Grants & business support
Your support can help young people on the Fylde Coast build on their swimming skills, train regularly and become part of a team. Explore the need, the club programme and practical projects we could develop with your organisation.
The people behind the case for support
These are moments from our club: learning with coaches, enjoying time with friends and representing the Makos together. Support for the club helps sustain the programme around those experiences. The evidence below explains the wider need and the projects we could develop with you.
Local roots. Opportunities to grow.
For a young person ready to move beyond lessons, a club offers somewhere to practise, receive feedback and share the experience with team-mates. Regular swimming and water polo give that progress a place in the week.
Support for coaching, equipment, participation and the people behind the programme can help make those opportunities possible. We would agree the purpose and practical details of each project with its supporters.
Fleetwood Mako’s Aquatics Club became a registered association CIO on 1 September 2025. Our charitable purpose is community participation in healthy recreation through swimming, water polo and associated activities, primarily across the Fylde Coast and surrounding areas.
Our case for support focuses on regular participation, skill development and opportunities families can sustain. Competition is one way for athletes to use what they learn and work towards a goal within that wider purpose.
England · Active Lives Children and Young People · 2024/25
National survey results show differences in reported swimming ability, alongside strong interest in swimming more often. They help explain why opportunities to keep learning matter; they do not measure demand for places at Mako’s.
Ages 5–16 · family affluence groups · 2024/25
38% in the least-affluent group report being able to swim 25m, compared with 83% in the most-affluent group.
Reported ability to swim 25m unaided in England, Years 1–11. Rounded from 37.51% and 83.25%. These are the survey’s Family Affluence Scale groups, not local income or club-membership figures. Years 1–2 are parent-reported; Years 3–11 are child-reported.
Sport England swimming data (XLSX, Table 15)Years 7–11 · ages 11–16 · 2024/25
68%want to swim more often
68% of responding secondary pupils say they would like to swim more often.
67.69% of all responding secondary pupils in England said they would like to swim more often, including pupils who are not current swimming participants. The 100 squares illustrate the rounded percentage; they are not 100 surveyed Mako’s athletes.
Sport England swimming data (XLSX, Table 14)Year 7 · ages 11–12 · England
Year 7 reported 25m ability rose to 73% in 2024/25, but remained below 77% in 2017/18.
Reported ability improved from 70% in 2023/24, but remains below 77% in 2017/18. These are three selected survey years, not a continuous downward trend. Percentages are rounded.
Sport England swimming data (XLSX, Table 15)Years 7–11 · ages 11–16 · England
44% of secondary pupils report being able to swim 200m, compared with 49% in 2017/18.
Reported ability to swim 200m was 44.05% in 2024/25, compared with 48.88% in 2017/18. This secondary-school cohort is different from the Year 7-only comparison alongside it.
Sport England swimming data (XLSX, Table 13)Year 6 leavers · 2024/25 · school-reported DfE returns
For 2024/25 Year 6 leavers, schools with the highest free-school-meal eligibility reported lower average swimming and self-rescue attainment than the national school averages. These figures cover state primary schools, excluding special schools, and come from a separate dataset from the survey above.
Average school-reported attainment · 25m swimming
A 17 percentage-point gap in reported attainment.
BBC analysis of DfE school returns for 2024/25 Year 6 leavers, published 11 August 2026: average 25m attainment was 72% nationally and 55% at schools with the highest free-school-meal eligibility. These are averages across schools, not an established pupil-weighted rate.
BBC analysis of the DfE school returnsAverage school-reported attainment · safe self-rescue
A 20 percentage-point gap in reported attainment.
The same analysis found average self-rescue attainment of 70% nationally and 50% in the highest-FSM schools. This does not measure Mako’s outcomes or imply that competitive swimming alone guarantees self-rescue or open-water safety.
Swim England’s response to the findingsThe government’s swimming and water-safety expectations
The primary PE curriculum includes swimming 25m, using an effective range of strokes and performing safe self-rescue. Secondary PE encourages links with community sports clubs, giving young people routes to continue developing beyond those foundations.
Read the government PE curriculumThe local opportunity
Activity levels across Lancashire and free-school-meal eligibility in one Fleetwood neighbourhood provide useful local context. They help inform questions about participation and affordability, but neither describes Mako’s members or the whole of Fleetwood.
Lancashire · ages 5–16 · 2024/25
50.7% of Lancashire children average at least 60 minutes of activity a day.
Lancashire-wide survey figures: 50.7% averaged at least 60 minutes of daily activity; 27.1% averaged less than 30 minutes. The chart highlights these two groups and is not a full breakdown. These are not Fleetwood estimates or measured club outcomes.
Lancashire County Council: children’s activityFleetwood Town neighbourhood · DfE data published June 2026
52%of resident state-funded pupils eligible for free school meals
52% of resident state-funded pupils in this Fleetwood neighbourhood are eligible for free school meals.
Ofsted’s Fleetwood Town statistical neighbourhood (MSOA E02005319). Pupils are counted by home address. This is one neighbourhood, not the whole town or the club’s membership; free-school-meal eligibility is not evidence of an individual family’s ability to afford club sport.
Ofsted: Fleetwood Town local-area profileWyre Moving More Strategy · 2023–2028
Youth activity providers in Wyre reported barriers to affordable venue hire at suitable times. The same strategy judged swimming provision sufficient across the borough. For a club project, this makes dependable access to coached activity a useful focus, rather than assuming the borough needs more pools.
