Happiness Fund news - our second grant is awarded!

The latest recipient of a Happiness Fund award is a real family affair! 

Bambers Inclusive Swimming is a community initiative set up by mother and daughter team, Ellie and Nicola Bamber. It runs occupational therapy-led swimming lessons for disabled and disadvantaged children and adults in Manchester and High Peak. 

Swimmers from the Bamber Inclusive Swimming group receive their Laughology Happiness Fund grant

Thanks to the £2500 Happiness Fund grant, the organisation will now be able to run an extra weekly session which it estimates will cater for a further 50 people, on top of the 130 swimmers who already use its existing two sessions.

And not only does Bambers Inclusive Swimming teach people to swim, helping those with a range of disabilities including autism, ADHD, dementia, and brain injury, but it also puts disadvantaged young people through teaching qualifications to become professional swimming instructors. 

We loved the inclusivity of this project

We chose the initiative as a recipient of an award because we loved this ethos of inclusivity and sustainability. Several of the young people they have helped to become swimming teachers now work full-time in the profession.

Nicola explains: “We have one young man at our High Peaks site who we mentored through his qualifications. He still works for us, and he also has a job with Stockport Council teaching swimming at one of their pools. We help these disadvantaged people become employable.”

Ellie, who is an occupational therapist, adds: “We teach people of all ages who have a range of physical and mental health difficulties. Anyone who wants to learn can sign up. We also help young people who are not in education or training to become teachers.

How the Happiness Fund will make a difference 

“The Happiness Fund money will allow us to start a new session at Wright Robinson College pool in Gorton. It will provide initial start-up costs for equipment and training for teachers to get them going. We have a long waiting list so it will make a real difference.”

The inspiration for the initiative came from Ellie’s sister, Jasmine, who has ataxia and autism and was discouraged from attending regular swimming lessons when she was a child.

Nicola explains: “A teacher at a local pool told me she couldn’t cope with lessons when she was five. That was the best favour he could have done me because I went out and looked for something different. I pushed to get a disabled section set up in a pool with a bit of money from Derbyshire County Council.”

Jasmine has since gone on to compete in the Cerebral Palsy World Games and national events and is also a qualified swimming teacher who teaches at Bambers Inclusive Swimming. Her brother, Alan, who has ADHD, is also a qualified swimming coach and works at the family sessions.

Plans for expansion

In the future, the Bambers, who are establishing the initiative as a CIC and who partner with a charity called Level Water, plan to expand even further, as there is no shortage of demand. They have also linked with a swimming club and hope that the people they teach will go on to swim at club level and hopefully competitively.

“Who knows, maybe one day we’ll be able to say we produced a Paralympian,” says Nicola. 

They are certainly making a splash.