"It's been pretty devastating but they won't knock us down forever" say a defiant Isle of Wight family, desperately battling to save their swimming school.

Just weeks ago Elite School of Swimming had 500 pupils on its books, and had started the process of expanding.

Now, it's had to lay some staff off and the limited company is being wound up.

It was in January when it was forced to stop lessons at its pool at Gurnard Pines.

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Site owner, GUPI Properties Limited, claimed a lease had been forfeited, and as Elite had an arrangement with the leaseholder, it could no longer carry on trading there.

The business, which formed in 2015, claims it was informed of the news by a press release.

Two months on, eight staff members have been made redundant, and the school still hasn't managed to find a permanent home.

"It's stopped the business in its tracks", director Paul Hewison told the County Press.

"We were growing so much that we had to register for VAT from the first of January because we had a further 250 children waiting on our waiting list.

"The business was able to grow further and we were going to expanding even further.

"It would have gone up to about 750 to 800 children in the next year to 18 months."

The school, which is run by Paul, his wife Tracey, and their daughters Melissa and Emma, had been holding 18 hours worth of lessons a week.

The family had been offered the chance to take on the pool in Gurnard, themselves. But Paul said it was not tenable.

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He said: "With a pool that size it needs to be open 12 hours plus, a day and we'd only use it for 18 hours a week.

"The sums just did not add up for me to take on the running costs."

Paul has not ruled out going back to Gurnard Pines but admits it is unlikely unless the pool is turned into a community trust.

In the meantime, Elite has managed to find a pool at the Urban Saints Westbrook Centre, Oakfield Road, Ryde.

Lessons start on March 18 and will be held on Saturday mornings.

However, it is much smaller meaning they cannot accommodate all 500 of their students.

On a personal level, Paul said it has been a "pretty stressful" time for the family — especially his two daughters who have young children and mortages to pay.

"It's been pretty devastating really", he said.

"We need a pool sooner rather than later or we're going to have to start from scratch".

Anyone who thinks they can help Elite can email Melissa@eliteschoolofswimming.co.uk.