South Shields swimming instructor urges parents to sign children up for lessons to help save lives

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Mark McNichol from South Tyneside, who is the co-founder Sunderland’s award-winning ‘In at the Deep End’ (IATDE) swim school, has launched a campaign to raise awareness and help increase the number of children who can swim in the region.

The summer months naturally sea more children and young people swimming at the coast, but with accidental drownings on the rise and a lack of basic swimming skills becoming a growing problem after the pandemic, Mark said it is more important than ever for families to invest in lessons.

“Simply put, swimming is a life skill,” he said.

Mark McNichol, co-founder of ‘in at the deep end’,

“Apart from the physical and mental health benefits it also can save your life – and given that as a region we are surrounded by water with both the North Sea and major rivers in the area, this is so important.”

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Mark has been a qualified swimming instructor for more than 20 years and is passionate about providing fun, flexible, and affordable lessons to swimmers across Sunderland. He co-founded IATDE just over 12 years ago and it is the only Autism Swim Approved Centre in the North East.

Swimming has a huge number of positive benefits for body and mind. However, every year over 400 people die from drowning in the UK. Last year, the number of deaths increased across the UK with multiple drownings occurring on the same day. Accidental Drownings have also started to increase year on year with 277 in 2021 compared to 223 in 2019.

Currently one in three children do not know how to swim and one in five have no basic swimming skills at all. In addition, two thirds of children do not access swimming lessons.

IATDE has become nationally and internationally recognised for its high standards, outstanding safety, extensive staff training, flexibility, and affordability. The school holds the Swimming Teachers Association (STA) STAMark award - the definitive health and safety qualification for the industry – and was recently named in the national STA return to swimming guidance document.