THE ANNUAL Newport Community Aquatic Festival event will be held on Friday August 31, from 9.45am to 3pm, at the Newport International Sports Village and will be the culmination of the Free Swim activities that have taken place in pools in council-run leisure centres across Newport.

For the past nine years, the Welsh Assembly Government has provided funds to each unitary authority in Wales for the Under-17 Free Swim Initiative. Newport utilises these funds to provide an extensive holiday programme of open free swimming sessions, plus a range of very popular structured sessions including mini waterpolo, snorkelling, flip ’n’ fun, lifesaving, synchro and many, many more.

A total of 13 teams have been training hard this summer in preparation for the Aquatic Festival and will participate in a variety of pool relay races including water polo, raft race and lifesaving challenge.

The event will be officially opened by the deputy mayor and mayoress of Newport Cllr Cliff Suller and Christine Suller.

Newport is the only authority in Wales to host a local event of this kind. This is due to the strong sports development unit and the range of aquatics and structured free swimming programmes the city has to offer.

For more information on Newport aquatics programme, contact Swimming Development on 01633 656 757.