Swimmers in Guildford will dive into the world’s biggest fundraising swim at Spectrum on 28 – 29 April*. They will take on one of the five Swimathon Weekend 2012 challenges, raising money for either Marie Curie Cancer Care or Sport Relief.

In its 25th Anniversary, Swimathon has joined forces with British Swimming and the BBC’s Big Splash, Marie Curie Cancer Care and Sport Relief, to promote what is hoped will be the biggest Swimathon Weekend ever.

The Swimathon Weekend 2012 will give hundreds of swimmers in the region the opportunity to raise vital funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care through Swimathon’s established Distance Challenges and for Sport Relief through the new ‘Big Splash Mile’. Swimathon Weekend 2012 is the perfect way to start the New Year and a new you.

Whatever your ability, swimming is a great form of exercise, and is relaxing for the mind and body. Swimming also helps to build endurance, muscle strength and cardio-vascular fitness.  Entries for the Swimathon Weekend 2012 opened last week with the first 10,000 people to register for the Swimathon Weekend online at www.swimathon.org before 31 January 2012 will enjoy a half price discount!

Swimathon Weekend participants can raise vital funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care by swimming the 5k, 2.5k or Team 5k challenges, or for Sport Relief by swimming the ‘Big Splash Mile’, individually or as part of a team.

Simon Tomlins, Pools Manager at Guildford Spectrum commented on the Swimathon Weekend 2012, “It is a fantastic way to bring our community together, to raise money for charity, and provides a great challenge.” Funds raised by taking on the Swimathon Distance Challenges for Marie Curie Cancer Care will provide free nursing care and support for people with terminal cancer and other illnesses. Money raised by the public for the Big Splash Mile for Sport Relief will be spent by Comic Relief to help people living incredibly tough lives; both here, at home in the UK, and across the world's poorest countries.

Be one of the first 10,000 people to sign up online for a Swimathon Weekend session before 31 January 2012, and you’ll enjoy half price entry. Swimmer entry is open at www.swimathon.org until 25 April 2012.

*in Spectrum's 25 Metre Pool on Saturday 28th April, 2.00pm - 5.00pm or Sunday 29th April, 8am - 11am

Do you swim regularly or would you like to return to swimming? If the answer is YES, then we've got just the thing for you. The BBC is working closely with the national governing body, British Swimming, to launch a new mass participation campaign called the 'Big Splash' and Spectrum is getting involved!

We want to inspire more people to swim regularly. Throughout the year the BBC will highlight swimming as an important life-skill and gateway to a host of fun activities through a range of well known programmes across TV, radio and online.

Swimmers can ask for a Big Splash reward card when they visit which is stamped on each visit*. Once 10 swims have been purchased the next two are on us! Two free swims and that can be during a lane swim session or you can treat yourself to a relaxing swim and some fun in our leisure pool.

For more information on 'Big Splash' please speak to a member of staff and make sure you pick-up a reward card on your next visit or call us on (01483) 443322 (press option 0)

*Terms & Conditions apply

Our friends at WIMPY have come up with a great new offer for you to kick start the new year. If you're coming to Spectrum with friends, family or to check out the great Guildford Flames why not swing by the newly refurbished WIMPY and pick up a deal along the way.

Simply click on the great new offer link and there you'll find a downloadable/printable voucher for you to present at the counter when you're ordering your food. Bon appetit!

If January's offer doesn't tickle your taste buds have a look at February's offer which you can redeem NOW!

Local children’s hospice service, Shooting Star CHASE (registered charity no. 1042495) is bowled over to be chosen as Guildford Spectrum’s Charity of the Year. The complex is encouraging its customers to donate points they gain through its ‘Active’ loyalty card to the charity, enabling many of the families that use the children’s hospice to benefit from Spectrum’s award winning leisure facilities.

Shooting Star CHASE is the children's hospice service, supporting local families with a child or teenager not expected to reach their 19th birthday.  Shooting Star CHASE currently helps over 500 families living in western London, Surrey and West Sussex. The charity is committed to caring for these families every step of their journey, sharing the good times, and helping them through the tough times with practical, nursing and emotional support.

Launching the partnership Spectrum’s Marketing Manager, Rob Price, says, “We are delighted to be able to support Shooting Star CHASE in 2012. The charity was the stand out winner in our customer vote and there support of local families, many of whom are also Spectrum customers provides the perfect link between our two Guildford organisations. Like them, we believe play is an essential part of every child’s development and we very much hope that, by providing free activity tickets to these children, their siblings and families supported by Shooting Star CHASE, we can enable even more families to enjoy their precious leisure time together.

He continued, “Last year our customers generously donated thousands of points to Disability Challengers enabling many to benefit. We are really looking forward to working in partnership with Shooting Star CHASE and hope this year will be as successful.”

We would love our customers to get involved by giving any unwanted Active points from their Active Cards. We can then turn these into activity tickets, enabling local families with disabled children to enjoy time together In addition to fundraising and raising awareness of the fantastic work that Shooting Star Chase do within our community.

Shooting Star CHASE is the children's hospice service, supporting local families with a child or teenager not expected to reach their 19th birthday.  Shooting Star CHASE currently helps over 500 families living in western London, Surrey and West Sussex. The charity are committed to caring for these families every step of their journey, sharing the good times, and helping them through the tough times with practical, nursing and emotional support.

 For more information about their work visit their website.

If you would like to donate some points from your Active Card simply email us at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it with your name, Active Card number and the points you would like to donate, or pop into Customer Services next time you visit.


Our Charity of the Year partnership is just one of the ways that we support local community and voluntary groups. For more information about our corporate social responsibility programme click here.

FEBRUARY ½ TERM - PARKING

February half-term has traditionally been our busiest week of the year and as such we have experienced high volumes of traffic in the car park at certain times. We advise all our customers to leave plenty of time to find a space before the start of their chosen activity.

Please note that there are short (max. 4 hours) and long stay zones in the car park (Monday - Friday).  On arrival please check that you are parked in the appropriate zone.  For more information, download a copy of the Car Park Plan.    

To ease the pressure on the car park we are offering an overflow car park at Guildford Lido which is located within a 10 minute walk of Spectrum. If you don't fancy the walk then the No. 100 Park & Ride bus will be picking-up Spectrum customers from the bus stop outside Guildford College (every 10 mins.) and returning customers to the stop at the end of their activities.

Please click here for a directional map to the Lido and information on the bus pick-up and drop-off.

Please also be aware that there will be a temporary structure on our entrance ramp.  This is here to protect our queuing customers from the adverse weather conditions during our busiest weeks of the year, including February half term.  This will be removed week commencing Monday 27th February.

For more information on activities, opening times and prices during February half term please download a copy of the February Activate brochure.

We look forward to welcoming you to Spectrum.