The annual membership subscription shall be due each year. Categories of membership are:

• Junior: 12 years and over and under 16 years on the day of the swim
• Senior: 16 years and over on the day of the swim
• Novices (1k) events 10 years and over on the day of the swim

Please note ALL swimmers under 18 years old must have an appropriate adult at the swim event land based site. This is a requirement for our safeguarding policy and any swimmers turning up to an event must comply with this rule to be able to swim.

To join, click on one of the links below for the individual membership you wish to sign up to.

Senior | Junior | Social | Life

Affiliated Club Membership

The BLDSA offers affiliated membership to open water swimming clubs, with a two tier option.

Option 1 Basic affiliation at a cost of £125 a year.

• Free publicity for your club – have your club’s website linked from ours, include your events in our calendar, include a report in the BLDSA annual report (sent to all our members). A great way to get your name out there to swimmers who may not have heard of you!
• Access to BLDSA equipment and facilities, including safety boats, for a small donation – often much less than the cost of hiring. (This benefit is subject to availability on the dates you wish to borrow equipment)
• Access to the experience and expertise of BLDSA officials – we are always very happy to help our affiliated clubs by offering advice. We also have a vast network of experienced volunteers, many of whom would be happy to help out at your events should you require extra pairs of hands!
• Please note with basic affiliation there is no insurance cover available for your club or events.

Option 2 Full Affiliation at a cost of £300 a year. Some of the benefits of affiliation include:

• Public liability insurance up to £5million for your events and training sessions via the BLDSA policy – the cost of obtaining such insurance as a club independently is becoming more and more prohibitive, and many clubs are struggling to obtain insurance without the help of the BLDSA or another “governing body”
• Free publicity for your club – have your club’s website linked from ours, include your events in our calendar, include a report in the BLDSA annual report (sent to all our members). A great way to get your name out there to swimmers who may not have heard of you!
• Access to BLDSA equipment and facilities, including safety boats, for a small donation – often much less than the cost of hiring. (This benefit is subject to availability on the dates you wish to borrow equipment)
• Access to training – we run, from time to time, training events – especially safety related events (e.g. first aid training, safety update training, powerboat training etc.). Affiliated clubs are welcome to join us for these, either free of charge or for a much reduced fee (when compared to sourcing this training privately).
• Access to the experience and expertise of BLDSA officials – we are always very happy to help our affiliated clubs by offering advice. We also have a vast network of experienced volunteers, many of whom would be happy to help out at your events should you require extra pairs of hands!

About You

• We accept applications for affiliated club membership from any “not for profit” open water swimming organisations based in the UK. We have also in the past arranged affiliate membership from organisations who are primarily pool based but wish to carry out some open water activity. We are sorry that we are unable to arrange membership for:
  • profit making organisations
  • organisations operating outside of the UK
  • triathlon clubs
  • Swim Run club / events
• In order to benefit from our insurance, you must:
  • Agree to the BLDSA Health & Safety and Safeguarding Policies
  • Have certain key officials (including a Safeguarding Officer) in place on your committee
  • Submit risk assessments to the BLDSA for all insured events and training sessions
  • Agree to run insured championships under BLDSA championship rules

To make further enquiries about affiliate membership, please contact Vince Classen (membership@bldsa.org.uk).

For enquiries regarding the specifics of the insurance policy and for safety related enquiries please contact Richard Hardy (aroseprint@aol.com)