Save TigerSharks Swim Club at Alleyns

[DVnewbie]

Hi - also really sad to see Tiger Sharks closed. We are very local and it has been amazing for my daughter.  If it re-opens/finds another place to operate, we will follow if we can.

Does anybody know any other good swimming clubs locally, in the meantime? My daughter will really miss that extra one hour swim each week. 
 

i don’t know the details but very sad to see them close down and Krys did seem really upset too. Understandably.

[jocs]

Anyone know what is happening with Tigersharks? Is there any update? Is it opening again in September? Really hope so…

Edited August 5, 2024 by jocs

[DadOf4]

yes - does anybody know whats going on ? - the last I heard on here, Alleyns had kicked the club out  - then some of the members were meeting with them. Did that go anywhere does anybody know ?

[Penguin68]

On 03/07/2024 at 15:18, Abba said:

Let's give Alleyns the benefit of the doubt. We have had an engaged conversation with them yesterday, about about both short-term solutions and longer term options. They have already agreed to let the Club continue to swim at the school until the end of the year. They have apologised for the way they communicated with Tigersharks and have made commitments in writing about helping find a solution that suits both them and Tigersharks. I will continue to post updates as we hopefully continue to make progress. 

This appears to be the update that some posters may have missed. 

[Bekacs]

I've heard it is not looking positive with respect to TigerSharks future at Alleyns.
Does anyone know any other clubs in the area suitable for teenagers who do not want to swim competitively but still would like structured sessions and to improve?

[DadOf4]

Are Tigersharks going to be swimming in September or have Alleyns actually booted them out

[bonaome]

On 12/08/2024 at 20:16, Bekacs said:

I've heard it is not looking positive with respect to TigerSharks future at Alleyns.
Does anyone know any other clubs in the area suitable for teenagers who do not want to swim competitively but still would like structured sessions and to improve?

You could try https://sjsc.org.uk which swims once per week at Aleyn's (well, it used to ... who knows nowadays) and it's a non-competitive club for all abilities, kids of all ages orientated and their adults are welcome top swim with them. It's once per week and more fun than training, but it is coached and indeed coached to a very high standard.

Another alternative might be Brockwell Swimmers who also swim at Allen's (and elsewhere including the lido as the name suggests). Their sessions are much more in line with Tigersharks, but I don't know if they accept U18s. https://www.brockwellswimmers.com

Meanwhile, I really hope Tigersharks get something sorted out.

[gsirett]

Unfortunately I do not think Tigersharks will be swimming in September or ever again.

I am one of the members of Tigersharks who have been discussing the future with Alleyns and with Krys & Margrett (the club founders). After the initial bombshell, we had a number of meetings with Alleyns over the summer.  Alleyns were prepared to compromise on their initial decision and offered to extend the notice period  by one term (until December) This was done on the basis that we were prepared to discuss making changes to the format & conditions  that Tigersharks had always hired the pool under. They did acknowledge that their initial handling of the situation had been poor.

Unfortunately, we were unable to find a compromise that was sufficient for Krys & margrett and they no longer wished to continue the discussions as of a couple of weeks ago.  As the club has been  built around them and their ethos, we cannot see a way forward.

A very, very sad end to a local institution 

[CPR Dave]

One more term coincides with the timing of the new Labour Party VAT regime on school fees. 

 

 

[DadOf4]

@gsirett - thank you for the update and thank you for trying to help sort out this situation.

you are right - it is an extremely sad end to this cherished local club - by all accounts caused by the appalling behaviour of Alleyns school. All of their talk of being good community citizens has been shown to be utter BS by this episode - people should be angry about this. These schools bus 100's of children into our area every day and clog our streets with traffic (just look how quiet it gets when they’re on their extended holidays)  - is it unreasonable that they let community clubs like Tigersharks continue  and treat them with some decency?

Cancelling them after 27 years with a few weeks notice – abhorrent behaviour

 

And before somebody else tries  to turn this into something about labour and their VAT plans, I’ve now contacted 3 other swimming clubs who use Allyens  to ask about swimming  for my kids and they all say that they are categorically remaining at Alleyns and will be doing so next year.  

[KalamityKel]

I'm a little confused to as why it's the end of the club.  Is it not possible to explore other venues?  Has this been explored? I'd have assumed this would have been one of the first things to look at as soon as notice was given rather put all eggs into one carton.

Apologies if I have missed this somewhere in the thread...

[bonaome]

On 12/09/2024 at 07:22, KalamityKel said:

I'm a little confused to as why it's the end of the club.  Is it not possible to explore other venues?  Has this been explored? I'd have assumed this would have been one of the first things to look at as soon as notice was given rather put all eggs into one carton.

Apologies if I have missed this somewhere in the thread...

There’s no spare pool capacity. It was tight before the closure of the 50m pool at CP. it’s now impossible to find pool space to run a club in SE London.

Edited September 14, 2024 by bonaome

[KalamityKel]

On 14/09/2024 at 09:55, bonaome said:

There’s no spare pool capacity. It was tight before the closure of the 50m pool at CP. it’s now impossible to find pool space to run a club in SE London.

Doesn't really answer my query.  Where has been tried and when?