Free Swimming For Pensioners. - Page 3

cashman · 08-06-2008, 23:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by katex

As far as I am aware Jambutty, it is compulsory for all children at primary school to be taken for swimming lessons; the aim for them to swim 25 metres by the age of 11 .. those that have not attained this, are offered extra lessons.

since when kate? way back i got the choice n played football.

never learnt to swim till i was 18 n started drowning.

BERNADETTE · 08-06-2008, 23:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by katex

As far as I am aware Jambutty, it is compulsory for all children at primary school to be taken for swimming lessons; the aim for them to swim 25 metres by the age of 11 .. those that have not attained this, are offered extra lessons.

Not to sure about this Kate but know my grandkids don't seem to go for swimming lessons with the school like we used to. Will find out for sure though

Mick · 09-06-2008, 04:56

We had to go swimming at school but i loved it ,
i took 12 primary certificates then my Bronze ASA,Silver ASA,and Gold ASA there was only two of us that wanted to take this even further and we got our intermediate RLSS and Bronze medallion RLSS medals we wanted to take the Bronze cross RLSS but the school would not pay for us to go any further as they said "swimming was not a sport"

Quote:

Jambutty
There will be thousands like me who do not want to go swimming, so what do we get out of the deal? There will be thousands who cannot even swim and many older folk cannot. They never had the opportunity to learn.

that's your choice but you could go if you wanted and its a good opportunity for those that cant swim to learn.

jambutty · 09-06-2008, 08:21

I’ve no idea what it costs these days but someone earlier mentioned £1.60. I have also no idea how many pensioners there are in this country. However let us assume that there are 5 million although there are probably more. If the government increased the pension by £1.60 per week it would cost the taxpayer at least £412 million per annum. I seem to recall that the government will grant £50 million to the local authorities to compensate for loss of income and there was something about another £50 million.

This latest crackpot government initiative is ill conceived but it does make the government look good. It can turn round and say, “Look what we are doing for pensioners.”

Whilst making it appear to benefit all pensioners, only a tiny minority will be able to benefit or even want to.

As I stated earlier, if only 1% or pensioners decided to go swimming then it would be baths grid lock.

katex · 09-06-2008, 08:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by BERNADETTE

Not to sure about this Kate but know my grandkids don't seem to go for swimming lessons with the school like we used to. Will find out for sure though

I am not sure either Bernie, just heard the Minister of (wherever

) state this on the radio last week.

katex · 09-06-2008, 08:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

As I stated earlier, if only 1% or pensioners decided to go swimming then it would be baths grid lock.

Think it may possibly come with restrictions as to when we can go .. wouldn't be fair to go early evening when workers wish to go after work, etc.

Some public baths used to have a scheme (Waves I think) whereby if busy, then you were given a certain colour of wristband and could only stay in the water for a certain length of time to allow the next lot to swim. "Come in Blue Bands" so to speak ..

blazey · 09-06-2008, 09:06

I love how we still call the older generation pensioners even though they hardly even get an adequate pension.

Why be a pensioner Jambutty when you can be a 'free swimmer' instead? You don't need to pay the bills and buy food to live, you need to get yourself to the local pool and swim yourself to death. When will you ever learn?

katex · 09-06-2008, 09:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by blazey

Why be a pensioner Jambutty when you can be a 'free swimmer' instead? You don't need to pay the bills and buy food to live, you need to get yourself to the local pool and swim yourself to death. When will you ever learn?

Haha ... that's not the idea Blazey .. supposed to keep us fitter to live longer ...

Well, I'm off now for me swim.. mmm, think I may go in the outside pool today, fresh air and exercise in one go ... can't beat it ...

blazey · 09-06-2008, 09:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by katex

Haha ... that's not the idea Blazey .. supposed to keep us fitter to live longer ...

Well, I'm off now for me swim.. mmm, think I may go in the outside pool today, fresh air and exercise in one go ... can't beat it ...

And where do people find the energy to swim if they can't afford to feed themselves whilst paying all their bills? Why can't they just be encouraged to go for walks or something and let them decide what to spend their money on?

The fact of the matter is, the government are all too aware that the majority of old people don't care about going swimming, and it's much cheaper to offer out a useless freebie which will only be taken up by a minority than pay out a bit extra to everybody. I think it is disgusting personally and it's bad enough that the government are trying to justify it without having to listened to the brainwashed electorate justify it too.

jaysay · 09-06-2008, 09:44

It appears that this will only apply to 400 pools throughout England, the ones own by local councils, if I'm not mistaken Hyndburn sports centre is run by a trust not the council, I'm just wondering if this will effect our pool

Nickelson · 09-06-2008, 10:08

You Moan About Paying For Things & In The Next Breath Moan About 'Freebies' Liven Up. I Wish I Had Free Swimming.

jaysay · 09-06-2008, 10:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nickelson

You Moan About Paying For Things & In The Next Breath Moan About 'Freebies' Liven Up. I Wish I Had Free Swimming.

Well there is if you want it Nickelson there's always Kemp Delph

blazey · 09-06-2008, 10:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nickelson

You Moan About Paying For Things & In The Next Breath Moan About 'Freebies' Liven Up. I Wish I Had Free Swimming.

Why shouldn't they be moaning? We have one of the worst pension schemes in existence and the government are trying to justify it by giving them something the majority wouldn't even consider using, and it's not going to help get the bills paid at the end of the day.

blazey · 09-06-2008, 10:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysay

Well there is if you want it Nickelson there's always Kemp Delph

Does it not make you cringe how people do actually jump in there? It's disgusting.

garinda · 09-06-2008, 10:25

The Conservatives, who had a large majority in the House of Lords, objected to this attempt to redistribute wealth, and made it clear that they intended to block these proposals. Lloyd George reacted by touring the country making speeches in working-class areas on behalf of the budget and portraying the nobility as men who were using their privileged position to stop the poor from receiving their old age pensions.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Lold.htm

If it wasn't for the Liberal Party, supported Labour, you wouldn't even have an old age pension to moan about if the Conservatives had had their way.