Just looking at these trunks from the 1960's you know you want to find out a bit more about the history of the club.
I bet you didn't know that there only used to be one night a week for training. And that volunteers alone ran the club until 1998!
Well here goes
Greenwich Swimming Club was started at the opening of Greenwich Baths (now The Arches Leisure Centre) in 1928.
Way back then, the baths were literally baths. It's where people would come to bathe and clean themselves (thank heavens for chlorine).
Here's how the opening of the new pool was reported.
“On Saturday, the mayor of Greenwich, Alderman R.F.A. Purkiss, J.P. dived into the first class pool and opened the new baths in Greenwich.
An exhibition of swimming by boys and girls of Greenwich Central Schools followed. Junior boys raced the junior girls.
Despite a 12 second start, the girls lost. Holder, Hale, Riseley, Aylard, Neal and Bashford gave a demonstration of various styles and Allchurch, Bashford, Forrest, Cassidy and Watson imitated a school of porpoises”
We do not know if these children were ever members of Greenwich Swimming Club but we do think that the club is as old as the pool.
The Mayor of Greenwich was and is still, our Honorary President.
In the depression years of the 1930s the unemployed of Greenwich formed themselves into a swimming club and on Wednesday afternoons they were allowed to use the public pool free of charge.
The club is based in what was regarded as the second-class pool - now the fitness pool. The first class pool, shown in the photo, is now the Leisure pool and in the winter would be covered with wooden decking and used as a dance hall.
Note the three diving board levels.
The empty stages in both pools give hints of bygone dances and concerts.
The Ladies pool and the slipper baths surrounding it are long gone, as is the beautiful entrance hall.
The floor tiles depicted the Borough Crest shown below. A peak behind the current entrance desk gives a glimpse of the incredible mosaic floor.
The Ladies pool was damaged by enemy action in 1941. Turkish and Russian Vapour Baths replaced the pool. Councillor Arthur C Crisp J.P. opened these on 9th March 1959.
Take a look at the The Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich Crest and you can see where our own Club Badge came from.
Have a look at some of our trophies, and they are often named after someone who swam for, or who was heavily involved in the club
Incredibly, only since 1998 has the club had a full-time head coach who was paid. For the 70 years before that - it was run entirely by volunteers. So we have a great deal to all those volunteers to be thankful for - as that's where the friendly, family feel to the place started. And it's volunteers today who help us keep our fees as low as we can. And the club wouldn't be here without them.
Here's some details on those volunteers:
Take a look in the club office and there's a memorial plaque to LEN WEBB who, together with his wife ELSIE, taught at the Club. The Webb Cup which is one of our trophies is a tribute to them.
In 1959, a JOHN TURNER joined as an 11 year old. Back then the Club Secretary was BILL WATERS and his assistant was DENIS TOWNLEY. Almost FIFTY years later, John still couldn't forget how hard they worked:
“Bill worked tirelessly for the club and swimming in general and his wife, ROSIE, became social secretary. In those days, we only had a club evening on Wednesday nights but when it became obvious that more training time was needed and we couldn't get any extra time at Greenwich, we booked a session at Laurie Grove Baths in New Cross on Mondays. That was quite handy for me as I lived in Deptford and could easily walk there! In addition, during the winter, Bill organized the Kent County ASA Winter Training course on Friday nights at Downham Baths. A long way to go by bus!
Bill rode a motorcycle combination in those days and used to give me a lift part of the way home. One night, I got off the bike and my hair had frozen stiff! No need for moose!
To break the monotony of just swimming up and down inter-team galas were organized. There were four teams, Penguins, Otters, Beavers and Dolphin (Now you know where the inter squad gala started). Over a period of time, all the strokes, age groups (in those days that was just under 12's, under 16 and open) and relay events were covered. Swimmers who took part were awarded merit points, which went towards the Individual Merit Shields (one for boys, one for girls and one for seniors) and towards the Team Merit Shield - probably all long gone!
I met my wife here - and we weren't the only ones of our age to get together. Because there were so many attractive males at the club, Dot (one of the trophies was presented by her and I think was called the Dot Coleman Bowl) brought some of her school friends along (non-swimmers) and my 'mates' sort of paired up with them. ROY POOLE married JEAN and MICHAEL FOYLE married MOIRA.
I remember how the Metropolitan Police Shield came to be. For a couple of years, the Metropolitan Police ran a swimming gala at Eltham in which GSC took part. We won the trophy for something (can't remember what) and it was decided to make it a club trophy.
I believe the actual shields were made by Bill Waters and are oak. The whole merit scheme started falling apart when Bill was taken ill, mainly because it was a lot of work to maintain (as Bill often used to tell us!) and nobody was prepared to take it on when he died.”
Those shields are still in the club office, somewhat rusty, but about to get a polish!
More recently the club was coached by BOB WORTH and ROSEMARY WILLIAMS who had both been swimmers for the club in their youth - as had their respective children. Under their stewardship an umbrella club - Greenwich Meridian - was formed. This was a club consisting of the members of both Greenwich Swimming Club and Greenwich Borough Mariners. Swimmers of both clubs were registered as Greenwich Meridian. If picked for galas on the same day for both teams, swimmers would have to put the new Greenwich Meridian team first. This enabled greater choice for both clubs when choosing teams for galas. The ultimate aim was to work towards amalgamating both clubs. After an initial success Greenwich Meridian failed, both clubs deciding against amalgamation.
After Bob left Rosemary took on the difficult task of lone volunteer coach whilst having a fulltime day-job and looking after her family. Rosemary was teaching all the sessions to all the groups and organising the galas. Rosemary and her husband, IAN, the club treasurer, wanted to spend more time at their holiday cottage. By this time their children had left the club and gone on to further education.
It was finally decided that the time had come to appoint a professional coach. MARK HAYS was employed in 2002 and worked along side Rosemary until she left in 2003. She is still active in swimming at the school she teaches in.
Mark was a Namibian National Champion and the ethos of the club changed following his appointment. The swimmers suddenly had a coach whose own reputation depended on results. The swimmers responded well and the club went from strength to strength. For the first time in years a few swimmers were successful at county level. In 2004 the club came first in the Millennium League, the Tudor League and the North Kent (Div 5) League - and then got promoted to Division 4.
Mark left the club in June 2005 and was replaced by DAVE WILMOTT.
Dave said straight away that the club should be swimming in the National Speedo League. He was right - the club achieved a fine mid-table position and has improved year on year.
The club now trains 6 times a week - including 1 land training session, and water polo on a Friday night. Only thanks to those volunteers who kept the club going through thick and thin.