World and Commonwealth Games Gold medallist Mark Foster joined swimmers at Tooting Bec Lido today as part of the South London Swimming Club’s Annual Plough Cup.

Foster volunteered his time to help with the event, but also to try to encourage people to get into sport.

He said: “Hopefully with me and my sporting prowess I can inspire people to get into sport. It’s about inspiring kids to get involved in sport. Swimming is my bag, but I would want to encourage them to get into any sport.

“The social and health benefits and the messages from sport and team work – dealing with failure or enjoying doing well – they are good things for young people to learn.”

Speaking about a 90-year-old man swimming today accompanied by his wife who was walking up and down the pool with him, he said: “It was wonderful to see. People always make excuses not to do things and when you see someone in their nineties doing that, it’s great.”

The event, one of the first to be held as part of Join In 2013 enables people of all abilities and ages to come together and try swimming with the help of Foster.

He visited the pool in January, when the water was just 1 degree, but today it was a slightly more bearable 18 degrees.

In 2012, 300,000 people took part in the inaugural Join In event by participating in special community events at their local sports club. One year on from the London 2012 Olympics more than 10,000 events have been registered for this summer’s Join In campaign with more than 500,000 participants expected.

Foster said: “A lot of people don’t know how to get involved in volunteering in sporting events, so with the events in different local areas it can be easier to get involved.

“I think we have got some wonderful facilities in this country, but without volunteers we can’t use these facilities.”

Join In, in partnership with Lloyds TSB, runs from 27 July through to 9 September 2013. More than 10,000 events are taking place at local sports clubs and community groups across the UK. Find an event near you at joininuk.org.