For a group of women from diverse communities in Newport, their favourite time of the week is when they head to the swimming pool.
With a helping hand from the Be Active Wales Fund, local charity, KidCare4U, is offering women-only swimming sessions, with the grant of £4700 covering the cost of hiring the pool.
The aim? To get 30 women from diverse backgrounds to swim regularly. Yet they have totally smashed that target. Since September 2024, they have been welcoming around 150 women to make a splash.
All women are welcome yet it’s mainly Muslim women that come, bringing together a mix of Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Yemenis, Sudanis, Somalians, Moroccans, Turks and more.
We headed on down to the pool to find out why the project’s so important and to dive into just why it’s making such great waves…
“Culturally, we need somewhere we feel safe.”
“Before we started, there weren’t any women-only sessions so we didn’t feel comfortable enough to swim. Sometimes, the pools have big open windows so that parents can watch their children but we are Muslim which means we need to be in a women-only environment.” That’s Ayesha who helps run the sessions and she also takes part.
At Newport, the venue itself is designed so that the pool doesn’t have a public spectators’ area, making it perfect for these sessions. In other facilities, however, this has been overcome by installing blinds.