Hundreds of people from diverse communities around Coventry and Nuneaton have visited one of the region’s most popular leisure attractions for the first time thanks to a groundbreaking community swimming initiative.

Around 600 men and women have taken the plunge at The Wave Waterpark in the city centre as part of a new initiative led by youth and community group Rising Stars to encourage people from more communities to get active in the city’s public places.

A group of 12 volunteers from the Coventry-based organisation welcomed 594 people from a variety of communities aged one to 74, who were given exclusive use of The Wave across male-only and female-only sessions supported by staff from CV Life, which operates the popular venue in New Union Street.

Four out of five participants were visiting the indoor water park, which opened in 2019 and welcomes more than 180,000 visitors each year, for the first time.

Ayaz Maqsood, chair of Rising Stars, said the community swimming sessions are helping more people become familiar with the city’s “incredible sports and leisure facilities” but also play an important role in sharing community knowledge to help establishments cater for cultural differences when swimming or playing sports.

People from a range of cultural backgrounds praised staff at CV Life, who helped make small adjustments to for both sessions. 

A key adjustment for the female-only session was to ensure there were window coverings so women and girls felt safe to enjoy the facility. 

A number of people who attended the events were from new communities recently arrived to the area from Africa and Asia, and commented on how welcoming the sessions were.

Rising Stars has helped thousands of individuals, mostly young people, access educational and recreational opportunities since it was established in 2004.

In a survey of attendees, 97% stated they had a good to excellent time and would return. 

A participant in the female-only session said: “I am a single parent and find it hard to take my two kids to activities due to costs and time. I am so grateful to everyone who helped make this happen, we had such a great time. It was great that we could do this as a community.”