Attendee
Myself and my 2 daughters were very excited to be invited along to the Speedo VIP day and had a great time in our half term holidays swimming & having fun in a beautifully decorated pool in London's South Kensington.
Once we'd got changed (and locked and unlocked, then locked and unlocked again the pin number lockers - a novelty for us not to have to use a locker key & token..!) we got to the poolside to be greeted by the Olympic swimmer who then led a warm up session and talk on how important swimming was.
After a little fashion show and demo of Speedo products (we liked the look of the pool toys that flew through the air!), the girls were then shown their swim lesson groups and got in the water. My 5 year old really benefitted from the teacher being in the water with her and having to share him with only 1 other child, as he was able to give her some great pointers on how to improve her swimming technique.
My 3 year old however was a bit shy, so just clung to me in the water and didn't want to interact with the teacher unfortunately. She did however perk up slightly when the Speedo toys were used, and delighted in being given a little bucket with some of the toys in it at the end of the session (easily won round with some free stuff..!)
Once the lessons were over, we enjoyed some 'fun time' in the pool, jumping around on the big inflatables. The water was so deep that I also had to make use of the Speedo floats & woggles to keep afloat while trying to get the girls onto the inflatables.
We were reaching the end of the session as most people had already got out and gone for their lunch, so I took some photos and out we got.
Once dressed we went back upstairs to the cafe area for our lunch - unfortunately as we were probably one of the last ones up, there was not much lunch left, or whatever was leftover was not particularly 'child friendly' (wraps with spinach & egg, along with some vegetable crisps). With 2 grumpy hungry children, I was being hassled about where their 'goodie bags' were, so I went to ask one of the ladies where I could find them. She was very amenable and delivered 2 goodie bags to us, and very kindly even changed the swimsuit for us as one of them was too small. The girls were thrilled with their new bags, goggles, swimsuits and floats, they made do with a packet of nuts I bought them and after being interviewed by someone, we strolled off in the general direction of the Science museum having had a great time in the pool.
To answer the other questions:
The swimming lessons were fantastic, and my daughter definately learnt alot more with the instructor in the water with her, watching her and giving her feedback on what she could do better. I asked the other instructor a question about how to cope with my daughter that (due to shyness) just clings to me in the water when we have our usual swim lessons - he recommended swimming in a pool that is nice and shallow to give them confidence.
The Speedo products seemed fine - I would consider buying them in the future, but it really depends on the availability of them....most products at our local pool are Zoggs. The only time I would search out a Speedo product would be when buying a new swimsuit for my children, as they really do last alot longer than the cheap one you get at the supermarket.
Highlight of the day for the girls was going swimming in a lovely pool and getting to play with all the inflatables, and (of course) getting the goodie bag..!
We do already go swimming alot (my husband's default mechanism is to take them swimming or to the park!), and they also have lessons once a week.
I have emailed the photos to Mumsnet...hoping you see them....the girls are holding up their ages in numbers, and then I got them to find the ages they'll be soon...we may use those photos for cards..!
Thanks again for a great day.