Goulburn Swim School to close after 24 years in business

The impact of the Coronavirus shutdown along with changing business and personal circumstances has seen Jenny and Ron Neate, owners of the Neate Swim School in the NSW town of Goulburn, end operations after 24 years.

Having put the business up for sale in the middle of last year, the couple announced last month that they would not be reopening the swim school following its closure in March as a result of the Coronavirus shutdown.

Following Goulburn Mulwaree Council's decision to close the Goulburn Aquatic and Leisure Centre for renovation, there is now only one venue offering swimming lessons in Goulburn - A Stroke Ahead Swimming.

Ron Neate told the Goulburn Post “my wife and I have been running our swim school for 24 years in Goulburn, and we've become a victim of COVID-19."

The business began when Jenny Neate took her love for swimming and turned it into a business teaching children how to swim in the pool at her Goulburn home.

The couple, in their seventies, said they had intended to retire soon anyway, but they had hoped to pass the swim school on so that teaching could continue.

As reported by the Goulburn Post, the couple had recently sold their property and swim school with the new owners deciding against leasing it out to people to run the swim school, as was their original plan.

Commenting on the closure, Ron Neate advised “we've taught thousands of kids from Goulburn and the whole district to swim, and some of those kids have grown up and brought their own kids.

"So there's sadness, but we've made our mind up.”

Speaking about the Coronavirus impact, he expressed concern about “the difficulties in conducting a swim school in the current climate, with the mandatory implementation and maintenance of a COVID-19 Safety Plan, requiring limited numbers in the facility to maintain social distance, the need to thoroughly sanitise the facility at regular intervals, ensuring non-contact activities as much as practical, minimising sharing of equipment, keeping records of all visitors to the swim school and so on.

"As we are both in our 70s, we have decided that the restrictions we will be required to adhere to will be a challenge we are not prepared to face at our stage of life."

Image courtesy of the Neate Swim School/Facebook.