SWINDON swimming clubs failed to win a £200,000 grant to restore a Health Hydro pool – but the one club bagged £5,000 as a consolation prize.

Swindon Dolphins, Tigersharks and Amateur Swimming Clubs joined forces to go head-to-head with 29 other sports clubs across the country in a bid to win the prize money.

They wanted to fix the small training pool at the Health Hydro as it had been closed in 2016.

Though they didn't get enough votes to win the top prize in Persimmon Homes' Healthy Communities competition, the Dolphins received a £5,000 grant for their club.

Dean Fouracre, vice president of the Swindon Dolphins, said: "It's a shame we didn't win as that would have really helped bring some attention to the state of the small pool.

"It's a huge missed opportunity, the money would have made a huge difference we don't know what's going to happen to the Hydro now.

"However, we had some very tough competition, it was a strong list of finalists with some very good causes.

"The Dolphins entered the competition on their own at first, the grant was just for day-to-day training.

"When we got through to the final, the scope changed and it became bigger than us, it was a community project involving us and the other clubs.

“We are extremely grateful to Persimmon Homes for the funding, we're over the moon, we haven't had that sort of cash injection for many years.

"There are so many areas of the club that will benefit, like volunteer classes, training classes and training camps, maybe even new kit."

All the finalists were invited to attend a gala dinner in York last week where 27 organisations received £5,000 for getting to the final stage of the competition, two runners-up received £50,000 each, and Heart of England Community Boxing Club received the 200 grand grant.

Richard Briggs, managing director at Persimmon Homes Wessex, said: “The Healthy Communities scheme has been a great success and we had a brilliant evening at York Racecourse celebrating the fantastic work of these special sporting clubs.

“We have been overwhelmed by both the response to the competition and the work of those involved within the sporting clubs, who work exceptionally hard to train the next generation of sporting heroes.”

Dean vowed to continue fighting for the future of the Health Hydro.

He added: "All of the swimming groups will still work together for this cause.

"A lot of people used the pool and learned to swim in it.

"The pool was one of the best in the county for training in terms of shape, depth and warmth."

Persimmon Homes launched its Healthy Communities scheme last May and has since given £615,000 to support amateur youth sport in England, Scotland and Wales.

Thousands of groups and individuals applied for monthly donations of £750 to pay for kit and equipment.