Cheap swimming in the school holidays, does it exist?

Miss_J

Have promised my kids to take them swimming this week. We have a residents priority card provided by the local council which is supposed to make it cheaper for residents to access leisure services in the area they live.

Totally shocked tonight to see that it will cost me £8 for myself and 2 kids for a standard 45 minute swim. I'm sure a couple of years ago they had certain sessions marked at a cheaper £1 fee but can't find them listed anywhere for my area. I've even joined the big swim hoping for discounts but no pools in my area are part of the scheme.

Blimey as kids we went swimming every other day as it was so cheap and an easy way for my mum to entertain us, but at £8 a pop it's certainly not cheap in the summer holidays these days.

Mrs_Arcanum

We get the £1 swims every school holiday locally, with a choice of outdoor or indoor pools.

balletshoes

yep, we have free swimming every weekday for 2 hours through the Summer holidays for all under-16s at all of the city council-run pools.

Spendless

A lot of free or subsidised swimming went in Government cuts, so it'll depend on your council as to whether they still offer cheaper swimming.

pinkmami

My local pool has free swim during the holidays from 10-11am. I tend not to go cos its full of the kids who misbehave there....jumping, pushing, swearing...those who get sent out of the house by their parents cos they're under their feet.

I prefer to pay for a quieter time so my kids can learn to swim.

liney

Ours have free sessions as long as you have the 'Flex Card' at certain times in the day. Have you actually asked about subsidised sessions because I know our council aren't very good at keeping their sites updated.

You could also try http://www.schwimfree.co.uk/#home If there is a somewhere local to you that takes part. The water is about 50p a bottle, and there will probably be a restriction such as 5 visits to a particular site, but that depend on the individual hotel/gym.

jamespir

they do free swimming at our pool £1 on the holidays

nenni

We are very lucky where we live(wales) we have free swimming in the hols weekdays 10-4pm and weekends 10-3pm for 16 and unders. Have to have the local leisure card but that only cost £1 a year. Also have free swimming every sat all year round between 12 and 3pm. My 17 yr old gets 80p discount per swim with the card too so he swims for £2.10.

Have you looked at nestle products that offer free sports as im sure you can get free swimming?. Also asda do free sports for kids if you shop there you can get vouchers for it and they include swimming(where i live anyway).

YORKSHIRELASS

Our local pool is £1.80 for a child swim all year round. Last time the kids were in for nearly 2 hours so its fantastic value.

This is a big contrast to the activity days run by the same Council Leisure Services. Have just booked my son onto a Cricket Day which cost £10, fair enough its 6 hours but I am glad my older son didnt want to do it as well!

Miss_J

Just checked and the cheapest I can get for us is £3.40 for me and £1.85 each child using our residents card. I hadn't realised cheap swims had been cut, last year we were only paying £1 each for a swim.

Liney thanks for the link to Schwimfree had a look and they've got free swims in some of the exclusive pools in Newcastle, however having to buy 3 bottles to cover me and the kids and then pay for parking probably negates any savings, but would have been useful if there were any out of town hotels in the scheme.

pinkmami

nenni wrote: »

We are very lucky where we live(wales) we have free swimming in the hols weekdays 10-4pm and weekends 10-3pm for 16 and unders. Have to have the local leisure card but that only cost £1 a year. Also have free swimming every sat all year round between 12 and 3pm. My 17 yr old gets 80p discount per swim with the card too so he swims for £2.10.

Have you looked at nestle products that offer free sports as im sure you can get free swimming?. Also asda do free sports for kids if you shop there you can get vouchers for it and they include swimming(where i live anyway).

WOW Nenni! That is great! Which part of Wales are you?