Leading Shropshire amateur swimming club, Oswestry Otters, is celebrating achieving charity status thanks to support from Shrewsbury law firm Aaron & Partners.

It means the club, which runs sessions for swimmers aged from seven years of age, at three pools in the town, can now attract sponsorship and work more closely with businesses in the area.

The Otters has been established for more than 40 years, and previous fundraising has meant the club could employ a dedicated head coach, but now additional funding can be raised to help the club offer the same level of support without having to raise fees.

Jo Jones, from Oswestry Otters, said: “The club has seen huge success in the recent Shropshire county meet with many swimmers medalling and qualifying to compete at regional level. The club has also has been represented at the British National Championships and British Para-Swimming Championships.

“We hope that now we’ve been able to establish ourselves as a charity, thanks to Aaron & Partners [who worked pro bono], we’ll be able to attract sponsorship from businesses which will help us to continue working with our head coach."