A girl is on a mission to raise awareness of her swimming club, which is facing financial difficulties.

Ava Pearson, a St Bede's High School pupil, is taking part in a swimming challenge to both raise money for charity Young Lives V Cancer and to raise awareness of Blackburn Centurions.

The 11-year-old has been attending the club for around a year. She is now putting her swimming skills to the test by swimming as far as she can in October.

Ava initially planned to swim five kilometres, which is around 200 lengths of her pool, but has since beaten this target and will be adding as many lengths as she can.

Mum, Hannah Pearson, said: “Her goal was to raise £150 for charity, but she has already smashed this target and swam the distance. Her new goal is to swim as many kilometers as possible and raise even more money.

"The more miles she completes the more awareness she raises for a fantastic charity and also her swimming club Blackburn Centurions.

“She wanted to do something for charity using her love of swimming. We found out the Centurions is having difficulties at the minute, so she wanted to raise awareness for the club too. The club is looking for new members to join and for some business sponsorships too.”

In August, club chair Ruth Johnson said “tough decisions” could need to be made if its financial situation does not improve.

She said: “Post-covid, the club tried to keep the fees affordable in order to encourage people to participate and make sure it was accessible to as many swimmers as possible.

“Like many other clubs around the country, the cost of pool hire is a huge financial challenge at approximately £60,000 a year.

“Come November, some really tough decisions will need to be made around the viability of the club if nothing changes and things stay as they are now.”

Hannah said “it’s a shame” that the club is facing financial uncertainty.

“It’s quite worrying,” she said. “I think there is a decent enough community within the centurions to raise the money that they need. It is a shame but with the cost of living crisis the price of everything has gone up.”

Hannah is encouraging parents to take their children to the club, where Olympic gold medalist swimmer Anna Hopkin trained from the age of 13,  if they have a love or talent for swimming.

Hannah said: “I think it’s also important to raise awareness of the club. Many parents have kids who are really good at swimming and they haven’t even thought about joining a swimming team.

“It’s all well and good watching the Olympics but people don’t consider that their child could one day be in that position [with the right training].

“The opportunity is there but people might not be aware of it or know it exists.

“The team is welcoming and provides fantastic opportunities for many young people in the area.”

Hannah said she is proud of her daughter for taking the initiative to take part in the fundraiser for charity and the club.

She said: “I am so proud of my daughter. She is a sensitive soul and is always coming up with ideas.

“The team is looking for local business sponsorship and different packages are available… this could determine the future of the club.

“She plans to fundraise every year for charity. She is an absolute credit to us and makes us so proud.”

To donate to Ava’s fundraiser visit Facebook and search ‘Ava is swimming 5k in October for Young Lives vs Cancer.

To donate to Blackburn Centurions fundraiser visit:  www.gofund.me/87353e45

Business that want to sponsor the club should email  is info@swimblackburncenturions.co.uk or call Ruth Johnston on 07528748210.