bobthompson
()

No Frills Meet

The full programme of swimmers for both Blackpool and Darwen can be accessed and downloaded from either the Calendar Tab or the Events Tab (Level 3 – 2021).

We would encourage spectators to print off the programme in advance of attending, as there will only be a limited supply of programmes at the venues.

Please remember that mobile phones and other electronic devices with image capturing capability are not permitted in either leisure centre, so we would ask that spectators print off the programme and do not access it on their phone/tablet at the event.

Please also remember that spectator numbers are restricted to one spectator per swimming family.

Timings are expected to be as follows:

Blackpool

8.30am warm up for 9.30am start

12.30pm warm up for 1.30pm start

Expected finish 3.30pm

Darwen

8.30am warm up for 9.30am start

1.00pm warm up for 2.00pm start

Expected Finish 4.30pm

 

Thank you.

Bob Thompson 

Hon. Sec.

bobthompson

No Frills Meet 2021

Hi all

I hope you, your friends and families are all trying their best to get back to some kind of normal life during these strange times.?

We must all be very mindful that covid-19 is and always will be with us and if we can respect the virus we can also learn to live alongside it.

After many many months of upheaval in our lives we now found ourselves trying to regain and pickup the things, that have, for so long, been affected by this pandemic. I can only hope that the effects of the virus have been minimal on you all.

As we try to move back to swim training and competition, North Lancs would like to do this in a way which helps all our communities, our clubs, our officials, our pool providers, our pool staff & management and of course our swimmers.

Over the course of the past 3-4months the North Lancashire committee have made the very difficult decision to cancel the annual championships in 2021 and replace with a meet for all swimmers within our district. We are going to call this the North Lancs No Frills meet 2021.

We are really conscious of the people traffic at galas, the amount of movement required to organise a meet to cater for 20 clubs and all that goes with it. We want to protect the leisure providers staff, personnel and wider communities as well as our people so please allow me to try and explain the thinking around this.

We are going to run an identical meet licenced at L3 for all swimmers affiliated to North Lancs. The programme (see attached) is a one day meet covering all 4 50s and all 4 100s plus the 200IM and 200FC. We have split the clubs to swim at the pool closest to them (as best we can) and we will set lower level times that will hopefully allow all swimmers to post times times and use for future competitions.

There will be no awards, no medals, ‘No Frills’ just good honest competition designed to allow our swimmers the opportunity to compete and start putting comp times on the board to use for further meets.

We will be posting more information in the very near future with entry pack, closing date etc. We will also be asking clubs to provide officials and volunteers to help in marshaling etc as there will be no spectators.

We truly need your help in ensuring we can do this and again info on this will be sent out very soon.

Thanks again and please stay safe

Steve Heaps

President 

bobthompson

Return to Competition Update from the President

Dear delegates
 
May I start by wishing you all a safe and happy return to the pool.
 
As we edge ever closer to what will hopefully be a return to some sort of normality now that our clubs are back in the water, I just wanted to drop you all a line to say I hope you are safe, well and enjoying being back with the athletes at your club delivering your training programmes.
 
North lancs have continued working in the background to try and implement a return to competition at some time in the autumn when we have had the opportunity to discuss details with our pool providers. These meetings will hopefully be taking place in the coming weeks. In order for us to achieve what we are currently planning please could I ask all delegates at all our affiliated clubs to check with your officials at your clubs to see if they will support our plans for some form of return to comp. I would be eternally grateful if you could please inform either Bob or myself if your officials would be willing to help. Thank you.
 
I will at the exec meet, schedule for 7th June, outline the plans the swimming and development committee have for this possible return and we will also publish these on the website.
 
For now please continue to enjoy being back with your respective clubs I hope to be in touch soon with more news.
 
Kind regards to all
Steve.
bobthompson
()

Further Update

Hi All
Firstly please can I apologise for the length of time it has taken to write to you all. With one thing and another I just haven’t been able to keep on top of everything, so again, apologies for the delay.
I sincerely hope that you and your families are safe and well as we continue to work our way through this pandemic? I have no doubt that it has affected you all in one way or another, I just hope the effect has been minimal on you all.
 
During the course of lockdown and inactivity, North Lancs have continued communications with our member clubs. We have had meeting with chairs or club representatives, with each outlining the difficulties they have and continue to face. Our AGM went ahead as planned via the zoom platform and the exec meetings have continued to take place as normal.
There are many people, in most cases volunteers who have worked so hard in the background trying to ensure that their club have a future, the same people have also been actively helping others who have not been as fortunate.
The level of togetherness in North Lancs has always been the key to the Association’s strengths, but these wonderful people have brought that togetherness closer. I would like to thank all those who have been working tirelessly at their clubs and in some cases, tirelessly in helping other clubs stay alive during this most difficult time in our sport’s history.
Thank you so much.
 
