Backwell Swimming Club has launched a crowdfunder campaign to try and maintain its economic sustainability for current and future members.

Put into lockdown by the coronavirus pandemic earlier in the year, it then became clear their home pool would not be opening until 2021 at the earliest.

The voluntary-run club had suspended monthly training fees during lockdown, while their coaches continued to provide weekly online and conditioning sessions.

Open-air dry training sessions were run during the summer, using the Lake Grounds in Portishead, thanks to qualifications held by Sue Rogers.

And since pools have started to reopen, the club has worked hard to find pool time for swimmers elsewhere.

They have been able to gain the support and co-operation of other leisure centres and can offer a reduced training timetable, but the burden of extra travel and costs from socially-distanced training, has had a big impact on finances.

Which led officials to launch the crowdfunder campaign and they are appealing to readers to help support their efforts by visiting crowdfunder.co.uk/saveteambackwell.

The club are open to any forms of support, either monetary donations or prizes for raffles and a spokesperson said: “Please help us help our kids achieve their dreams.

“Competitive swimming is a great sport, but rather hard to do without a pool. Our young swimmers train extremely hard to achieve their dreams, so we know we can make any contributions count.”