The charity breaking barriers to help women to enjoy swimming

A charity is breaking down cultural barriers in order to help women from the Asian community in the West Midlands to enjoy the benefits of regular swimming.

Opening Boundaries – a non-profit organisation that operates campaigns globally – is staging four weekly women-only swim sessions at Wordsley Primary School and Crystal Leisure Centre in Stourbridge. The sessions regularly attract more than 80 participants of all ages and abilities – including three generations of one family.

The success of the swimming project, developed with the support of Swim England, was recently heralded on the national stage with a nomination at the Sporting Equals Awards.

Volunteer, Farah Ahmed, whose sister Halima created Opening Boundaries in 2015, explained: “The swim project came about after Covid and was the result of a conversation I had with a friend while out on a walk.

“She was keen to swim regularly but wanted to do so in an environment that was specifically for Asian women. I told her I’d have a look to see if we could do anything and that’s where it all started.

“The whole aim was to get women in the pool.

“Some of those who had attended had had bad experiences in the past and we wanted to give them a safe space in which they could either learn to swim or just enjoy the freedom of being in water.”