Club News Letter – Update@ 19th Jan 2021
Sent on behalf of the Club Secretary
Dear Parent/Guardian/Swimmer …
Thanks for sticking with us in 2020! We do hope you are keeping safe and well in the circumstances as we know 2020 has been a difficult year for our members. But without your support, Kingfishers Swimming Club could not have survived.
Together, we returned to swimming with as many swimmers as we safely could under the strangest of circumstances, to give as many swimmers as possible time in the water.
We have worked hard as a committee and as a club to resolve all the issues Covid has raised – and to streamline administration, control costs and organise ourselves in a safe way to ensure the club is still here for the benefit of all our swimmers now and into the future.
Thank You To Our Members and Volunteers
Many individual members have volunteered time and skills to help. For example, to become Covid monitors, raise additional funds (such as our Christmas Raffle), contribute to our fundraising by buying raffle tickets, manage our Swim Manager membership system, apply for grants, meet with the pool operator and council and prepare for Level X to bring competition back to the club alongside regular training and club nights. These are just a few examples.
Many have joined the fight to get our pools open and to keep them open (subject to lockdowns!) … and most swimmers have returned to sessions when invited and followed the necessary rules – or pledged to return when circumstances allow them.
Investing in Our Facilities
We aim to make our training sessions the best they can be in the circumstances. We are currently pricing up deck level pace clocks at each end of the pool to help swimmers monitor and improve their performance and times. These will particularly assist those who may struggle for various reasons to see the current clocks. We are also looking to purchase backstroke start ledges for the lane blocks and have an ongoing project to evaluate with the pool operator the feasibility of, in the future, upgrading the starting blocks to add adjustable footrests. We are also invested in 4 Assistant Swim Teacher courses last year to upskill our volunteer workforce.
The committee would like to thank everyone involved for all their help and support, particularly for the Christmas Raffle which has made additional purchasing possible.
Your Kingfisher Community
We want to be here to serve our members and we thank you for being part of the Kingfisher community. Without you there would be no club, but we do rely on your continued membership to survive.
At our last committee meeting we closed by playing the Presentation Night video from 2019 and it was a welcome reminder of what a special community Kingfishers is – it covered events from that year and is filled with positive thinking, great sportsmanship, smiling swimmers, success stories, achievements and fun loving faces enjoying all the club can offer – and will continue to offer in a ‘normal’ year – from a swimmer’s first internal gala, through friendly/district meets to licensed open meets with serious performance targets to beat!
As we approach membership renewal, we hope you will choose to renew in 2021 and continue your swimming journey with us. We are looking forward to a return to regular training and competitions for all in 2021 – and for us all to continue wearing the Kingfishers badge and colours with pride!
Your Membership Renewal
By renewing membership with us, you also renew your Swim England membership. You are supporting Swim England in championing our sport in the media, in campaigns and in lobbying for swimming. As an affiliated club we provide safe and welcoming club sessions for you and your family, access to licensed meets and are able to ensure everyone is trained and insured for pool, fitness, competition and open water swimming. And of course, for Category 2 members, we hope that you’ll be able to enter competitions and challenge yourself against clubs locally and nationally.
You can see a video message about all that Swim England membership does for the sport and members here – look for the video in our Facebook group (#YourMembershipCounts):
We need to pay the club’s Swim England affiliation fees and programme water time at the beginning of February. At our December AGM we recognised the pressure many are under and moved our renewal payment date to February 1st. That was before lockdown 3.0.
*** What You Need To Do Now ***
As there are no training fees for at least 2 months, in order to ensure we have space for you or your family when we return we hope you will be able to renew your membership as last year and are asking you to indicate how you want to pay – all in one payment on 1st February or spread your renewal over this month and next, with a payment now and one on 1st of next month whilst here are no training fees.
We encourage all Cat 2’s to renew as Cat 2, given no current training fees – particularly as you will need this category to register for Level X when we return. Swim England will be very grateful if you can manage this. If you are not intending to compete, the form allows you to request a Cat 1 renewal. Payment will support Swim England at this difficult time and reduce our costs in amending registrations later in the year.
Fees are confirmed on the form – there is no increase in annual membership this year.
Please complete the form as soon as you can on the link below so we can set up your billing. We will then invoice and take direct debits according to your response (or ask you make bank transfers if not on a direct debit) as per the plan chosen.
Here is the link to the form:
If the first form is full and you can’t open it, try the link below:
If neither work try the link below:
Please Note: It is important you commit to renew with us now, as otherwise the club will not be able to hold places for you, as we will be admitting new members from our waiting list as soon as renewals are completed and we have a return to water date, in order to preserve our ability to purchase our training lanes.
There is an opportunity on the last page of the form to raise a question about renewal or anything else or if you want us to contact you with a response.
If you have any questions or need assistance about payments or a payment plan and can’t complete the form on the above link then please email me confidentially at the email address:
Thank you again for all your support in 2020 and we look forward to seeing you back in the water in 2021.
Kind Regards
Vicky Gough
Club Secretary
For assistance please contact:
General/Juniors: secretary@kingfishersswimmingclub.org.uk
Open Water: openwater@kingfishersswimmingclub.org.uk
Swim Manager and Accounts: admin@kingfishersswimmingclub.org.uk
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