OLYMPIC swimmer Rebecca Adlington OBE has awarded Edge Hill University ‘Venue of the Year' for hosting her swim! programme, praising the outstanding experience offered to young learners.

The University beat 26 other venues across England and Scotland to the top spot, scoring consistently highly in areas such as customer satisfaction, swimmer numbers, swimmer progress, and swimmer and staff retention rates.

Edge Hill is in its 5th year of hosting swim! - led by Rebecca Adlington OBE and co-created with fellow Olympic swimmers Steve Parry MBE and Adrian Turner - which provides lessons for children up to the age of 11.

Becky was full of praise for Edge Hill in her visit to the Sports Centre to present the award:- "In awarding 'Venue of the Year,' we look at every metric and Edge Hill is a top performer. There's a great, solid team, consistent positive reviews, few lesson cancellations, and swimmers and staff choose to stay with us. The facilities are fantastic too. Edge Hill has a big competition-size pool, which means we can take swimmers through the full range of our programme to Stage 8, where they leave as skilled swimmers; this isn't possible in all venues."

Andrew Hampson, Support Service Manager, is incredibly proud of the accolade:- "Winning this award ahead of 26 other venues reinforces the exceptional quality of Edge Hill's Sports Centre. We've worked tirelessly over the 5 years of our partnership with swim! to provide an outstanding swimming experience for everyone who walks through our doors. To witness more than 900 children from across West Lancashire visiting the Sports Centre to learn such a vital life skill is truly inspiring. We look forward to continuing our commitment to the community by providing a top-quality swimming facility for years to come."

The commitment of Edge Hill staff was a key factor in the win, particularly the efforts of student swim! instructors like BA (Hons) Education and Sociology student Clare Parker:- "I want to go into education and this hands-on experience will certainly help me with my job applications. I'm learning what works for kids of different ages, including those with special educational needs. As part of my course, I've created a leaflet about autism and swimming because I'm so passionate about it. Working with fellow students makes it really collaborative. We learn from and support each other. It means there's always reliable people to cover shifts if needed. Being a swim! teacher is also developing my skills in areas like time management. You've got a half-hour lesson, so you've got to make sure there's focus and progress.”

Visit Swim@Edge Hill Uni for more information about lessons or job opportunities or email:- info@swim.co.uk for taster sessions.