LED Community Leisure's Community Engagement team and Exmouth Leisure Centre have recently announced a new partnership with Sideshore and Littleham Primary School.

This partnership saw the launch of a new 'Swim to the Sea' project aimed at teaching local children how to safely swim in the sea, improving their confidence in the water, and teaching them an important life-saving skill. The participants have six sessions, with the first delivered at Exmouth Leisure Centre Swimming Pool.

All equipment, including wetsuit hire, swim hats, goggles, tow buoys, as well as instructors and lifeguards has been generously funded by Sideshore. Some children had never even visited the beach before but now can enjoy their visits to the beach safely.

Simon Findel-Hawkins, Centre Manager, Sideshore said: "It is extremely important to us to support the local community, to encourage visitors to safely use the beach and water, whilst protecting the surrounding natural environment.

"This initiative has enabled us to inspire local children to learn to love the water and provided them with the skills they need to safely swim at their local beach."

Sarah Padbury, Head of Learning from Littleham Primary, has been attending the sessions with the children.

She said: "The first session of our shore to sea project was everything we hoped it would be! Children were well prepared and felt that learning to swim in the sea was the natural progression from swimming at the local leisure centre.

"The school is extremely grateful and proud to be working in partnership with LED Leisure and Sideshore in Exmouth. We all agreed that this was an excellent way to start our week. Happy Mondays!"