The KCASA Masters Committee sends an open letter to our MPs
1st July 2020
For health and wellbeing, please help us get our swimming pools open as soon as possible!
As Kent County Amateur Swimming Association’s Masters Swimming Committee we are writing to you as the Member of Parliament for a constituency in which one or more of our 54 Kent London and Kent Rural affiliated clubs are based, to gain your support in getting pools up and running sooner rather than later.
The Kent Masters Swimming Committee believes the Government’s decision to allow hairdressers, pubs and overseas travel to operate before pools sends out the wrong message, as well as being bewildering and disappointing. Why are swimming pools still closed when other activities which do not promote a healthy lifestyle allowed to open?
Swim England released guidelines earlier this month ahead of a return to pool swimming (https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/pool-return-guidance-documents/), and clubs have been planning their implementation, working extremely hard to ensure the safety of their members and anticipating a 4 July reopening along with hairdressers, pubs, etc.
We do, of course, understand that swimming cannot return to the way it was before the Covid-19 pandemic. However, it must be remembered that swimming is a lifelong activity that plays a key role in helping to maintain fitness, lower stress and prevent social exclusion –factors vitally important for both physical and mental health.
Masters swimmers are aged from 18 years to 100+ who swim competitively and/or for fitness. We want to get back to the pool and believe we can do so safely.
We therefore request that the Government reconsider opening swimming pools as soon as possible - swimming is vital for our health and wellbeing.
Below is a list of the constituencies and email address of the MPs. Please do write to your MP, stressing the benefits of swimming including:
- lifelong participation - all ages and all abilities
- physical health and fitness benefits
- stress and mental health benefits
- the feel-good factor created by the water brushing against the nerve endings in the skin when swimming