As you will no doubt be aware after the Prime Minister’s address on Monday 22/02, we are now approaching yet another end to another lockdown, this time, in the hope we can re build our clubs, our Association, our competitions and our sport without any further disruptions or dare I say, lockdown. But nothing is certain, and certainly not during these times.
As we look forward to April 12th when, hopefully Leisure facilities will be again able to open their doors, (presuming that all is still safe to do after after step 1 of the government’s road map) we obviously look forward to seeing our swimmers return to their clubs and to resume training. I look forward in our Association being able to re commence our activities and in particular our competitions. I can tell you that when taking over the presidency in December 2019 I had no idea I may be the only president in our associations history not to be able to present swimmers with their awards at our competitions. This may still be the case as I leave office in December this year, however I am determined we can have something, at very least in the diary before my time is over.
 
The swimming and development committee will, in the coming weeks, be working hard to formulate some kind of competition for ALL of our associated clubs and swimmers. We are going to work closely with our friends at Micro League of the North West to try and incorporate a festival of swimming which we hope will get the athletes back on the competitive pathway.
We are also going to look closely at the possibly re introduction of Water Polo back into the Association and will be again starting discussions with the relevant water polo clubs in the coming weeks and months.
In order for us to continue doing this we will try where we can to support the education of new teachers, coaches and officials to keep the backbone of our activities as strong as possible.
 
Due to the announcement that the PM made on Monday evening we will do all we can to work closely with the leisure providers to ensure we can host competitions, we will do all we can to ensure the health and safety of our members, clubs and communities whenever we host an activity and will try to put processes in place in line with leisure providers risk assessments etc.
 
Again, apologies for the length of time it has taken to write to you, I will keep you informed through the website an your club reps of when things will start to happen, so please continue to be patient, please continue to stay safe and well and please do all you can to help and support your clubs. I truly hope to see you all at a pool in the coming months.
 
Thank you
Steve Heaps
President.
bobthompson

Update

As you are all aware the North Lancs affiliated clubs have come together over the past few weeks to share their experiences and difficulties in returning to normal operations since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The club Chair’s and delegates have had one meeting to share each other’s ongoing problems and how best to overcome, and there will be more to follow in the coming weeks.

You will be aware in the news lately that such facilities such as Plymouth and Pond’s Forge, Sheffield are facing extremely uncertain futures, if the result of the pandemic is having an effect on facilities of this nature, then it is only natural that ALL facilities & swimming clubs are facing an uncertain future.

What the North Lancs Exec committee is trying to do, is to facilitate conversation and best working practices between all our affiliated clubs. We are trying to get clubs talking to each another, to help each other and if at all possible, to build honest working relationships that may help others survive through these challenging times. It is not going to be easy, we face many difficulties and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that we lose clubs due to no fault of their own, but we must try.

Some clubs are truly struggling for pool time, some more than others, but all clubs are facing difficulties and very uncertain futures whether they have pool time or not, so now, more than ever, it is important that each club’s membership help the club they are currently with rather than try to move club’s in order to gain some pool time.

I am aware that the temptation is there to transfer to other clubs in order to continue swimming but in all honesty, it is more important to ensure we protect all clubs within North Lancashire until such time that this is no longer possible. Swimming club’s in our community are a vital source of health and well being to our communities, not to mention they offer us an avenue for competitive sport, which, is also a vital part of any child’s education. We don’t have any performance club’s within our area, we are all local community swimming clubs, that in some cases have over 100yrs of history, surely the most important thing is to ensure these clubs are here for the next generations to enjoy?

By remaining with the club you are currently signed to, can only help their survival. I know people change clubs, they always have, for many different reasons, but changing club’s at this moment in time just to try and find a little pool time will only be detrimental to the survival of swimming club’s in our area.

The club Chairs  will hopefully be meeting again towards the end of this month when we are coming out of the holiday season, I’m sure this may be a topic for debate but please do all you can to help all swimming clubs. Thank you. 

Again, please stay alert, please stay safe and hopefully in time we can be welcoming all our clubs back to North Lancs competition in the future, fingers crossed!!

