2021 WASA Fees – Return to Swimming

If you are intending to return back to swimming (main and little pool) after lockdown, then the WASA Fees of £40 need to be paid no later than 30th April 2021.

The committee and Coaching team will then meet to discuss squads allocations/times based on WASA payments.

Failure to pay your WASA fees on time will result in your child not being included within the training schedules as they will not be insured and NOT allowed to train.

At this moment in time, dates for the return to swimming is the 10th May 2021.

The squad lists will be sent out and posted on the web site as quickly as possible after the 30th April.

Payments can be made using the same bank account details as used for monthly subscriptions.

If you have any concerns, then please e-mail the treasurer or chairman.

2021 Affiliation Fees form

fees-for-2021-1Download

Petition to the Senedd to allow swimming to start back earlier than the 17th May

The governing body Swim Wales have drafted a letter to the First Minister and will sent by Fergus Feeney, Swim Wales CEO on the 1st April 2021

Please find below the link to the petition “Open aquatic facilities and swimming pools in Wales earlier than the published Welsh Government date”.

https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244816

Also attached is the letter submitted by the governing body

ceo-fm-roadmap-response-finalDownload

Swim Wales – Club Management Engagement Session

For Latest information regarding return to water and what the governing body is doing, please click on the following link for more details.

return-to-water-aquatic-club-management-session-17.03.2021Download

Swim Wales – Membership fees 2021

A message from our CEO Fergus Feeney to our Swim Wales membership community Re 2021/22 membership renewal and income. 15 February 2021 Dear member clubs, club members and individual members of Swim Wales, Membership fees and renewals are always a key focus for us at this time of year. This year in particular, there is a strong recognition by everyone at Swim Wales that people have had a very difficult year and many members may find themselves in a very challenging position as a result of the pandemic’s impact on the economy. By the time Wales comes out of lockdown and our pools re-open in the spring (current estimate is April) our member clubs and individual club members will have seen approx. 37 weeks (70%) of the membership year out of water. I understand that many of our members feel that they have not had value for money in 2020 as due to government restrictions pool training has been sporadic (or in a few cases non-existent) and events have not been able to take place. Popular Questions I have had several questions about this over the last few weeks from member clubs and individual club members. The main ones are;Why should I pay my fees this year?Why is Swim Wales not deferring its membership fees in 2021?Can member clubs and their club members have a fee/payment holiday until swimming competitions return?Importance of Membership Fees As a not-for-profit organisation, Swim Wales is heavily reliant on the income it receives from membership fees to help fund our work. Membership income has been, and will remain, critical to enable your National Governing Body to continue to support all aquatic sports in Wales. I believe that together we have done an outstanding job this year engaging with our clubs, their club members and supporting club committee members and volunteers. 2020 membership fees have helped Swim Wales to fund the support work we have given to clubs throughout this pandemic. This includes providing 12 months of training material, online training support, technical advice, safe protocols and guidance and 100+ Zoom engagement calls. Membership fees also fund the critical work that our development teams do across Wales with industry partners such as Local Authorities, Sport Wales and Welsh Government. This sometimes unseen work includes science support, safeguarding support, collecting data and insight and highlighting wider issues that our aquatic activities and sports face. Most notably, the detailed guidance that we produced for 11 user groups which supported the reopening of swimming pools following the first lockdown. This revenue has also enabled myself and the team to successfully push for a significant part of the £260 million allocated to Local Authorities in Wales to go towards leisure centres. Keeping these facilities in existence will ultimately help safeguard the future of pools up and down the country used by our affiliated clubs. In addition to this it has made sure that NGB staff were fully operational to support our 81 affiliated member clubs in applying for grant funding, including Sport Wales and Swimathon, resulting in over £200,000 going directly to our clubs in grant funding last year. More importantly, it also funds insurance. This has remained in place throughout this period for all registered clubs and their members and covers virtual and land training sessions as well as in-pool activities (when water based activity has been permitted). We are required to pay the insurance premium in April to ensure all our clubs and members remain covered and this is a very substantial item of expenditure. I am delighted to see the vaccination programme across Wales going very well.  We have light at the end of the tunnel and we can see a return to training and competitive events in the spring. In between lockdowns, our Super Series virtual events proved to be a huge success. Your membership fees helped fund the cost of planning, resourcing and staging these events as well as planning for pilot regional and national events in 2021. Our new programme of events, which will be launched on our February club Zoom call, is better than ever before. Super Series II will return this spring when pools are allowed to reopen. As I write, we find ourselves focussed once again on pushing for pools to be reopened as soon as it is safe to do so and for the resumption of club activities for all members. We are incredibly mindful of the impact Covid-19 continues to have on many people up and down the country. As the National Governing Body for swimming, diving, artistic swimming and water polo, we have not been immune from the financial pressures of this pandemic. Swim Wales have not increased their membership fees for 5 years. Despite increasing costs and a significant reduction in our other revenue streams we have taken the decision not to increase membership fees again in 2021 and in addition to this will invest significant finance into our member clubs to support them through this period. To put this into context, a category 2 membership, which all club members who wish to take part in Super Series and our national competitions, costs only £34.00 a year, the equivalent of around 65p a week. We want nothing more than to see you all in the pool, competing in galas and competitions and enjoying the sports you love so much, and I know we have your continued support in the weeks ahead. Yours sincerely, Fergus   Fergus Feeney CEO Swim Wales

