SCHOOLS may be failing to teach children to swim, but young people can experience the freedom of swimming safely in the sea at North Cornwall's historic sea pool.

Although swimming is part of the national curriculum for seven to 11-year-olds, the Amateur Swimming Association have discovered that a third of children in England can't swim by the time they leave primary school.

This underlines the importance of facilities like Bude's tidal swimming pool, a semi-natural pool which was constructed under the cliffs on the beach in the 1930s, and which is now managed by a local charity after its funding was withdrawn by the county council in 2011.

For the full report, and a round up of the area news and sport, please see this week's edition of the 'Post'.