Christina John 

I SUSPECT many Camden schoolchildren now of a certain age will remember the legendary top diving board at the old Swiss Cottage Swimming Baths.

Around 30ft tall, it felt a long way down to the Olympic-sized swimming pool’s deep end that stretched 26ft down.

I certainly remember being intimidated staring down past quivering toes into the dark blue abyss.

This leap of faith was both a daunting and thrilling prospect for any young mind, and teachers were in those days content to send rows of primary school-aged children to take the plunge.

It was removed when the new pool was built during the revamp of Sir Basil Spence leisure centre around 20 years ago.

Christina John, who learned to swim there as a child in the 1970s, has quit her hairdressing job to work full-time as a swimming instructor.

And she told me that many young people today would find swimming lessons daunting with or without a “monstrous” diving board to contend with.

For one reason or another, people from certain backgrounds do not learn to swim – and this transfers into adulthood, where a significant group of predominantly women even today feel comfortable going to a public pool.

Statistics from Swim England show a clear disparity of swimming abilities.

For example just under one in two people of ethnic diverse communities cannot swim 25 metres.

Ms John, who grew up in Swiss Cottage and lived around Kentish Town and Highgate, has started running women-only sessions for small groups of varying ability in a private pool.

“Swiss Cottage was the place I learned to swim when I was six. And I ended up teaching at the pool with the Swiss Cottage Swimming Club.

“It was the place I did my training and got the badges I have still got issued from the STA (Swimming Teachers Association).

“It’s like a family thing with me. My grandad taught me and my sister to swim at Swiss Cottage. I loved the competitive side of it all, as an adult too.

“For years I worked as a hairdresser. I hated standing up all day. What I loved to do was staring me in the face. I loved to go swimming but I’d never thought about being a swimming teacher.

“When I did think about it I couldn’t believe how easy it was to train. I knew I didn’t want to teach kids, at such a beginner stage. When you are teaching four, five and seven-year-olds to swim it’s not so much about technique. As time went on, I thought it would be nice teaching adults.

“And I noticed there was a gap for women. Particularly women who couldn’t have men around them. Many women had said they had tried many different places, but they were offered male instructors or they were in pools where men were around.

“There are ladies-only sessions in public pools – but often it’s like just a lane. Then you have other adults who have lessons in luxury hotels.

“The main thing I wanted to do was open up opportunities for women who have never been in a public pool – either because of men, or because they haven’t learned to swim.

“It’s not just about religious reasons, women love to come together. And they want to stay fit.

“People of all ethnicities should be given a chance to learn to swim. It’s not just the black community. Many people from different cultures and backgrounds didn’t have the opportuni­ties growing up. And even as an adult – especially Muslim women. It’s a lifesaving skill.”

Christal Clear Swim sessions are typically six or eight-week courses in pools in Willesden or Barbican.

. For more information go to www.christalclearswim.co.uk/