Sad passing of Ian Eke – forma Abertillery Head Coach

It’s with great sadness, I have to announce, that Ian Eke passed away at home on Wednesday. He was forma Head Coach of the Abertillery Piranhas Swimming club. Ian was one of the founder members of the Greater Gwent Fast Water Open and his contribution was paramount to the success of this event.

His funeral will be held on 22nd Feb 2021 at 2.30pm at Sirhowy Valley Crematorium. Due to COVID restrictions attendance is strictly limited to family members only.

For those that knew Ian through swimming, flowers will only be from the family only but if anyone would like to donate to either of his choosen charities –

• Spaniel Aid UK

• The British Lung Foundation

God Bless from all at the Heads of the Valleys Swimming Club.

Land training sessions via Zoom

With the Welsh Government suspending all leisure activities and socail gathering, the club is going to provide land trianing sessions to most squads.

There will be two types of session offered over the coming weeks

• Gold, Silver and Bronze will pay £22 per month for 4 sessions per week
• All other squads will pay £11 per month for 2 sessions per week
• The first session will start on Sunday the 15th January and all payments must be paid by 13th (Friday) no later than 5:00PM.
• Subsequent sessions need to be paid by the 15th of each month going forward.
• The sessions will be password protected and a register taken of who was at the sessions.

Gold – Silver – Bronze

Monday 4.45-5.45pm

Wednesday 6-7pm

Thursday 5.30-6.30pm

Sunday 10-11

All other squads

Monday 4.45-5.45pm

Thursday 5.30-6.30pm

Session Fees – Payments to be suspended from 1st February 2021

The committee has decided that there is no real date before we can return to the water.

I ask all parents to suspend their standing orders from the 1st of February until further notice.

The committee have also decided on the following payments required to be paid for swimming sessions from September 2020 to January 2021.

·         Gold, Silver and Bronze will pay 2 months fees

·         All other squads will pay 1 month fee

All over payments will be paid back via bank transfer.

Please contact Joanne Butler (joannebutler1@sky.com) with you bank details and any over payments will be transferred by the end of March.  Any payment not requested by the 20^th March will not be paid and any fees outstanding will go back into the club.  This is to allow the clubs finances to be closed ready to be audited and submitted to Swim Wales.

Individual letters will be sent to all parents that have fees outstanding.  These fees need to be paid before the end of March to allow the accounts to be audited. Failure to pay any outstanding fees will result in swimmers not being allowed to enter swimming sessions when the club restarts.

Super Series Round 3 Results

Well done to all swimmers how took part in the 3rd round of the Super Series event runt by Swim Wales.

Please see attached file for all swimmers times achieved during this round.

heads-of-the-valley-round-3Download

Christmas Shutdown 2020

Last training session will be Tuesday 22nd December and return on Saturday 2nd January.

On behalf of the coaches, teachers and committee, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

UPDATE –

With the Welsh Government announcing new restrictions will come into effect from 19th December at midnight instead of during the Christmas period. This will mean non-essential retail, close contact services, gyms and leisure centres and hospitality will close.

We will have to wait from the Welsh Government when these restrictions will be lifted. As a club we will provide online Zoom classes for land training. These will be posted via our social app.

Stay-at-home and stay safe.

Isolation Rules for Covid 19

Below is an extract from the Swim Wales Return to Water Policy.

If a swimmer/volunteer is told to self Isolate by either their school, college or work place then they must comply with option 2.

It is everyone’s responsibility to comply with the Governments rules and regulations. If these are not followed, then there is a potential to put the volunteer’s and swimmers at risk. As a club, we will not tolerate this behaviour and swimmers will be excluded from further sessions.

COVID-19 TESTING OPTIONS:

1. If an individual has received a positive test result for Covid-19 infection, they will be informed to self-isolate at home in line with the UK Government self-isolation guidance: https://gov.wales/self-isolation-stay-homeguidance- households-possible-coronavirus

2. If an individual has received a negative test result for Covid-19 infection and has been identified as a contact of someone who has tested positive of Covid-19 (with symptoms or without), they must continue to self -isolate until the 14 day incubation period is over.

3. If an individual has received a negative test result for Covid-19 infection, has not displayed any symptoms and has not had a known contact of someone who has tested positive of Covid-19, there is no need to self-isolate. If they subsequently become unwell, they should self-isolate, and may need a further test.