A YOUNG swimmer from Bourton has received a national award in recognition of her overcoming her fear.

Nine year old, Lois Rodgers received the learn to swim award at the annual Swim England National Awards on Saturday November 11 in recognition of her impressive progress in the pool at Bourton Leisure Centre.

As a young child, Lois developed an overwhelming fear of the pool inlet and outlet grills on the pool floor and around the poolside.

Lois refused to wear goggles as she would be able to see the grills, and she wouldn’t put her ears underwater because she could hear the drains.

If Lois went near the edge of the pool and felt the grills, it would cause her to have a panic attack.

As a result of this, Lois become incredibly anxious before her swimming lessons.

However, this did not stop Lois attending swimming lessons each week and she was determined to beat her fears and achieve the Learn to Swim stage 4 award.

Jacqui Tillman, Everyone Active’s group swim manager, said: “Lois’ achievement is a true testament to the fantastic work all of our swim teachers carry out each day teaching this life saving skill to adults and children across the country.

"We wish Lois every success in achieving her level 6 swim award.

“Swimming is a fantastic way to improve a person’s health and wellbeing, and we look forward to continuing our work with Swim England and our local authority partners to ensure more people benefit from developing this life-saving skill.”

Everyone Active, which operates 97 swimming pools in partnership with local authorities across the country, was also named facility operator of the year at the Swim England National Awards.

It is the seventh year that Everyone Active has scooped the accolade, which was awarded in recognition of its continued commitment to increasing the number of people who benefit from swimming.

Over the past 12 months, more than seven million casual swimmers have visited its sites, and in excess of 180,000 students learned valuable skills as part of its Learn to Swim programme each week.