St Vincent's School - Pool Fundraiser

Hi there! My name is Jenny Oxley, I am the founder of ABC Swim School. I manage and run this business alongside my husband Chris Oxley. Our swim school has been up and running since early September 2014, and we are a huge swim family with many amazing swimmers of all ages and abilities. Currently, we are hosting our lessons at St Vincent Blind School, West Derby, Liverpool. As you may already be aware, St Vincent’s is a special school for sensory impairments and sensory needs.

Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing some issues with the pool boiler and heating system. This is influencing all swimming lessons that take place in this school, both for students in St Vincent’s and ABC Swim School. At this moment, we are unable to give all our children an enjoyable experience in the pool due to their very old boiler, resulting in difficulties maintaining a good and acceptable hydro pool temperature. With the boiler not working correctly, it can also affect the air temperature of the pool making it extremely cold and cannot heat the water to the required temperature. This can result in children not being able to swim properly or for a long period. Therefore a completely new boiler and heating system would be our best option.

Over the past few months, we have been exploring different ways to finance the replacement of the boiler and heating system, but St Vincent’s is a non-maintained charity school and what we pay to hire the pool just about covers the running costs, leaving nothing left in the pot to cover its repairs. We have decided to help by doing some sponsored swims and sponsored walks with both our mainstream and SEN children to help raise enough money to replace the boiler and heating system so we can get all our kids back in the pool enjoying their lessons once again.

We would be internally grateful if you can help us by donating or sharing with family and friends to help us keep this valuable service going for our children and their parents. Anything will be appreciated! Thank you, love all of ABC’s Swim Team.

Parental Statements:

"My son Daniel who is nonverbal has Autism, sensory processing disorder, hypermobility, coeliac, and suspected Reynards

Always loves going swimming on a Saturday morning with his one-to-one Jenny, the owner of ABC Swimmers.

Daniel and Jenny have an excellent relationship. Jenny has the patience of a saint with Daniel and he looks forward to his Saturday morning swim with her.

After his lessons with Jen, his mood is so lifted and he’s so happy it makes his weekend.

Unfortunately, we have to stop this due to the pool being so cold because the boiler has broken.

This has left Daniel in a low mood and somewhat confused at times as to why he’s not swimming on a Saturday.

The last morning that I took him for his swimming lesson, the pool was really cold.

He took most of the lesson to get into the pool.

He wasn’t in there for a long due to the temperature.

This made us decide to put his swimming lessons on hold until the boiler is fixed.

Fortunately, Jen has kindly agreed with this idea and we are so grateful to her because we know she could easily fill Daniels's place with another child." - Sarah Jackson

"My daughter Melody has Down Syndrome and a complex heart defect.

She has a 1-to-1 swim tutor and loves going every week. It helps her with muscle tone and other health problems. She is now very close to being able to swim. This is all due to the support and specialised skills ABC swim school offer for children with additional needs.

ABC is a unique swim school that meets the needs of so many disabled children. The staff are amazing and totally understand children with complex conditions. Melody loves going." - Caroline Murphy