Successful swimathon at Uckfield's Freedom Leisure Centre

Ivan Horsfall Turner, CEO of Freedom Leisure that manages the very popular local community leisure centre on behalf of Wealden District Council, was accompanied by Head of Business Development, Mark Learnihan with each of them completing a 5K swim, a staggering 200 lengths of the pool.

Uckfield Leisure Centre was one of 56 swimming pools operated by the charitable and not-for-profit leisure trust across England and Wales hosting Swimathon which attracts over 700,000 swimmers across the UK raising money for Marie Curie and Cancer Research UK.

As in previous years, Ivan laid down a friendly challenge to other Freedom Leisure colleagues taking part that, if they beat his 5K time, he’ll visit their leisure centre and be part of the operational team for a day.

As a result, Ivan will be visiting the Splash Leisure Centre in Malvern and returning to Uckfield to ‘go back to the floor’ due to two Freedom Leisure colleagues beating his time!

Ivan said: “Swimathon is a highlight in the calendar for me and my team and a great opportunity to raise money for two incredible and worthwhile causes.

We chose Uckfield Leisure Centre not only because it was one of the very first leisure centres we managed on behalf of Wealden District Council when we were formed in 2004 but also because we want to showcase the contribution this local leisure centre provides the whole community and the positive impact it has on improving the health and wellbeing of all its users.”

Ivan continued; “East Sussex County Council, owners of the centre, has issued a public consultation on the future options for the much-loved facilities at Uckfield Leisure Centre. We would encourage as many people as possible to complete the survey which can be found here: consultation.eastsussex.gov.uk/business-services/consultation-on-future-options-for-uckfield-leisur/