To mark the start of the school holidays, the Shape Up Notts! campaign joined forces with Mansfield District Council to give residents the chance to swim for free at the town's Water Meadows and Warsop's Meden Sports Centre at the weekend.

And local folk responded in their droves to help swell attendance figures at both facilities –– with Water Meadows recording a 25 per cent hike on the corresponding weekend last year and Meden 30 per cent.

The initiative was launched after an Active England survey last year highlighted Mansfield as the least active district in Nottinghamshire –– and was set a target to increase activity levels by one per cent over the following year.

Organisers say the free swim promotion was aimed at reminding people of all ages that their local swimming pools are a healthy, family friendly resource, which represents an excellent alternative to sitting in front of the television or visiting a fast food restaurant.

Said Mansfield mayor Tony Egginton: "We hope that events like the free swim weekend will encourage people to exercise more regularly, once they have been given a taster of how good activities like swimming can be both for fitness and fun."

"I was delighted to hear a few customers saying that it was the first time that they had been swimming in a long time, which is exactly what we wanted to achieve."

The free swimming weekend cost Mansfield District Council in the region of £6,500.