We realised that we didn’t have many physical activities available at Zink nor did we have the space. We spoke to the local swimming pool run by Myactive and followed up with a bid for funding from Sport England to set up a project to encourage people to take up or return to swimming. Since Covid the number of people attending regular swimming sessions has seen a huge drop. Sports England provided funding for Zink to set up a group session once a week. The group is supported by a Coach. Some participants had never swum before, but after just a few lessons they progressed down the pool. One novice was able to swim two lengths at the end of her first lesson.
We decided to set up a Zink team challenge to swim the equivalent of the English Channel. The challenge was to swim 21 miles, which equates to 1350 lengths of the Buxton pool. Each swimmer had their own personal challenge, completing between 10 and 150 lengths each. The positive effect this challenge has had on both mental health and physical health spans reports on reduced PTSD, better sleep, increased flexibility and improved fitness.
