A committee member of the British Long Distance Swimming Association has attacked the proposal to close four swimming pools in the district – including one where she learned to swim.

Dee Llewellyn, of Odsal, said if it had not been for the pool at Richard Dunn Sports Centre she may well have never forged her path into swimming which has seen her win numerous medals and break a record which had stood for 16 years.

Miss Llewellyn, a teacher, said she now takes her 60-year-old mother, Pat, to the pool to help her get fit.

The family has backed the Telegraph & Argus campaign to stop the closures of the pool, along with those in Manningham, Bingley and Queensbury, as proposed to Bradford Council by consultancy firm Strategic Leisure.

“It was from learning to swim at Richard Dunn that I really got interested in swimming to take it up competitively,” Miss Llewellyn said.

“It was just across the road for us but if I had to travel a lot further as a child I wouldn’t have been able to fit it in with other things I was doing.

“If we had to go all the way into town when we were children we wouldn’t have been able to go.

“I think if they had closed all these pools down and built one big international style pool then they would have lost the swimmers they have had in the area or could have in the future.”

Miss Llewellyn, 30, and her sister Liane have become well known in Bradford for their daring attempts to cross the Channel.

In 2003 Dee crossed the Channel in just under 11 hours, and in July last year she shattered the 16-year-old record for the Ten-Way Tay Crossings.

Three years ago she also became the youngest president of the British Long Distance Swimming Association in its history and led it through its Golden Jubilee year celebrations.

She said she now visits Richard Dunn’s swimming pool with her mother.

She said: “I have been trying to get my mum fit so I have been taking her to the adult sessions there.

“I wouldn’t be able to taker her elsewhere – that is the only time and place I can go to really.

“I think that is the same for a lot of people. When I go to the adult sessions there are about 50 people using the pool in an evening, which is quite a lot of people in a short space of time.”

Her mother, Pat, said there are a lot of families and older people in the area who use the pool.

She said: “A lot of people were thinking that swimming was going to be free in April and now they might take away all the pools – it’s just not right.”

Miss Llewellyn said the pool also plays an important part in the community of Odsal by providing youngsters with something to do.

“We have already lost so much green land around the Odsal area there’s nowhere for children to play or to do anything,” she said.

“But this pool is probably the only leisure activity left in that area now.

“It is important to have the small pools outside of the centre of towns where people will swim, otherwise there is no point in having a country standard or national standard pool because there will be nobody coming up through the ranks.”