Penrith Swimming Club

10/10/2026

We’ve been reading with concern about the reported plans to remove public swimming sessions at Trinity Leisure Centre in Carlisle, another facility operated by GLL/Better.

The concerns being raised by swimmers in Carlisle sound worryingly familiar to those we have experienced here in Penrith.

At Penrith Leisure Centre, GLL has sought to end our established Learn to Swim programme. At Trinity, local residents are now campaigning to protect their access to public swimming.

It raises some important questions.

Why are established swimming opportunities facing uncertainty?

How much consideration is being given to the communities who depend on these facilities?

And what role are the councils who own these community facilities playing in protecting public access?

At Penrith, we have spent months asking why our Learn to Swim programme cannot coexist with GLL’s provision.

Swimming pools should serve their communities, not simply the commercial priorities of those operating them.

We stand alongside those seeking answers about the future of public swimming at Trinity Leisure Centre.

GLL, is this really how community swimming should be managed?

10/10/2026

DISAPPOINTED TO SEE OUR CLUB'S PHOTOGRAPHS BEING USED TO PROMOTE GLL.

We were disappointed to see the News & Star using photographs of Penrith Swimming Club in an article highlighting the social value of GLL/Better Leisure Centres across Cumbria.

Let's be clear. We absolutely support the importance of leisure centres in improving health, wellbeing and community connections. Our volunteers have been contributing to exactly that for 145 years.

But there is an uncomfortable irony in seeing images of our club used alongside an article celebrating GLL's commitment to community wellbeing, while that same operator is seeking to end our Learn to Swim programme at Penrith Leisure Centre.

The article reports that GLL's facilities across Cumbria generated more than £19 million in social value during 2025.

But how is the social value created by independent, volunteer-run clubs like ours being recognised?

For generations, Penrith Swimming Club has helped children learn to swim, develop confidence, make friendships and progress into competitive swimming.

Our volunteers give up countless hours to provide these opportunities. Our club and community helped raise £40,000 towards the teaching pool and we now spend approximately £40,000 every year hiring pool space.

Yet we are still fighting to protect our future.

We would welcome the News & Star taking a closer look at the contribution community swimming clubs make to the very social value being celebrated in this article.

Our photographs may help illustrate GLL's community success story, but our club's contribution deserves recognition too.

This is great!

07/10/2026

145 YEARS AGO, THEY BUILT SOMETHING FOR US.

NOW IT'S OUR TURN TO PROTECT IT FOR THEM. 💙

Think about everyone you've seen over the last 15 days.

The founders at Frenchfield.

The people who campaigned for better facilities.

The volunteers who raised money for the Frenchfield Teaching Pool.

The generations who taught children to swim.

The competitors.

The Masters.

The water polo players.

The coaches.

The parents.

The volunteers.

And the child who hasn't even walked through the leisure centre doors yet.

That's who this campaign is for.

We're not asking for another swimming programme to fail.

We're asking GLL and Westmorland and Furness Council to help us protect something generations of Penrith people have built.

Formalise our provision.

Protect the pathway.
Let both programmes thrive.
And make sure that 145 years from now, somebody else can tell the story of the generation that refused to let it disappear.

💙 BUILT BY PENRITH.
PROTECTED FOR GENERATIONS.

✍️ Please sign and share:
https://www.change.org/p/save-our-swimming-club-save-penrith-swimming-club-s-learn-to-swim-provision

06/10/2026

A REMINDER: TIMING NIGHT tomorrow Weds 7 October.

All squads will race. Your goal is only to do your best.
A chance to get a time if you’ve never raced before.
A chance to check in on your progress if you have.
We are excited to support you.

Teaching pool will continue as normal.

06/10/2026

YOU CAN'T BUILD A COMMUNITY IN 145 YEARS AND EXPECT TO REPLACE IT WITH A PROGRAMME.

Penrith Swimming Club isn't simply a timetable of sessions.

It's the child arriving frightened for their first session.

It's the teenager representing their town.

It's the Masters swimmer still in the water decades later.

It's the water polo player who found their sport.

It's the volunteer standing poolside because somebody once did it for them.

It's Frenchfield.

It's generations of Penrith families.

The proposals that started this campaign put the beginning of that pathway at risk.

PSC's campaign page records GLL's proposal to stop its introductory provision, while the Council has maintained that discussions are continuing and no final decision has been made.

We cannot allow decisions about swimming provision to rip the heart out of something Penrith has spent generations building.

There is another way.

Two programmes. Family choice. One stronger swimming community.

✍️ https://www.change.org/p/save-our-swimming-club-save-penrith-swimming-club-s-learn-to-swim-provision

05/10/2026

OUR COMMUNITY'S CONTRIBUTION DIDN'T STOP IN THE 1990s.

PSC helped raise approximately £40,000 towards the Frenchfield Teaching Pool.

Since then, the club has continued investing in swimming, including equipment such as diving blocks and wave-breaker lane ropes.

And today PSC spends approximately £40,000 every year hiring facilities at Penrith Leisure Centre.

We're not asking for free pool time.

We're not asking for GLL's lessons to disappear.

We're asking for both programmes to have a future.

Formalise the arrangements.

Let both organisations succeed.

Get more people swimming.

✍️ https://www.change.org/p/save-our-swimming-club-save-penrith-swimming-club-s-learn-to-swim-provision
FORMALISE. COEXIST. GROW.

05/10/2026

AVAILABLE TO ENTER NOW

Enter Online: https://events.swimnorthwest.org

Meet conditions:https://live.swimcumbria.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/CW26-Conditions-v1-260930.pdf

04/10/2026

A SWIMMING CLUB BUILDS PEOPLE TOO.

A nervous youngster becomes a confident swimmer.

A swimmer becomes a competitor.

A teenager becomes a young volunteer.

A former swimmer becomes a teacher.

A parent becomes an official.

A coach develops the next generation.

Skills learned in community sport travel far beyond the pool: leadership, resilience, teamwork, responsibility and confidence.

For 145 years, PSC hasn't just developed swimmers.

Penrith has developed people.

That's worth protecting.
✍️ https://www.change.org/p/save-our-swimming-club-save-penrith-swimming-club-s-learn-to-swim-provision

03/10/2026

WHAT IF SWIMMING ISN'T YOUR THING ANYMORE... BUT THE WATER STILL IS?

That's where water polo can change everything.

Not every young person wants to spend their sporting life racing up and down a lane.

Water polo gives people another reason to stay in the water.

A ball. A team. Tactics. Competition. Friendship.

And Penrith's water polo story has reached the very highest level. Former PSC swimmer Chloe Wilcox went on to captain Great Britain's women's water polo team at the London 2012 Olympics.

But you don't need to become an Olympian for water polo to matter.

Sometimes its greatest achievement is simply giving somebody another way to belong.

That's what a community club does.

✍️ https://www.change.org/p/save-our-swimming-club-save-penrith-swimming-club-s-learn-to-swim-provision

02/10/2026

“The Goalposts Have Moved Again”: New Penrith Leisure Centre Booking Condition Bans Penrith Swimming Club From Teaching Swimming