03 Apr 2021

To all members of Dursley Dolphins,

We are delighted to announce that we are able to return to training from the w/c 19 April - with all sessions operating as they were prior to the latest lockdown!  Please read all of the following information carefully.

Swim England Fees

If you did not renew your Swim England membership through us in February, then you will need to do so before you can attend any training (this is to ensure that our insurance covers you to swim).  As previously notified we are joining all swimmers as category 1 only (a higher category will only be needed to compete at higher level meets which are not yet able to take place) and each swimmer must have a parent/guardian as a member also.  The cost is: £13.90 per swimmer and £8.90 per parent.

Allocated Sessions

We have assumed that all swimmers will return to their previous sessions, if you wish to change any of yours, please let us know by Friday 9 April and we will confirm whether this is possible.  A table of who swims at which session is attached to this email for information.

Club membership fees / training fees for April

As was agreed at the last AGM, our own club fees are now set at £30 per swimming member.  These are usually due at the same time as SE fees, but due to the lockdown at that point, the Committee decided to wait until we could return swimming.  These are, therefore, due now and membership will last until April 2022. As we are only able to swim for half of April we are asking swimmers to transfer half of their monthly fee and then to set up standing orders from May.  Please note that the AGM also agreed on an increase in these monthly fees which are now as follows:

• 1 session per week:  £28 (£14 for April)
• 2 sessions per week:  £43 (£21.50 for April)
• 3 sessions per week:  £55 (£27.50)

Please make all payments for training fees in April by 19 April and all membership fees by 30 April (if it is easier please pay both at once).  Make sure to use your child's name as a reference so that the treasures know who has paid.  If you believe that your account is in credit and you would like to use that money for your fees, please reply to this email and we will confirm how much credit you have.

'Pay as you Swim' system

As some of our sessions are quite low on numbers, the Committee has decided to operate a trial system to give all swimmers the chance to swim extra sessions occasionally.  If you would like to swim an extra session in the following week you will need to email the club by 4pm on the preceding Friday.  The secretary will then reply that evening to confirm whether this is possible (we have to ensure that we are not mixing abilities in lanes and there are limits on numbers per lane due to COVID).  You will then have to make sure your payment reaches us by the following Monday to secure your space.  It will only be possible to book spaces one week in advance.  The cost will by £7 per session (non-refundable).  This is a trial, initially for one month, to see how it works.  Please note that our ultimate aim is to grow the size of our club to ensure our financial viability going forwards, so we hope to fill those spaces with new members. 

Masters Swimmers

Unfortunately, at present, Masters swimmers are not permitted to train with clubs.  Under the current government timetable they would be allowed to restart on 17 May, but we await further guidance from government and SE.  Swimmers who turned 18 after 31 August 2020 are permitted to swim with us now.

Further guidance and COVID declarations

Swim England will be publishing further guidance on returning to training in the next week.  Once we have received this, we will update our risk assessments and our own guidance.  We will also ask all swimmers/volunteers/coaches to sign another COVID declaration.  This will have to be signed and returned BEFORE you attend your first session and all guidance must be followed strictly.  This is for the safety of all swimmers/volunteers and coaches and their households and to ensure, as far as possible, that we do not have to suspend training again.

 

As always, please do get in touch if you have any questions or concerns and we will answer them as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Steph Spiers

---

All news