In November this year funding was awarded to WeSwim CIC. WeSwim are a London based Community Interest Company working with people with a wide variety of disabilities, both physical and learning. They aim to get people out of their homes, connected with their community and more physically active via swimming.
Their sessions offer opportunities to build water confidence, work on exercises not possible on dry land and build social connections between swimmers and volunteers. They pair each of their swimmers with volunteers whose role is to provide physical and emotional support.
Our grant was spent contributing to three separate Christmas parties. With over 100 attendees in total, a combination of disabled people in the community and volunteers. Many of their disabled swimmers are lonely and will not have any other Christmas parties to go to. Everyone, volunteers and swimmers alike, had a fantastic time.
Below are a few things their disabled swimmers said about the events:
"Thank you for an absolutely wonderful evening; the food, company, chats and jokes made my evening "
"Really lovely evening, great turnout - thanks for organizing"
"Thank you on behalf of Mali and myself for a lovely happy evening , such a privilege to be part of such a great group . Well done to everyone - and thank you especially Tash and Jane . Happy Christmas"
"Thank you so much for the lovely evening and the delicious pizza. It was great to see so many of you. Sorry I didn't get to say hi to everyone. Merry Christmas!"
WeSwim reported that the grant helped over 50 disabled people feel less lonely, gave them something to look forward to and created memories for the future. This was the highlight of the winter for many.
Building a community is something that takes resources and needs to be worked on, but all three events were a huge success, with a fantastic turnout and great community spirit.