On Friday there was a celebration at Edinburgh Leisure’s Leith Victoria Swim Centre which is now 125 years old.
To celebrate a bake-off was organised by staff at the pool and customers were invited to enter a competition to find Leith’s finest. The baking competition was won by Kerry Teakle the PR Officer at Edinburgh Leisure with her tried and tested Almond, Orange and Whisky cake.
Local businesses Hobz Bakery, Krema Bakehouse, The Babyfaced Baker and The Pastry Section supported a Vintage Tea event by providing sweet treats for the many who attended from Edinburgh Leisure’s Active Communities to enjoy after their aqua and yoga classes.
Edinburgh Leisure’s Active Communities programmes support 12,500 people annually who face the greatest barriers to getting active – people affected by health conditions, disabilities, inequalities, and poverty.
In 2018, partnering with the City of Edinburgh Council’s Refugee and Migration Team, they created the Relocated People Access Programme (RPAP) to support refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to be active in support of their health and wellbeing.
The programme was used to help the Ukrainians who arrived in Edinburgh in 2022, supporting the city to welcome and care for significantly increased numbers of refugees, for whom the programme was hugely beneficial. Today, it continues supporting the lives of people seeking refuge in Edinburgh. Maryna from Ukraine told us she was so grateful for the free Edinburgh Leisure card she received on arrival.
Christine who attends classes at the centre six days a week (and goes to Meadowbank on Sundays) has been coming to Leith since she was wee.
Scott Quin is a former Paralympian swimmer who won silver medal in Rio in 2016 and a Bronze in Tokyo in 2021 in the SB14 100m Breaststroke. He is now a swim coach at Leith Victoria although he used to train at Warrender Baths and The Royal Commonwealth Pool. Scott was supported by sport scotland and Scottish Swimming during his 12 year long career.
Edinburgh Leisure offered him the opportunity to join the Swim Teacher Training Programme for his next career pathway, where he could progress from being a full-time athlete and move into the ‘real working world’ but where he could still combine a career which involved swimming.
The Swim Teacher Training programme, a structured 13-week training programme, ticked a lot of boxes for Scott – as not only did he receive training but also a salary, and on completing the programme, offered a job.
Scott said: “I was struggling to accept that my competitive swim career was coming to an end and mentally, it was taking its toll on me. When you go from being a competitive athlete, training nine times a week, travelling all the time to competitions for so many years, it’s hard when you have that routine taken away from you. So, that’s why the course really appealed to me, as it was structured, and I knew what I was doing each week.”
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