John E Altham

Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club - On your Marks, Get Set, Jump in the River



Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010

by John E Altham
Activ Bishop's Stortford

Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club, formed in 1884, are an amateur swimming club based at the Bishops Stortford College Swimming Pool and hold regular training sessions during the week. Being almost 130 years old, it is rumoured that the club is the l ongest established swimming club in Hertfordshire.

From humble beginnings, which included using a railed-off River Stort near the old cattle market, and during the 1950's a new cold outdoor pool where the multi-story car park now stands, the club finally moved to the newly built facilities, including an indoor pool, at Grange Paddocks in 1974. This led to an influx of new members, and as the club had never paid to hire a pool, they had to introduce a yearly membership fee of 25p. In addition to Grange Paddocks, the club nowadays have use of three other pools located at Bishop's Stortford College, Herts & Essex High School, & Leventhorpe School.

The nineties saw some great successes for Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club. In 1991, the Juniors won the prestigious Daplyns Trophy and repeated this feat in 1996 and 1998. They also had further success by winning the Peanuts League in 1993 and were runners up in 1994. Possibly the greatest achievement of the club to date was winning the Herts Major League in 1995. Two years later saw a bounce straight back into Division One of the Speedo League after winning the Division Two Championship. They currently compete in the Herts Major League, Herts Peanuts League and The National Arena Swimming League.

The Club, which is affiliated to the A.S.A East Region and A.S.A, aims to cater for the widest possible range of swimmers from Learn to Swim level to adult social swimmers. They have created a structure that will produce competitive swimmers at National, Regional, County and Club level. Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club are proud to be a Swim21 accredited Competitive Development club.

The Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club is a friendly club with the committee members being very approachable. If you enjoy swimming, or are looking to get back into the pool, why not get in touch with them?

To find out more about Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club or sports in the town in general, please visit the Sports Guide at http://www.activstortford.com/Community/Content/BISHOPSSTORTFORDSPORTSCLUBGUIDE-204.html

To find more about the town of Bishop's Stortford, please visit http://www.activstortford.com

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