Bailiff Action Was Called Off On Weds 24th April

Dear Swim Hut Supporters

Thanks so so much for getting us to this amazing total, this is having an effect!

Wouldn't it be fab if we could get to 1,000 before Weymouth Town Council get back to us about the outcome of the meeting they have finally managed to persuade Greenhill Community Trust CIC to have with them in the next few days.

On Wednesday I went down to the beach chalets at 9am to try to persuade the bailiffs that what they were going to do was highly questionable in the legal sense. If they'd carried on I was going to stand in their way (like a climate change protester, peacefully) and video the whole thing. What has it come to when something as obviously important as the swim facility is treated so unfairly by an organisation with the word 'community' in their name?

Anyway, our frantic emailing of the day before with Dorset Council's CEO, Matt Prosser, seemed to have spurred the council to make an even greater effort to get Greenhill Community Trust CIC's directors around a table. We really really hope that a sensible and fair solution can be found.

Only this morning I received a call from a group of five open water swimmers in Surrey who want to spend some time training from the hut. They will no doubt stay in B&Bs and eat in local restaurants, visit local shops and cafes and spend a lot of money in Weymouth (and take images of happy times and share them online too!). Which is a clear reminder that the swim facility is a nationally known and appreciated asset that not only contributes to the health and well-being of locals but is a popular leisure facility amongst the massive and growing community of open water swimmers in the UK (and abroad).

What does it say to the wider world when I have to respond to phone enquiries, as I have done this morning, saying "We'd love you to come and train from our swim facility, the bay is beautiful and safe to swim in...but at the moment we are locked out and in a dispute with a landlord that refuses to give us more security of tenure than just six months". What does that say?

We haven't stopped swimming. The image attached is from yesterday. One of our regulars, Marian, has very kindly taken to sitting on the beach and watching people's kit whilst they swim then serving hot drinks from the portable cafe she has put together...an amazing, lovely and generous lady I'm sure you will all agree. I'm especially grateful to her because I hadn't swum since the lock out (only the Solidarity Swim demo on the Saturday, briefly) because the whole thing has left me more depressed than usual and I couldn't really face going there. But Marian and the others got me down there with their indomitable spirit and I had a fantastic long swim in 12C water that made me feel so much better. I actually got a good night's sleep last night! This is what Weymouth Bay Sea Swimmers and our community are all about. 

Do please keep sharing these updates and thanks so much for all of the emails you have sent to Greenhill Community Trust CIC and the council CEO. They are having an effect, we have made a big noise. We need to keep going. Thanks so much for your support.

More soon....

All the best

Jason