The new sessions are being supported by funding from Suffolk County Council’s Activities Unlimited project which was awarded to help Optua run more weekly swimming sessions across the county. The Lowestoft sessions will run every Friday from 1pm to 2pm. The sessions will be launching on Friday 20th January – a week before the leisure centre’s open weekend from the 27th to 29th to officially open the new facilities.

Big Splash sessions give people with disabilities the chance to swim or learn to swim at an accessible swimming pool, supported by staff and volunteers. Sessions already run at Bungay, Leiston, Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Stowmarket, Sudbury, Mildenhall, Newmarket, Woodbridge, Felixstowe and Haverhill. In 2010/2011 over 6,500 people came along to Big Splash sessions in Suffolk.

The aim is to make it easier for disabled people to learn to swim or do it more regularly. Big Splash sessions are open to anyone with a disability of any age and are also open to anyone recovering from an accident or with a long term health condition. The new sessions are all part of Optua’s Disability Sport Academy Project which aims to get more people into disability sport or become more active in the run up to the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

2012 is a big year for disability sport in Lowestoft because as well as the new swimming sessions, Optua are also running a Disability Sport Showcase Day at the Leisure Centre on Saturday 24th March which will give people with disabilities a chance to have a go at a wide range of Paralympic and disability sports.

For more information about Big Splash or the Showcase Day, please call Graeme Anderson on 01473 836770. Optua is also looking for anyone who would like to volunteer to help out at the swimming sessions.