A SWIMMING club with hundreds of York members has launched a fundraising campaign to support its fightback against Covid-19.

York City Baths Club is forecasting 'a significant operation loss in 2020', prompting a crowdfunding appeal to raise £10,000 to provide future stability.

The voluntary sports club which uses a number of pools in the city decided not to collect teaching or training fees from members during the crisis. However, it made a commitment to support its service providers to ensure they could return to the water as quickly as possible once circumstances allowed.

YCBC which provides swimming training and lessons for about 400 members across York and North Yorkshire has attracted pledges for a prize draw from former members to back the campaign.

These include a one-to-one butterfly masterclass with Olympian Caroline Garratt.

The club which is hoping to secure further pledges from other past members also wants to encourage more children to take up swimming.

Josh Spencer. head coach, said they had not received any revenue for more than three months.

"Our usual fundraising comes through competitions and swimming galas which we run on a bi-annual basis. Our next competition should be in November and this is typically very lucrative for the club, however this is looking very doubtful now due to social distancing measures.

"In order to cushion this financial impact we have decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the club. This will help us to get the club back up and running and provide us with stability."

He said they had some 'fantastic prizes' on offer through a prize draw in return for pledges from people, including one-to-one pool sessions, sports massages, and a personal training session with a world champion kick boxer.

The club is also offering two prizes of free swimming lessons for a child, aged between five and 10, for six months,

Josh said the lockdown had been difficult for club members and coaches but he praised their attitude and training efforts.

"We have been doing land-based sessions for them. I have had Zoom meetings in groups with older swimmers to talk about how they are feeling and get feedback from them. People are feeling more optimistic now and getting excited about getting back to the pool."

He said a number of members had bought inflatable pools with bungee cords to help them keep fit during the lockdown period. Others have taken up open water swimming.

"They have been really good throughout this. They have been engaged with the workouts and sending me training data, and going above and beyond what I wanted them to do." He said it would be a long process to get back to normality, as most of the 2020 events had been cancelled, but he was optimistic they would reach their fundraising target.

To support the appeal, visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/york-city-baths-club-covid-19-crowdfund/