Alan Jewell, Mayor of Falmouth, swimming at Carn Brea Leisure Centre. Photo credit – Carn Brea Leisure Centre Trust Facebook
Falmouth Mayor Alan Jewell has been taking on the English Channel at Carn Brea Leisure Centre to raise money for the lost swimming facilities in Falmouth.
Having grown up in Falmouth, and served both the town council and the Cornwall council, he has seen the impact that limited swimming facilities have had on the community.
“Roughly 40% of children in the area can’t swim, which is terrible”, states the mayor.
As these numbers rise, Alan gets hands-on and practical to push for change.
So far, Alan has raised over £2500 for Pendennis Leisure, a local charity campaigning for a new swimming pool in the area. He hopes his platform as mayor will raise further awareness of just how important this is to the whole community.
Left – Jayne Kirkham, MP for Truro and Falmouth. Right – Alan Jewell, Mayor for Falmouth Photo Credit: Pendennis Leisure Facebook
“Falmouth needs a swimming pool where children and adults can learn to swim, stay active and live healthy lives”, he says.
He will be travelling over 800 miles, which is over 40 hours of driving, to complete his English Channel swim at Carn Brea Leisure Centre.
“Some of the schools are coaching children over there, and it’s half a day’s job”.
Not having swum much as a child, Alan knew that swimming roughly 34,000 metres in 33 sessions was no easy feat.
At the start of this journey on the 9th of October, the mayor “didn’t realise there were slow, fast and medium lanes”. However, after all his swimming sessions, he is now getting the hang of the pool, having completed over 25000 metres.
Having only around 7000 metres left to swim, Alan hopes to reach his Crowdfunder target to help cover the initial planning costs for the new swimming facilities in Falmouth.
Visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/mayors-channel-swim-challenge to help bring swimming facilities back to Falmouth and support Alan Jewell on his swim.