community

working together

As a community interest company, we organise fun, achievable, inclusive, affordable events for the benefit of the community. Surplus funds are donated back to the community, clubs, charities, and businesses.

2023

2023 was a mix of elation and disappointment.

  • Elation from all the bookings we received. Particularly SwimRun which has grown in popularity since we introduced it back in 2017 when many scratched their heads wondering why anyone would want to swim in their running kit. Now it’s a hugely popular event up and down the country.
  • Disappointment because we had to cancel the Long Swim for safety reasons due to strong winds. We spend all year planning so when an event needs to be cancelled, we don’t take the decision lightly and possibly we are more disappointed than anyone. We had a small party instead, cooking all the food already purchased which we gave to those who came along for a swim in the lake instead.

As a CIC, any surplus funds go to local community groups and projects:

  • Paid for Children’s water safety sessions during school summer holidays
  • Paid for YMCA to have two sessions paddleboarding on the lake
  • Paid Men’s Club to make 32 swift boxes which will be for installed in various places in Clevedon
  • Contributed to new flooring and soundproofing at Tillies School Of Performing Arts
  • Other donations to:
      • Happy Companions Club who provide a weekly day out for Clevedon’s oldest independent living residents.
      • Rotary Club to help with their causes
      • We are aware: a local mental health charity

2022

Activities and donations during 2022:

  • Ran two events as our main income generators:
    • SwimRun (73 participants)
    • Long Swim (100 participants)
  • Organised a winter swimming challenge and organised first aid training for 106 people to learn CPR and use of a defibrillator.
  • Provided swim coaching and ran sessions covering introduction to open water swimming, including escorted sea swims
  • Paid for associate membership of Clevedon Sailing Club for Clevedon swimmers to use their clubhouse and bar
  • Donated to:
    • Happy Companions Club: provide a weekly day out for Clevedon’s oldest independent living residents.
    • Splash & Chat: club for visually impaired people to swim in Strode pool
    • We Are Aware: a local mental health charity

2021

Activities and donations during 2021:

  • Organised our two main fund raising events: a SwimRun (100 participants) and Long Swim (150 participants) 
  • Organised a new fun event, a Pie-athlon: a fun event supporting local businesses (brewery, SUP hire, fish bar) and introducing people to SUP water sport followed by social event
  • Organised a series of water safety for children aged 8-10, employing a local swim coach to deliver it.
  • Organised and collected funds for Polar Bear winter swimming challenge, raising funds for better information boards at Clevedon Marine Lake.
  • Donated to local clubs and organisations, though many give their support for free, we like to give back too:
  • Renewed our associate membership of the local Sailing Club for Clevedon swimmers to use their facilities after swimming
  • Surplus funds from our events were donated to:
    • We are aware, a local mental health charity who helped with serving food at our SwimRun event
    • Backwell Camera Club for photographing our events.
    • Park run for keeping the local community fit
    • Clevedon Canoe Club for helping with water safety
    • Coastguard Association for their tireless work
    • Community Resilience for looking after the welfare of the town and inhabitants
    • Clevedon Happy Companions Club: provide a weekly day out for Clevedon’s oldest independent living residents.
    • Splash & Chat: club for visually impaired people to swim in Strode pool

2020

In 2020, despite lockdown, we managed to achieve a quite a few projects:

  • Arranged a French patisserie demo by local chef Clovis Rondet of Chouxfayre, which raised over £400 towards our Children’s Water Safety Courses.
  • Designed a short fun water safety course aimed at children aged 8-10, and paid a couple of local lifeguards to run the sessions
  • Arranged “Pie & Pint” talk by two local swimmers. The money raised was donated to three local mental health charities: Wellspring Counselling  + We are aware + Samaritans (WsM) 
  • Paid for associate club membership of the local Sailing Club for Clevedon swimmers so they could use their facilities after swimming
  • Bought and installed coloured buoys in Clevedon marine lake for swimmers to go round
  • Organised and collected funds via two Polar Bear challenges: at Clevedon for a wheelchair for disabled swimmers to access Clevedon marine lake; at Weston Super Mare to dredge and reinstate their marine lake
  • Collected money for local branches of the RNLI and Coastguard Association