SWIM WALES NOFIO CYMRU ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2019 – 2020 OUR VISION Aquatics for everyone for life. OUR MISSION A world leading NGB delivering excellence, inspiring our nation to enjoy, participate, learn and compete in Welsh Aquatics. 04 // CHAIRMAN REPORT 05 // CHIEF EXECUTIVE REPORT 06 // AQUATIC DEVELOPMENT 08 // BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 09 // ELITE & PERFORMANCE 12 // EQUALITY 13 // GOVERNANCE 16 // ACCOUNTS 14 // SAFEGUARDING CHAIRMAN REPORT CHAIRMAN REPORT, SWIM WALES ANNUAL REPORT Y/E 31ST MARCH 2020 Although the last six months has certainly proved to be a turbulent period for all of us, I am delighted to testify that the full year prior to lockdown at the end of March 2020, proved a very significant year for Swim Wales. Considerable steps were made towards achieving our vision of “Aquatics for Everyone for Life”. We not only delivered outstanding performances at local, regional, national, and international events but sustained the focus on our core governance policies including, financial stability, resilience, equality, inclusivity, welfare and safeguarding. Whilst our clubs and members are the beating heart of their own communities, as the responsible NGB, they also remain at the very centre of why we do what we do. This means we are committed to absolute inclusivity and flexibility in our approach to the advancement of aquatics, and in all our discussions with members, volunteers, clubs, and partners. Over 17% of the population in Wales, some 400,000 adults and 100,000 children, were engaged in swimming, learn-to-swim, or aquatic activity, at least once a week pre-lock down. However, one of our greatest strengths is the huge breadth of our aquatic activities, from learn-to-swim right up to our elite performance champions. This creates an extremely broad spectrum which allows us to engage inclusively with the whole population of Wales who, will at some point in life show an interest in aquatic activities. Whilst it is important to achieve good results, we must do so in a way that treats all of our stakeholders, including internal staff, member Clubs, coaches, teachers, technical officials, a myriad of volunteers, sponsors, investors and donors – in a fair and transparent way. Just under half of our annual funding comes from Welsh Government and Sport Wales. Sadly, this is not guaranteed from year to year. Which means to completely meet our obligations as a National Governing Body, we also need a focus on business and revenue generating activities. This ensures that we maintain sufficient financial flexibility to adapt to volatile core funding changes without damage to our essential operations and enable us to properly sustain and grow aquatics. The year proved particularly challenging financially but very many thanks to our Executive Management team, for persevering with our business development strategy in a very tough commercial climate. Over the next few months, particularly with the Covid-19 pandemic and the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in mind, we will further develop our strategy in order to protect, deliver and sustain enhanced value to all of our stakeholders within a governance framework that provides stability, prudence and effective oversight. My special thanks on behalf of the Board to everybody involved, at every level in every Club across the whole of Wales, as well as, to our internal staff for the hard work, dedication, commitment and contribution to everything we have achieved together this year. Allen Bewley Chairman Swim Wales 4 CHIEF EXECUTIVE REPORT CEO REPORT, SWIM WALES ANNUAL REPORT ---------------------------------------------------------- Y/E 31ST MARCH 2020 To all of our stakeholders - the financial year 2019-20 saw Swim Wales deliver some excellent 500,000 results in our core remit areas of Aquatic Development, Performance Sport, Governance and (Adults, LTS, School Swimming, Advisory Services. Clubs, Community) - Number of For a third consecutive year we have grown our core club membership with numbers now well over people Aquatically Active in Wales 11,000 people and as of March 31st 2020 we were approaching 100,000 children in our Learn to Swim framework. National surveys* told us that we had a staggering 400,000 adults involved in ---------------------------------------------------------- some form of aquatic activity once a week across Wales which collectively is 16% of the population. On the elite and performance side, our junior and senior Swim Wales National Squad swimmers once again delivered consistently high-quality results in major competitions with record results across 264 National, British, European and World championships. Number of partners engaged in Aquatics Our performance programme increased again to 12 performance