Read the strategy (PDF, pages 34 and 37)The next step after learning to swim
Swim England identifies swimming and water polo as pathways beyond lessons. At Mako’s, coaches assess readiness for club training and help identify an appropriate starting point. Children who need more preparation can use the local lesson signposts before taking that next step.
Read Swim England’s progression guidanceOur response
The club’s role begins when young people have the foundations for structured training. Swimming offers repeated technical practice and coaching; water polo adds ball skills and a team game. Coaches assess the right starting point, because a distance badge alone does not establish readiness.
Development offers three core one-hour sessions each week, with work on technique, confidence and safe training habits. This gives athletes a regular setting to practise skills from their lessons and learn how to train with a squad. Additional weekend opportunities are by coach invitation.
Explore Development swimming
Performance offers six 90-minute sessions in a normal week for athletes ready for a more demanding programme. Coaching supports technical development, consistent training routines and preparation for competition.
Explore Performance swimming
Junior water polo combines swimming, ball skills and game understanding, giving young people another way to develop in the water. The Thursday programme provides a weekly 90-minute training opportunity; the water-polo team confirms suitable arrangements for each player.
Explore water poloFrom a need to a practical opportunity
A useful project starts with the young people it should benefit and the opportunity it will provide. Together, we can agree an activity, an itemised budget and proportionate ways to understand what happened.
Coached pool time or agreed participation costs
Session hours, places and continued participation
An itemised budget would set out the coached activity, available places and intended participants. Attendance and follow-up would help show how the opportunity was used. Any contribution towards family costs would need a separately agreed, confidential arrangement.
Shared swimming and water-polo equipment
Equipment used and coach-assessed progress
Start with the skills athletes need to practise, then choose equipment that coaches can use in the programme. A project could record how the equipment was used and review relevant skills through coach assessment, without promising identical progress for every athlete.
Outreach, introductions and appropriate referrals
Assessed starts and participation at follow-up
Families and local partners could help identify barriers and shape suitable introductions to the club. Coaches would assess readiness, with lesson referrals where more preparation is needed. Agreed follow-up could show who started and who continued taking part.
Training for coaches and club volunteers
Training completed and suitable programme cover
Agree the roles and programme cover needed, then identify appropriate development for coaches and volunteers. Training, supervision and safeguarding requirements would form part of the plan, alongside evidence that the agreed training was completed.
These are possible projects to develop together. Before work begins, we would agree the starting point, budget and measures; the examples do not describe results already achieved.
Why Mako’s
The club’s history, existing resources and examples of outside support provide a starting point for a partnership. Each funded project would still need its own agreed purpose, budget and evidence.
Established in 1974
Since 1974, Fleetwood families, coaches and volunteers have helped successive generations take part in swimming and water polo. The club’s history includes national age-group success and international athletes, alongside the everyday work of helping young people develop.
Explore our history
Asda Foundation · July 2026
In July 2026, the Asda Foundation contributed £500 towards new Mako Clubhouse training equipment. It is a specific example of external support adding to the resources athletes can use away from the pool.
See the support in action
Athlete development · July 2026
AP Race Plus access is included in every athlete’s membership, providing swimming, training and parent resources between club sessions. It complements the coached programme and gives families another way to engage with athlete development.
Explore athlete supportMembership income and additional support
Membership income supports the club programme. Fundraising and external support help develop equipment, pool access, training and further opportunities, with money raised by the charity reinvested in the club and its athletes.
For a grant or partnership, the proposal should make clear what your contribution would fund and how it fits alongside other club income.
We would agree the activity, intended participants, itemised budget, other income and responsibilities for delivery before making a commitment. This gives both the club and its supporters a clear basis for deciding whether the project fits their aims.
Care, governance and evidence
Safeguarding, charitable governance and proportionate reporting belong in the planning of any supported activity. These routes help you understand the club and the arrangements a project would need.
Named Welfare Officers provide club contact routes for safeguarding concerns. The safeguarding page also links to Swim England’s current Wavepower guidance and independent reporting routes, so families and partners know where to seek help.
Read safeguarding informationThe club is a registered association CIO, with trustees responsible for its charitable purpose and resources. Use the Charity Commission record to review official governing information and the current reporting position.
Check the charity record (opens in a new tab)Agree a starting point, targets and reporting approach that fit the activity. Reporting could distinguish individual young people reached from repeat session attendances, then consider continued participation, relevant skills and participant feedback.
Grant makers, businesses and community partners
A grant could support a defined programme or resource. A business could contribute funding, equipment, specialist skills or volunteer time. Community organisations can help the club understand local barriers and reach families who may benefit.
Start with the people or opportunity you want to support, any funding criteria and the timescale you have in mind. That gives us a useful basis for exploring a project together.
We would agree the scope, budget, responsibilities, timescale and reporting before making a commitment. Conversations can focus on access and participation, athlete development, or the practical resources needed to deliver an agreed activity.
Explore club fundraising and volunteering, including an example of grant support already received. You can bring an idea, offer practical skills or discuss the time you have available.
Explore fundraising and volunteeringWork with Fleetwood Mako’s
Email us with your organisation, the activity or young people you want to support, and any funding criteria or deadlines. Tell us what information you need to decide whether a partnership is right for you.