The government has announced plans to scrap swimming-pool admission charges in England for the over-60s.
Unveiling the plan, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Andy Burnham said the intention was to encourage more people to take up sport in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
“In international geriatric swimming, Britain’s pensioners can hold their heads up,” said Mr Burnham. “They have to, or the water ruins their perms and washes the dye out.”
The government hopes to extend the £80m scheme to the whole population. However, swimmers around the country remained sceptical.
“All the local authority pools round here have long since been flogged off to developers and torn down,” said one veteran in a fetching blue rubber cap. “Our only real chance of getting a swim is whenever the streets flood because the council doesn’t like spending anything on unblocking the drains.”
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