PEOPLE NEWS (LEFT TO RIGHT) Aquaflex’s new board members – Brad Armstrong, Himali Peiris and Jono Ings

Liner And Cover Specialist Welcomes New Directors Swimming pool liner and cover manufacturer Aquaflex Ltd has announced three new members to its board of directors. Chairman John Crossman and Joint Managing Directors Neil Dalziel and Terry Wickham are pleased to welcome Brad Armstrong (Sales Director), Himali Peiris (Company Secretary & Finance Director) and Jono Ings (Contracts Director) to the Aquaflex board. The three new members have been, and will continue to be, part of the company’s integral management team, alongside Senior Managers Dan Thatcher (Operations Manager) and Lee Hardwick (Factory Manager), who are all driving towards the company’s main goal – providing the highest possible level of service and quality to the UK swimming pool trade. Established in 1993 at their factory in Salisbury, Wiltshire, Aquaflex has proudly supplied the swimming pool trade with PVC pool liners and covers, and have a reputation for specialising in bespoke and complex designs. This has been forged with a vastly expanding division for their reinforced on site pool lining services. Newly appointed Sales Director Brad Armstrong said: “I speak on behalf of Himali and Jono when I say that we are very grateful for this opportunity and we are excited about what the future holds. We aim to continue to be the swimming pool trade’s supplier of choice.”

COVID Has Created Huge Teaching And Pool Hire Issues A recent survey carried out by the STA, has revealed that more than a quarter of swimming teachers in the UK have received little or no government funding during the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result, nearly a half of all the swim school owners STA surveyed said they have lost swimming teachers. While the survey shows that the lack of funding and uncertainty of furlough are the main reasons as to why many swimming teachers are not returning to the pool, the STA state that the other barrier for swim schools at the moment is hiring pools. Dave Candler, STA’s CEO, explained: “For many, when you think of swimming, you think of the large council-run leisure centres, but in the UK today, the private swim school market, who operate independently out of hotel, health club or school pools for example, represents a huge proportion of the learn to swim market.” “These swim schools wholly rely on hiring external pools, but many of these pools, understandably

because of COVID, are not yet allowing third-party companies back in to re-hire the pool. This means that many swim schools have not been able to open or fully open since March 2020, and thus they’ve not been able to always guarantee when swimming teachers can return to work. Plus, social distancing in the pool has naturally reduced class sizes, which has meant reduced income and reduced hours for some swimming teachers too – all adding to the reasons as to why swimming teachers who’ve been unable to access sufficient funding (mainly those who were self-employed) have needed to find employment elsewhere. “Looking ahead, the industry will have to pull together and go on a huge recruitment drive to fill the teaching gap caused by the pandemic,” advised Dave. STA 01922 645097 www.sta.co.uk

Aquaflex Ltd 01722 328873 www.aquaflex.co.uk

A New Face At Fairlocks Pool Products UK distributor Fairlocks Pool Products are pleased to announce that Jennifer van den Eshof (TnISPE) has joined the team based at Bicester in Oxfordshire. Jennifer is TnISPE certified and brings with her, many years of pool industry knowledge and experience. Jennifer has been recruited to support the promotion of Fairlock’s new automated CovLock safety cover range. Following her appointment, Jennifer said: “After a period of uncertainty that

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the pandemic has brought, I was thrilled to have been offered the opportunity to work with Fairlocks Pool Products. The pool industry has proved to be absolutely thriving and it is an exciting prospect to be involved in it. I look forward to working with everyone here at Fairlocks and to be part of their future success.” In addition to supplying the range of LPW onepiece pools, Fairlocks Pool Products are probably best known as the UK

distributor for the well-known Covrex range of automatic slatted pool covers, HIDE skimmer lid frames, the unique Nemo underwater drills, the Water-Tec range of underwater lights plus numerous other innovative swimming pool products. They are also pleased to have recently launched the new exclusive range of automated safety covers as mentioned above – CovLock and its sister product CovDeck – both of which are now available to the UK trade. Fairlocks Pool Products 01869 934333 www.fairlocks.co.uk

www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk 27/06/2021 12:22