Further update
18 Mar 2020
Further to yesterday’s communications around Coronavirus, I would like to reiterate that the decision to suspend both the Competitive and Learn to Swim sections of RMSC was not taken lightly and we are all disappointed of this outcome. Swim England has advised that club activity falls into the category of a public gathering and strongly advised clubs to consider cancelling or postponing activity.
Whilst the Pool Water Treatment and Advisory Group advised that water and the chlorine within swimming pools will help to kill the virus, outside of the pool we would have been unable to ensure swimmers could align government guidance on social distancing, and the changing rooms etc would still have been able to carry the virus for 72 hours.
We therefore concluded that the best course of action in the interests of our coaches, teachers, swimmers, learners and volunteers was to postpone activity for an undefined period. This will continue to be reviewed on a regular basis as more guidance is received.
You may notice that some swimming clubs choose to continue training competitively and providing lessons; that is their choice until the government makes an official stance, as they have done this evening with Schools. We have chosen to take a different path, and I hope this more detailed explanation helps you understand.
I am aware that you will have a number of questions, in particular around subscriptions. We will be discussing with Life Leisure over the next few days whether the club has to continue to pay for the cost of the pool hire, which is predominantly what your subscriptions are for as the club is predominantly run by volunteers.
The next direct debit for the competitive section is the 14/4/20and for Learn to Swim 7/4/20. We hope to have an answer before we process those direct debits.
Regards
Ian White