 

Kind Regards

 

Steve Heaps

President

bobthompson
()

Further Update 31.07.2020

Hi Everyone.
As we continue to move forward down this most uncertain pathway, I would like to update you a little on what has been happening within North Lancs lately. We had a Club chairs meeting on the 23rd July and from a pretty good turnout it was evident that all our member clubs are facing very different challenges with pool providers, yet all are in pretty much the same position. We are all uncertain how this pandemic is going to affect the sport and our individual clubs.
There were a number of great ideas of what we can do to try and bring to the attention of pool providers, local councillors and leaders, even local MP’s and media. I will be arranging another Club Chairs meet quiet soon to start putting some of these into practice and see if we can all help one another through this very difficult time.
On Thursday 30th July the North Lancs Exec met to discuss the above and what course of action needs to be done regarding our outstanding 2020 North Lancs competition. It was agreed by all in attendance that it is only right and proper to cancel the 2020 Sub League competition and remove the first gala from the records. The Sub League therefore will have no change in 2021, we will start the 2021 season with the two divisions as they currently stand and the records will show that the 2020 competition will show cancelled due to Coronavirus (Covid-19) Pandemic. The Swimming & Development committee will meet soon to discuss arranging the 2021 season, once we have more information from pool providers.
Our attention was then on discussion of the L2 meet, which, was, earlier in the year changed to L3.
This meet was due to take place in September/October 2020, obviously as we have previously reported this will no longer happen, however it was felt that the meet be postponed until such a time it can take place. The reasons for this are numerous but we feel that the first meet that takes place once restrictions are lifted should be North Lancs Meet for our affiliated clubs. We are in a position where we can offer a quality meet for all, cater for all and can, if required, take a loss on the competition in order to get our swimmers back in the water, so after discussion we are going to postpone the North Lancs meet until such time we are able to host, when this time arrives we will be booking pools and organising the running of this meet.

I would just like to say that your swimming clubs are working incredibly hard behind the scenes to try and ensure that all our swimmers have a future, and they will continue to do so. We are living in very difficult times, both personally and for our sport but if we can continue engaging in working partnerships to help each other out then I am sure the sport, North Lancs & your respective clubs can survive. Please Stay safe, please stay alert and please continue to follow the guidelines. I wish you all the very best of health and hope to see you all at a pool soon.

Many Thanks


Steve Heaps
President

bobthompson

Update for Association Members

Hi All

Firstly I would just like to say on behalf of the North Lancs Swimming & Water Polo Association I just hope and pray that all our member clubs, families and friends are all keeping safe and well during this most difficult time.

Last night (16th June 2020) the swimming and development committee met (on Zoom) to discuss the forthcoming L2 meet which is schedule for 26/27 September & 17/18 October and the conclusion of the 2020 Swim League.
When I last wrote to you on 3rd April it was unsure as to exactly what would happen to the remainder of the 2020 North Lancs competitions and to a certain extent nothing has really changed at the moment. We did however, decide, in April to change the L2 licence to a L3 licence and this is still the case should the event take place.

It was agreed last night to postpone the dates for September, and possibly the October dates, until we have more information from pool providers, following Swim England’s Guidance for Clubs released on Monday 15th June. With the North West Region Short Course Champs cancelled and the cancellation of the 2020 Arena League it does (if possible) give us scope to hold some form of Championships later in the year should circumstances improve. I would like to make it perfectly clear that if we can hold the 2020 Championships in whatever format we can, in a safe environment for all, then we will look to do so, but it has to be safe for all, including the local communities. This is paramount and we will not risk the health and safety of anyone.
We will endeavour to keep you posted as and when we learn more about the situation we face and as circumstances develop; so please check the website for updates.

We also discussed the 2020 Swim League season and again have concluded that if we can hold the remaining fixture towards the end of 2020, in a safe environment for all then we will do so. Again I must stress we will not risk the health and safety of anyone.

I would also like to mention that we briefly discussed the re-introduction of Water Polo back into North Lancs, I aim to write to all interested parties for Water Polo once we have more information on what will be classed as normal service so, please do not think we have forgotten about discussions held earlier in the year, this is not the case.

During the swimming and development meeting last night it became apparent that there are a number of clubs in the district facing severe challenges in the very near future, whether this is financial, pool providers, swimmer retention, teacher/coach retention, officials retention or any other matter, our clubs face unprecedented challenges. I was asked if I could contact all member clubs’ Chairpersons to arrange a meeting (on Zoom) to discuss the issues we currently face and to see if we can canvass for opinions to try and help one another through these times as best as possible. In the next few days I intend to write to all our clubs Chairpersons to invite them to a meeting, so please check your emails regularly & try to ensure you are available, if at all possible.
I think it is fair to say that our sport, truly has a rather uncertain future, none of us know what is going to happen, it is going to be difficult and we face the serious prospect of some of clubs facing closure through no fault of their own, I think the time has come for all to try (if at all possible) to help one another through these very difficult times.

In closing for now, please continue to Stay Safe, follow all the guidelines that have been advertised and try to ensure that yourselves, your families, friends and communities are as safe as possible.

Steve Heaps
President NLSWPA