At the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, swimming has grabbed my attention. This week, watching the best swimmers in the world has been captivating and hopefully, has inspired some of our city’s young people to pursue their goal of swimming on the international stage.

This is after recent hot weather has led to a spate of tragic water incidents on beaches and in lochs, rivers, reservoirs and canals. Due to extremely hot temperatures in the last few weeks, people have been looking for ways to cool off, often choosing to go for a swim.

Knowing and understanding the hazards of open water could help to drastically reduce the number of people who get into difficulty each year. Drowning is a preventable death, and the only way we can save lives from drowning is by teaching swimming and water safety skills.

We need to remember that swimming is more than just a sport, it is a life skill and a life-saving skill that everyone must know. With public health and safety measures in place, swimming pools are open across Glasgow and people can confidently return to pursue swimming for training, recreation or learning. Throughout 2020 and 2021, many young people have missed out on the opportunity to swim, leaving a dramatic gap in school swimming and water safety education.

Swimming sessions for children aged between 8 and 15 years old have been launched by Glasgow Life. It is vital that opportunities to learn to swim are a priority at all the city’s pools including Castlemilk, Gorbals, Drumchapel, Maryhill, Tollcross, Easterhouse, Springburn, North Woodside and Dennistoun. Access to these facilities is needed to enable the majority of children to leave school able to swim.

Closures of Glasgow’s municipal swimming pools has met ongoing resistance from residents and campaigners. It has been 20 years since Glasgow City Council threatened to close Govanhill Baths for good. Residents of the community rallied together and the Baths were occupied for 140 days, with a 24 hour picket outside. The Save Our Pool campaign continued and in 2004, the Govanhill Baths Community Trust was established. Since then, the Trust has been campaigning and fundraising to reopen the Baths as a Wellbeing Centre.

More recently, Green councillors have backed the successful campaign to save Whitehill Pool in Dennistoun from the threat of closure and we secured £1million in the recent Council budget to invest in necessary improvements.

There are existing community clubs, owned and run by members on a not for profit basis. Glasgow has one of the oldest of its kind in the world celebrating its 150th anniversary, this weekend. Arlington Baths is a Grade 'A' listed Victorian bathing complex constructed in four phases over thirty two years. As well as bringing fun and enjoyment, these historic baths bring great benefits to Glasgow’s health and wellbeing.

Through the work of various swimming clubs and groups, we can increase water safety skills for children and families to help promote respect for water around both inland and coastal waters. Not everyone needs to be a competitive swimmer, but they should learn how to swim to prevent drowning."