A leisure centre has taken a stand against plastic waste in our oceans.

The Chirk Leisure and Activity Centre, which is operated by Freedom Leisure on behalf of Wrexham Council, has trialling a host of 'No Planet B' themed sessions for children visiting with their school for swimming lessons.

The themed sessions, which began on Monday and ran throughout the week, saw 13 schools participating.

The pool hall was dressed to look like a beach picnic, complete with dolphins, whales and picnic blankets laden with typical plastic food packaging.

The children saw how easy it is for the plastic to enter the water and how these different types behave in the water. They were then responsible for a 'beach clean' which saw them removing all of the offending items from the water.

The Leader:

David Watkin, manager at the Freedom Leisure Centre, expressed his hope that these themed sessions will leave a lasting positive impact on the children to take greater care of our oceans.

He said: "We currently teach around 850 children and adults to swim each week, which is a significant number.

"The topic of plastic is hugely important and we feel that not only do these sessions highlight it nicely but also work really well to develop the students water skills with them barely realising it, as they're having so much fun and engaging in an important issue."

The leisure centre’s fully qualified swimming teachers have designed the themed sessions to both draw attention to the serious plight of the planets waters as a result of plastic, while bringing a new, fun and engaging element to teaching children to swim.

If the 'No Planet B' themed sessions prove popular, the centre will extend the theme and Freedom Leisure will be looking into rolling them out to other centres in Wrexham.