Greenwich Swimming Club was established at the opening of Greenwich Baths (now The Arches Leisure Centre) in 1928. Before that we can only imagine.

History of the Arches Leisure Centre and Greenwich Swimming Club

History of the swimming club is hard to come by. As a relative newcomer to the club, I have written the little I know and hope that readers will mail their reminiscences to the site. In this way hopefully it will grow.

Here is an engraving of the first Greenwich Baths. This was the third public baths and washhouse in the country and was sited on the junction of Royal Hill and London Road. Known as the London Road Baths it preceded the present pool at the Arches. Greenwich Town Hall was built on its site.

The New Greenwich Pool

“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. Could this be our root!?

Today, as it was then, the club is based in the second-class pool. The first class pool, shown in the photo, is now the Arches leisure pool and in the winter could 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, covered now with black and white lino tiles.
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.

The Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich Crest.

The Greenwich Swimming Club Badge was derived from this crest.

Our Club Organisers Remembered

The following passage mentions some of the people who ran the club in the past with links to the trophy presented in our club championship that we remember them by.

Volunteer parents ran the swimming club until recently. In the club office is a memorial plaque to LEN WEBB who, together with his wife ELSIE, taught at the Club and who are also remembered by The Webb Cup.

In 1959, when JOHN TURNER joined as an 11 year old, the Club Secretary was BILL WATERS and DENIS TOWNLEY assisted him. In 2005 John recalls:

“ 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 there being no extra time available at Greenwich, we booked a session at Laurie Grove Baths in New Cross on Mondays. 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- as you put it - inter-team galas were organized. There were four teams, Penguins, Otters, Beavers and Dolphins. Over a period of time, all the strokes, age groups (in those days just under 12, 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!

My wife's maiden name was Coleman. And we weren't the only ones of our age to get together. Because there were so many attractive males at the club, Dot (actually that just reminded me that 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.”

These shields are still in the club office, somewhat rusty, but about to get a polish! Knowing something of their history encourages a renewed respect.

More recently the club was coached by BOB WORTH and ROSEMARY WILLIAMS (nee Albury) 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. This was the first claim club and the members had their own club as second claim. 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 and hopefully many more will be gaining Kent qualifying times in the next few years. In 2004 the club came first in the Millennium League, the Tudor League and the North Kent (Div 5) League and in the latter the club has been promoted to division 4.
Mark encouraged our parents and older swimmers to go on courses and we now have seven ASA Level 1 teachers which puts the club in a much more stable position in the event of staff changes. Mark left the club in June 2005 to become a fulltime swimming coach for Harrogate swimming club.

The Trophies

Here is a list of trophies that are awarded for:

• personal effort made through out the year
• first place in an event at the Club Championship gala held at the end of the year.

Trophy History