SHAUN Uren is working to spread the word about the work of Barrow Disabled Swimming Club as they seek to attract more members and boost their finances.

Uren, who was part of the Great Britain silver medal-winning 4x100m relay swimming team at the Atalanta Paraylmpics in 1996, returned to his hometown club last year and has been helping out ever since.

The club has 20 members of various ages and Uren wants to raise awareness of their work to ensure more people take up swimming.

“It's where I learnt to swim, so I want to try to put a lot back in, and help it develop and keep it going,” said Uren.

"We're surviving at the moment and it's about keeping it going day-to-day with the finances, especially every time the fees go up, because we have to cover that ourselves.

“It's just getting it out there that we are around and there is a disabled swimming club in the area.”

The club have been out and about putting up posters advertising their presence, as well as trying to get into schools to spread their messages and show disabled youngsters there is this opportunity there for them.

There are battles to cope with rising costs as well, which are partly offset by their annual sponsored swim and donations made throughout the year.

“The club is going reasonably well, but we could do with getting more members and finances – especially in the current situation, where we've got low numbers and prices are going up all over the place,” said Uren.

“All the members have to do is pay just an annual membership, they don't have to pay when they come every week, so it's all done on sponsorship and stuff like that.

“We're not a competitive club as such, we're more recreational, but it brought me through from a non-swimmer and we've taught a lot of young kids, especially with physical disabilities, to swim and get to a fairly settled standard.”

The Rio Paraylmpics, which finished last week, offer another chance for the club to raise their profile, particularly with Uren having competed and won a medal at the Games 20 years ago.

“They've pushed on a lot since I finished,” said Uren.

“The Lottery funding does a lot to help them out because they can train with the able-bodied team and have access to all of the same sports science. It helps get the name out there and that is what is bringing the skills up.

“Hopefully it can have a knock-on effect. The Olympics and Paralympics in London were all about the legacy and we are here as part of that legacy, and we were there before that anyway.”

Anyone who is interested in joining Barrow Disabled Swimming Club can attend their weekly training sessions on Sundays at Park Leisure Centre, which run from 11.30am to 1pm.