Booking our Family Swim Session
On the Active Leeds sites, you can pre-book a number of types of sessions in the pool; lane swimming, Adult width swimming, or Family Pod sessions. We booked a ‘Family Swim Pod Shallow’ to take my four year old daughter, and one year old son along with myself and my husband. We booked a 45 minute slot- with a specific arrival time and end time.
You do need to be a member to book, but can sign up to a free Leeds Active card here, that allows you to book.
Arriving at the Leisure Centre
On arrival at the Leisure Centre the doors were closed (make sure you turn up just before your allotted time). There are clear ground markings to indicate where each bubble should wait. At the time indicated, a lady arrived with a clipboard to greet us into the leisure centre and check our names off on the list. We were given specific cubicle numbers to use; one for the ladies changing and one for the mens.
We were asked to arrive ‘beach ready’, so had to have our swimming costumes on underneath our clothes. I quickly changed James (my one year old) when we got there (remember swim nappies do not hold liquid!). You wear a mask on entry, and then can leave it in the lockers until you get out of the pool.
In the changing rooms, the cubicles also had designated locker numbers that you should use (don’t forget your £1 coin)! The showers that you would usually use before you enter are not currently in use (you’re asked to shower at home- although the main showers in the changing facilities were accessible if needed).
The Family Swim Session
The 25m pool was split into 8 equal sections using lane ropes; 2 sections wide and 4 along the length. To be honest I absolutely preferred this to a usual swimming pool set-up! Having your own area meant you didn’t need to worry about people swimming into you or finding space for your children to play. Jess couldn’t quite touch the bottom of the shallow pool with her feet- but was quite happy spending pretty much the whole session time jumping into the pool and then climbing back out again.
We were asked to take our own toys, other families with small children had taken floats and rings for their babies to sit in and play. Obviously if you had older children, they cant swim lengths in this set up- but presumably in the deeper end they can still have fun jumping in! I remember spending a lot of my childhood in pools just trying to touch the bottom?!
Leaving the pool
Towards the end of the session, everyone started to leave. Again, you’re encouraged to shower at home- so it was the case of a quick dry and exit. But because there weren’t many of us there it worked out fine!
We thoroughly enjoyed our swim session and would thoroughly recommend going with a young family- for FAQs, Leeds Active have provided this reading.
Next week we’re off to try Calypso Cove- and are equally excited about that (read the Mumbler review of that over on the North Leeds site here).
