Madam, We were disappointed to learn that Halo is to prevent Ross Swimming Club from running children's swimming classes. Two of our children attend these sessions and have benefited enormously from the excellent coaching given by members of the swimming club. They have grown in confidence and are already becoming strong swimmers.

We joined Ross Swimming Club after persisting for many months with the lessons offered by Halo with less than happy results. In our experience these sessions suited only confident beginners and that many children, including ours, spent most of the lessons waiting around and learning little. Ross Swimming Club has turned our children from nervous learners into enthusiastic swimmers. We are concerned that if these plans go through, many children, including our youngest child, will have nowhere locally to learn to swim properly.

With three years to go before the London Olympics and the increased emphasis on healthy lifestyles for children, this decision by Halo seems even more perplexing. Ross Swimming Club offers excellent tuition, but more than that they give the chance to compete in galas and for the older children to gain experience through helping with the lessons. Many of the part time life guards at the swimming pool are drawn from the ranks of the Ross club.

In our opinion Ross Swimming Club is an exemplary community organisation where many people give hours of their time unpaid to help others learn and excel. One would think that a body which promotes children's achievement in sports and has a strong presence in the town would be something that Halo would wish to support. However it seems they are more interested in their own profits than any wider benefit to the community.