Swim lessons at B.P. Gandy pool offer fun, summer safety tips
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Lillian Brunson has been teaching swimming for over forty years. This summer she will once again be part of the Splash Station Learn-to-Swim lessons at the B.P. Gandy Pool in Darlington.
“Swimming lessons are absolutely wonderful and I think everyone should know how to swim,” Brunson said. “For one, it is a safety issue. It is also a social thing because as children grow up they have swim parties that they get invited to and you want them to be able to do that and be safe.”
The lessons are for youth 5 to 18. Any child under 12 must have an adult with them. The program runs from Monday, June 26 to Thursday, June 29 from 10:30 – 11:20 a.m. As the class could reach capacity, it is best for children to arrive before the 10:30 start time to ensure a spot.
Brunson said that swimming is a fun way for children to be active.
“It is wonderful exercise and it gets you outdoors,” Brunson said. “It is not expensive; all you need is a bathing suit and a place with some water to swim. I have taught thousands and thousands of people in Darlington to swim. I am now on the grandchildren; I have three grandchildren of the children that I started with the first year I taught. The first year I taught there were two classes and the next there were ten. It has been like that ever since. I love it.”
This particular program is in its sixth year. During the lessons, students will learn the basics like floating and conquering the fear of putting their head underwater. The classes progress through six stations, all the way up to a deep-water swimming test.
“This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to learn to swim,” said James Ward, program director. “This program helps non-swimmers gain skills keeping them safer in the water, and the lessons are free.”
Children should arrive at the class ready to get into the water.
Brunson joked that her students and her children think that she is part mermaid.
“I learned to swim when I was three-years-old in Murrells Inlet,” Brunson said. “I grew up swimming Black Creek before we had pools here. I took swimming for 25 years of my life.”
Though Brunson will be teaching children, she said that she encourages people of all ages to enjoy the pool and know how to do that in a safe way.
“It is also the whole body exercise that there is,” Brunson said. “It is something that you can do all of your life. My mother was swimming until four months before she passed at 85. It is just extremely important that everyone know how to swim. It just breaks my heart every time I read that someone has drowned.”
This program is sponsored by the City of Darlington, YMCA of the Upper Pee Dee, and the Darlington Police Dept.
Splash Station Learn-to-Swim lessons will take place at the B.P. Gandy Pool, located at 115 Gary Street, behind the B.A. Gary Educational Campus.
If you have questions, please contact Lisa Rock of the City of Darlington at 843-398-4000, Ext. 103.
