The Bridge Leisure Centre, managed by Fusion Lifestyle - a leading registered charity which provides quality sport, leisure and fitness activities to local communities - is working with social enterprise Get City Kids Surfing, to bring the emotive power of surfing to inner city kids.

The programme, for children aged 9-11 referred by local schools and youth clubs, aims to encourage positive attitudes in young people in inner city areas. The scheme gives youngsters, who have often never been more than a mile or two from home, the chance to see and experience the ocean and the joy of surfing. Working with Get City Kids Surfing, Fusion is helping to ensure they are water safe by preparing them in the pool, before taking them on a surfing trip to ride the waves in Cornwall.

Fusion is supporting the scheme by providing free pool time for water confidence sessions to help participants get ready for the experience.

Matthew Houghton, Sports and Community Development Manager at Fusion, commented, “As an organisation we believe sport should be accessible to everyone and we’re delighted to support this initiative. We believe everyone should have confidence in the water, whether it’s in the pool or the sea.”

Thomas Franklin, founder of Get City Kids Surfing added, “We’re really excited to be working in Lewisham. The children are referred by local schools and work hard towards a trip away surfing by learning about conservation and sustainability of our oceans, ocean safety and swimming in the sea and health and fitness of the body and mind. Fusion’s support has really helped us to make this project possible.”

In a bid to get more people water confident across the UK Fusion is offering a free swim assessment to both children and adults, visit www.fusion-lifestyle.com/swimschool for more details.

Get City Kids Surfing is currently fundraising via a Just Giving page and have 30 days to reach their target for this project, donations would be welcomed at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/isobel-stevenson, there are also opportunities for longer term investment to ensure future projects can take place.

Submitted by Liz Barette