Jeremiah Carnegie is making sure more kids get a chance to feel confident in the water.
The 17-year-old competitive swimmer helped launch Newham Future Swimmers, a free summer program that gave 780 children across Newham, London, swimming lessons and water safety education at the London Aquatics Centre. Everyone Active says the two-week initiative was created from an idea Carnegie brought forward after wanting more children in his home borough to benefit from having a world-class swimming facility on their doorstep.
Carnegie trains with the Newham and University of East London Swimming Club (NUEL) at the London Aquatics Centre in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. After spending years around the facility, he noticed that many children living nearby were not getting the same opportunity to use it. Cost, he said, can be one of the biggest barriers families face when trying to get their children into swimming.
Carnegie took the idea to the London Aquatics Centre, where it grew into a partnership between Everyone Active and NUEL Swim Club. Everyone Active provided the pool space and four swimming teachers, while the club supplied coaches and volunteers to help run the program.
During the first week, 320 children with no previous swimming experience took part. A second group of 460 children with some previous swimming or pool experience joined the following week. Each child received a 30-minute lesson on five consecutive days.
Families who needed swimming equipment were also supported at no cost. Swimsuits, trunks, goggles, and other essentials were provided so that not having the proper gear would not keep children out of the pool. The young swimmers also received water safety education and finished the program with certificates and medals recognizing their progress.
For Carnegie, removing those barriers was especially important because he knows firsthand what access to swimming can lead to.
He has competed in the sport since childhood and continues to train in breaststroke, backstroke, and individual medley events. Repton School, where Carnegie serves as Head Boy, reports that he also competed at the Aquatics GB Championships in April 2026.
The response to Newham Future Swimmers was so strong that demand exceeded the number of available spaces. Carnegie now hopes the program can return and reach even more children in the future.
At just 17 years old, Carnegie saw a gap in his community and helped create a way to fill it.
Now, hundreds of children have had the chance to build skills, confidence, and a safer relationship with the water because of it.
