Keynsham Seals Disabled Swimming Club turned 50 on 18 October with a birthday swim. It has about 40 members, and new swimmers get a free first taster session.
Keynsham Seals Disabled Swimming Club has turned 50. The club, which hires the whole main pool at Keynsham Leisure Centre for an hour every Sunday so that disabled adults and children can swim without the public in the water, marked its golden anniversary with a birthday celebration day on Sunday 18 October.
It now has “approximately 40 main members”, Rachel Parker, the club’s chairperson, told Bath Daily, “these also have associated family members and carers that come along with them. Some members come regularly others are just occasionally.”
A birthday swim
The anniversary was marked with a swim session from 11.30am for an hour, followed by a display of photographs from 1976 to 2026, balloons and a birthday table, according to the club’s 50 years page. “Thank you to everyone who came along to celebrate with us, and to everyone who has been part of Seals over the last 50 years,” the club wrote there.
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Keynsham Seals Disabled Swimming Club
Started by two Red Cross volunteers in 1976
The club began in June 1976 as Keynsham Red Cross Seals, set up by two Red Cross volunteers, the club’s history says. Its aim was “to provide opportunities for disabled children and adults to access swimming and live a fuller life.”
The early years were hard work. “With no lift, hoist or poolside changing rooms, physically disabled members had to be pushed up the long ramp at the back of the centre, changed in the first aid room and then carried into the pool,” the club writes. “However, everyone was rewarded with seeing the sense of freedom and independence members felt as they swam, many managing movements that they found impossible when out of the water.”
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Keynsham Seals Disabled Swimming Club
Over the years the club held swimming galas and parties for its members, and its founders and helpers received donations and visits from dignitaries. The best remembered was Princess Diana, who visited in December 1984, a visit the club links to her work with the British Red Cross.
The pool today
Things are easier now. The club says there is a lift down to the poolside, designated disabled changing rooms with changing beds and a hoist, and a motorised pool pod that lowers members into the water. Because Seals hires the whole pool, “only club members and their carers are in the water. No lanes, just the whole pool: you can do widths, lengths, play and explore the water in your own way.”
The session runs every Sunday all year round, including Easter Sunday and New Year’s Day when it falls on a Sunday, which the club says gives members an essential routine.
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Keynsham Seals Disabled Swimming Club
“Just a lifeline”
Ms Parker, quoted on the club’s website, said Seals “became a big part of our lives after the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a really difficult time. We’d already been to Seals for a year or two, and it was just a lifeline to come back every Sunday.”
“We really work together as a community, and a lot of us special need parents absolutely get it,” she says on the club’s anniversary page.
Members and parents quoted on the club’s website say the same. Mike, an adult member, said: “I am a wheelchair user and joined the Seals after Covid. No other opportunities were available to me to go swimming. It is one of the few forms of exercise that I can still do. The sessions are great in that Seals have the dedicated use of the main pool, so it’s quieter.”
Julie, whose adult daughter swims with the club, said: “Seals has been a source not only of exercise but friendship, laughter and support.” Francesca, whose son has swum with Seals for about a year, said: “It’s made not only a positive difference to my son’s swimming ability but benefitted us as a family both socially and physically.”
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Keynsham Seals Disabled Swimming Club
What it means for you: how to join
Seals is open to disabled adults and children of all ages and abilities. Sessions run every Sunday, 11.30am to 12.30pm, in the main pool at Keynsham Leisure Centre, Temple Street, BS31 1HE.
- First session free: the first taster session costs nothing. Email the club at keynshamseals@outlook.com to book it.
- Who swims with whom: children must be in the pool with an adult swimmer, and adults with complex disabilities or health needs should have a carer in the water with them. The club asks people to get in touch to talk through their own circumstances.
- Fees, as published by the club: £10 a month for an individual disabled adult (a carer included), £20 a month for a family with a disabled member, plus £10 annual membership. The monthly fee covers every Sunday.
- Volunteers and new members can contact the club by the same email. It also has flyers and posters in local Better leisure centres, Ms Parker said, and a new website at keynshamseals.org.
Keynsham Seals is a registered charity (number 1078478) run by its member volunteers, the club says.
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