When Medway Council introduced free swimming for the over 60s and under 16s it was astounded by the response.

Over 100,000 people took advantage - one of the most successful schemes in the UK.

Just a year after it started it has been axed by the council after the government announced it would no longer fund the scheme.

The free access at all Medway leisure centres will end right at the start of the school holidays - leaving families fuming.

Amy Hodgson, 29, from Chatham, who has three children under the age of 16, said: "We were delighted when the free swimming was introduced and took full advantage of it. I am disgusted it’s been scrapped. It will mean I won’t be able to take the children swimming as often as we did."

Another woman who thinks its bad news for children is grandmother Sylvia Willcox, who lives in Strood.

She said: "It’s such a shame it’s being stopped especially now just before the children break up for the summer holidays."

But one lifeguard the Medway Messenger spoke to said it was a good idea the free swimming had stopped.

The 19-year-old, who didn’t want to be named, said: "I think it’s good people will pay again. It will mean pools will have more money to improve and maintain facilities."

A spokesman for the council said: "The take-up had been overwhelming, but it has encouraged more people of different ages to get swimming, which is something we can build on and we hope these people continue to swim with us."

Within the first few months of the initiative being launched, pools reported an increase of about 180 per cent among children under 16 and 135 per cent among the over-60s. The government said the initiative was a luxury it could no longer afford and said axing it would save £40 million.