Lapping up swimming lessons in Leonora

Children in the town of Leonora, in WA’s Goldfields-Esperance region, enjoyed a week of swimming lessons in December thanks to a Swim and Survive program delivered by Royal Life Saving WA. 

Being a small regional town, finding swimming instructors can often be challenging. For the December lessons, swim instructor Tiahn Fitzhardinge travelled to Leonora to deliver the program and loved the experience.

“My experience in Leonora was incredibly rewarding. It was so amazing to be welcomed and supported by the community, and to be able to give back through providing the children with vital swimming lessons,” said Tiahn.

“The children were all so eager and put in a tremendous effort over the week, it was quite amazing to see so much progress made over a short period of time. Seeing how much these programs mean to small communities such as Leonora is exactly why I love my job, and I can only hope to deliver more lessons there in the future.”

Statistics show that the drowning rate is 3.8 times higher in regional and remote WA. Royal Life Saving WA has been working with Principal Community Partner BHP since 2003 to reduce drowning statistics across the state, by running targeted programs and encouraging community involvement in water-based activities. Read more about this partnership and its important work in regional WA at the link below.