or the week after if your unavailable.

This, like every Tuesday is only possible due to the commitment of a small group of volunteers coaches and junior assistants 🤗 thank you to the parents who stepped forward to help last night🤝...

Moving forward we are in need of help on poolside and in the committee to keep the club moving forward.
There is always a risk of cancellations or even closure if this can't be done. We ask all parents and guardians to please think about helping us while is your child/childrens session[30mins].

WELL DONE KIDS WE ARE SURE YOU ALL SLEPT WELL LAST NIGHT🤩🤩🤩

LIFESAVERS TEAM

Hi all

Please be aware that each class tonight may start later than usual, only due to change over in classes and lane organisation. But please come in at usual time ready to go.

We aim to give the kids a full 30 mins for the sponsored swim. 🙌

Remember kids...its not a race, its at your pace, no pressure, do as much as you can without rest and do your best💪.

▶️-Parents/Guardians we need you for 30 minutes. please help us count🙏

▶️-Please ensure lockers get used in the changing rooms to keep cubicles clear for a smooth transition👍

Hi everyone.

Tomorrow night is our sponsored swim and badge night🤗

Hope the kids are warmed up and ready to go💪

The badges are set by guidelines by the STA which provide the badges for set distances.
Therefore all swimmer's who take part will be awarded a badge for the distance nearest to that award.

We cannot award badges for distances greater than the distance that was actually swum.

For those swimmer's in the small pool who have not reached the level of swimming a distance, certificates will be awarded for achieving set challenges.

Badges and certificates will be awarded in the weeks after the event.🙌

Could sponsor forms be handed in over the next 2/3 weeks would be greatly appreciated ☺️

- for the badges to be achieved, swimmer's must not stop for a rest between lengths, otherwise the badge count stops and starts again, they must keep going!!!....it is vital that parent/guardians reiterated this to the children prior to coming in...
[This will not affect the count towards the sponsored swim].

-To help make this run as smoothly as possible, we are asking for help from parents/guardians as length counters ....just for the time your child/children are swimming. This would be a massive help and greatly appreciated 🙏 we are volunteers, and to count more than a few kids at a time can be tricky, when counting 2 is easy.🙏

Thank you and look forward to see you all on actual poolside tomorrow 🤞🤝

Lifesavers team

Hi everyone.
Hope you have all had a nice Easter 🐰

We return to lessons on TUESDAY 28th APRIL and this block will take us up to the summer holidays☀️ which is a 9 week block.
.........................................

➡️lessons start on TUESDAY 28TH APRIL

➡️sponsored swim/badge night on the 26th MAY
[Details will follow closer to the time]

➡️Inflatable fun night on the 23rd JUNE

,.............................................

As mentioned this will be a 9 week block and payment is due before our first night in the water on the 28th.

▶️ 9 weeks x £2.50 = £22.50 per child

▶️payments should be made into the Lifesavers account
ACCOUNT NUMBER 00786874
SORT CODE 80 - 17 - 99

▶️please put your child/children's name/s as a reference in the payment
..............................................

We look forward to see everyone on poolside on the 28th🙌
Any further information or updates ,we will be in touch.👍

Massive congratulations to our senior class🎉🎊

Who have all now completed our RLSS Rookie Lifesaving Gold level 3 and Life Support👏👏👏 ✨️

🔴Some of this team have been with the club since they were 5 years old, some joined a few years ago and all worked hard to get their way up though the assessments to now💪

🟠Some of this team have been assistant/youth coaches with us for nearly a year now, currently assisting our lead coaches in or out of the water. Some more will be helping in the future 😊

🟡Some of this team are currently using the club for achieving the 'Duke of Edinburgh' award with another one starting after the summer😎

You will see most of this team after the holidays to continue their development👍👍

🟢Will take this opportunity to also mention our other youth coaches Rose, Mairi-Ella and Riley, who do a great job, showing fantasic dedication to the club week in week out helping our lead coaches with all the kids.🤩

Have a great Easter Holidays everyone🐣🐰 and we will post soon about the next block until the summer holidays