clubs and our Para/Disability programme was producing some very encouraging results. (More can be found in the separate ---------------------------------------------------------- department reports within this main report) As a leading NGB, we pride ourselves on being progressive thinkers. We are constantly looking forward on behalf of our members and participants by creating better ways to access facilities, competitions and opportunities to learn, participate and 565,000 compete. We try to create solutions today that will help improve the results of tomorrow, among the many new ideas we developed and implemented this fiscal year. WORLDWIDE Reach through live streaming of • Progressive aquatic development plans for all of our member clubs and partners in Wales • Multipurpose facilities tracker to help us target development areas and identify specific National events collaboration projects ---------------------------------------------------------- • Continuation of the National Coach Development and CPD programmes with international experiential learning • Home Nations Coaching Conference and the development and launch of the Optimal Athlete 309 Development Framework Swimming Pools in Wales • Introduction of our own standalone Training and Development experience ---------------------------------------------------------- Despite a challenging commercial environment our targeted areas have developed well and most of our self-generated revenue streams were strong. A focused growth strategy executed by a talented 870 and professional workforce was delivering great results. We expanded relationships with existing Miles of Coastline partners and created new ones to further build our financial autonomy and reduce reliance on the public purse. ---------------------------------------------------------- So it is safe to say that in March 2020 Swim Wales was in the best position it has been for years. Since then the world has changed around us, COVID-19 hit the UK in March and we, like many other 260 organisations, were forced to react in ways that none of us could have ever imagined. We made the Lakes & Rivers very difficult decision to cease all aquatic activity in Wales which directly impacted our customers, member clubs, private swim schools, and operators. The weeks and months that followed were ---------------------------------------------------------- extremely challenging, and at the time of writing we are still in the grips of a pandemic. As an organisation we have responded to these sudden changes in our environment by embracing new ways of working, communicating as much as possible and by developing a wide range of innovative solutions to help both clubs, club members and participants all over Wales survive. Despite being faced with this adversity, we continue to move closer to realizing our vision to provide ‘aquatics for everyone for life’. We are working diligently to strengthen our collective and deliver results for all of our stakeholders and our communities. We are building our team with an intense focus on our values and a high-performing culture, because getting results the right way matters. Thank you for supporting us in the last 12 months. 2020 will see a Kairos moment for the aquatic community in Wales and we will continue to fight for the survival of our sport and the people we represent. Fergus Feeney Chief Executive Officer, Swim Wales Director, British Swimming *Welsh Government and Sport Wales Data & Insight 5 MASTERS ARTISTIC DIVING AQUATIC DEVELOPMENT WE HAVE SEEN A FANTASTIC 2019/20 PERIOD THROUGH ALL AREAS OF AQUATIC DEVELOPMENT. THE 12 MONTHS HAVE INVOLVED FURTHER DEVELOPING AN ENGAGING AND ENERGETIC TEAM TO SUPPORT OUR AMBITION TO INSPIRE THE NATION OF WALES TO BECOME AQUATICALLY ACTIVE. We have seen an increase in affiliated clubs from 79 to 83 and broadening the Aquatics offer in Wales. 2019/20 saw the continued club membership grow to over 11,000 members. Through our focus on the organisation of the development sports such as Water partnerships with clubs, we have been able to identify some of the Polo, Artistic Swimming (formerly Synchronised Swimming), Diving, key challenges that lie ahead; such as falling membership numbers Open Water and Masters which all required considerable support and increase in pool hire fees. It’s been fantastic to see the increase and coordination to realise their potential in Wales. in all round club membership but we acknowledge the challenges all clubs are facing as we move through 2020. We saw some very positive steps forward across our Diving programmes. 2019 saw Welsh divers achieve qualification for the Engagement and collaboration has been, and will continue to be, National Age Group Championships. Over 5 National & Regional a key theme for us. We will look to develop Aquatics for everyone