Coca-Cola Great Britain is supporting the training of over 120 new swimming teachers and coaches as part of its commitment to get people active on the road to 2012. The announcement follows on from the success of the company’s “Schweppes Abbey Well’ ‘Schwim Free” campaign, which enables consumers to enjoy a free swim by exchanging promotional Schweppes bottle tops at participating pools in England, Scotland and Wales.

When the scheme was launched in March 2009, Coca-Cola committed to make a donation to projects to get Britain swimming, and has now donated £50,000 to The Swimming Trust. The money will be used for a Teacher Coach Education Grant Fund offering training opportunities for volunteers within Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming and Water Polo clubs across the UK.

On average a swimming teacher provides 288 hours of instruction per year giving a quality, structured swimming experience to around 190 people. So this donation will see some 22,000 people learning to swim and participating regularly as result of Coca-Cola’s funding.

Jon Woods, Country Manager, Coca-Cola UK and Ireland, said, «We’re delighted to donate this money to help even more people get active on the road to 2012. Almost 50,000 took part in the first year of the scheme and we hope this year will be even bigger and better with 440 pools signed up, including 90 across London.»

Coca-Cola Great Britain launched ‘Schweppes Abbey Well’, a new natural mineral water for British consumers, following its acquisition of the ‘Abbey Well’ water source in November 2008.