Derbyshire hotel launches free swim safety lessons for children
Matlock’s New Bath Hotel & Spa, in partnership with charity Bluetonic, is opening its historic lido to host free evening open water safety sessions for local children.
The move comes after the number of open-water accidents has increasing during recent heatwaves, with the hotel helping local children stay safe by building up their underwater skills and swimming confidence. Bluetonic is a charity dedicated to encouraging people to be active in and around water and the hotel lido, in Matlock Bath, is described as the perfect ‘blue space’ in which to learn about water safety.
The Swim Safe sessions will be led by the charity’s qualified swimming instructors, who will teach essential open-water safety to children through interactive activities within a safe and contained environment.
Jason Skipper, aka ‘Skip’, manager and lifeguard at New Bath Hotel & Spa’s lido said: “Spikes in open water tragedies during COVID and in recent heatwaves prompted the lido and hotel team to look into how we could offer and deliver help to our local community.
“Our lido is a great introduction to open water but with the safety and supervision of a swimming pool. For these reasons, we’ve always figured it would be a perfect venue to learn much needed water safety knowledge and skills.”
By hosting Swim Safe, The New Bath Hotel & Spa, a member of the Radisson Individuals chain, hopes to give local children access to life-saving water safety education, within one of Derbyshire's most distinctive historic swimming venues. The hotel's donation towards Bluetonic to help launch the lido’s sessions, reflected a shared commitment to improving water safety, supporting young people and encouraging safe enjoyment of the region's natural blue spaces. The sessions will take place exclusively during evening hours, ensuring there is no impact on the adults-only daytime experience enjoyed by hotel guests and members. The Bluetonic swim sessions will take place at the New Bath Hotel & Spa lido on Thursday 30th July from 6pm to 8pm. Other sessions throughout July will be held at Spring Lakes, Long Eaton. To check out the dates and book sessions, visit: https://www.bluetonic.org.uk/