In 2017 STA reached a historic milestone: we registered our 10,000th member – and the number has since gone on to surpass this landmark figure. For STA, this means that we now have over 10,000 members supporting our charitable objective of preserving life through the teaching of swimming, lifesaving and survival techniques. Thank you.

This year, we’ve also enjoyed nurturing and further developing our fantastic partnerships with CIMSPA, The Scouting Association, Birthlight, Octonauts and Water Fitness (remember HydroPole on The Only Way is Essex in April!).

We’ve also created many exciting new swimming teaching partnerships over the last 12 months, notably with GLL and several new Swim Academies in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – we look forward to seeing how these all progress in 2018, particularly with the launch of new bilingual swimming awards in Wales!

As an industry first, all the key organisations in swimming and lifesaving joined forces this year too; firstly to speak out about the dangers of ‘survival’ methods being taught to young infants and then to re-launch PAS 520. This was an important step forward, and we hope to do more together in the future.

We would also like to say a special thank you to all those who have helped with the development of our new Open Water Swimming Coaching and Pool Plant Operations qualifications this year. Consulting with the industry is key for us, as it ensures that our qualifications remain fit-for-purpose and relevant.

Finally, I’d like to say a personal thank you to the staff, trustees, members and all our work associates and ambassadors, nationally and internationally, for their continued support. It’s been a fantastic year for STA, and on behalf of the whole team I’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!