Guest Article Freedom Leisure
Freedom Leisure, one of the UK’s leading charitable and not-for-profit leisure trusts that manages 29 leisure centres across Wales, won the marquee category of this year’s awards – Learn to Swim Provider of the Year and also picked up the equally honourable Sustainability Award at a glittering awards ceremony held in Cardiff at the weekend.
These prestigious awards, organised by Swim Wales, the recognised National Governing Body for aquatics in Wales, recognise and celebrate the incredible spirit of aquatics by showcasing individuals, groups and organisations for their passion, dedication and outstanding achievement.
Freedom Leisure manages the leisure centres in Wales on behalf of the councils in Powys, Wrexham and Swansea and boasts over 12,000 swimmers on its Swim Wales Learn to Swim programme with a highly skilled team of swimming instructors teaching both children and adults to learn the ‘life skill’ of swimming.
Ivan Horsfall Turner, Freedom Leisure’s Chief Executive Officer said; “We are extremely proud to win these awards and I dedicate them to all my colleagues that deliver an excellent programme of swimming lessons every week at all of our swimming pools across Wales.”
Ivan continued; “We are delighted to welcome over 800,000 visits to our swimming pools each year and we are proud to have over 12,000 participants on our Swim Wales Learn to Swim Programme. Having a strong partnership with Swim Wales enables us to provide children and adults with a fantastic experience, supporting their growth in confidence with a life skill which results in enjoyment, safety and aquatic fun in the water particularly in our coastal areas such as in Swansea.”
The award for ‘Sustainability Initiative of the Year’ demonstrates that Freedom Leisure has set a new benchmark for sustainability in the leisure sector through its continued significant actions and investments in energy efficiency and by becoming the first leisure organisation to become an accredited Carbon Literate Organisation.
Angela Brown, Head of Sustainability and Environmental for Freedom Leisure who attributes a significant portion of the success story to the involvement and commitment of Powys, Wrexham and Swansea Councils saying; “Just over £1,000,000 of energy efficiency and low carbon technology projects were completed in 2024 across Wales. These interventions were made possible through successful funding applications, a strong working relationship with our council partners and our own investments.”
Angela continues; “This showcases both our, and our respective council partner’s, commitment to sustainability and our collective, proactive approach to reducing carbon emissions. We would like to thank them all for their unwavering efforts in supporting these projects and bringing them to fruition.”
“By focussing on sustainability, we not only reduce carbon emissions but also create long-term operational cost savings, which can be invested into community programmes and facility improvements ensuring that our leisure centres continue to flourish.”
Lead Member for Leisure at Wrexham Council, Cllr Beverley Parry-Jones said “On behalf of Wrexham Council I would like to congratulate the entire team for their two prestigious Swim Wales awards, this is testament to the hard work of all involved and high quality of Freedom Leisure Facilities.”
Freedom Leisure CEO, Ivan Horsfall Turner was joined by colleagues at the ceremony on 1st February 2025 in Cardiff, all of whom work in the leisure centres across Wales, demonstrating the organisations passion and commitment to aquatics development.
