Welcome to the winter newsletter. We hope you all enjoyed your holidays and festivities, now feeling refreshed and ready to start the New Year. There are lots of galas coming up, both representing the club and open competitions, not forgetting the County Championships starting in February. More details about all of these given later in the newsletter.

Some of the swimmers at the Club Championships

NPSC TROPHIES

Having just had our Club Championships and Presentation Evening, we are sure many of you didn’t realise how many trophies the Club owned.

Most of them have been donated over the years by various businesses, clubs, members, ex-members and by donations.

Our oldest and most valuable cup is the Duke of Bedfords Rose Bowl, which was presented to the Club in 1897 by the Duke of Bedford.  For a long time it was held in the bank but since 1982 it was redesigned and presented to the existing Club Chairman.

Another of our oldest cups is the NPSC Challenge Cup, which was presented by Mr Taylor (The Club President at the time) and also of  Taylors the Chemist and mustard makers, in 1902.  This is awarded annually to the Club Member of the Year.

Two of our most unusual cups are the Dutch and British shields in the shapes of Holland and Great Britain.  In the early nineties the Club had a connection with Gravendeel, a Dutch swimming club and visits were made by us to Holland and them to us.  They presented us with the Dutch Shield during one of their visits.  The Club then had a British shield made to match.

Deardon Trophies in Newport Pagnell have supplied and engraved all the Club Trophies since 1972, and in 1978 presented the Club with a trophy which is awarded to the Under 13 girls backstroke. 

Many of the cups have been donated by members in memory of swimmers, committee members and members.  The Jack Hilton Memorial Shield – a past Chairman of the Club.  MrsW Mitchell Memorial Trophy.  The Stephen Guest Memorial Trophy – a past squad swimmer.  The Welch Memorial trophy, presented by Mr Welch in memory of his sons – two squad swimmers, and our most recent cup, the Margaret Jones Trophy, presented by Bill (until June this year the Club Chairman) and William (squad swimmer, teacher and lifeguard).

If you have won any of the cups or have been awarded any of our special cups we expect that you will look after them and keep them clean so that when they are returned next year they will be in good condition for the next recipient.

Some of the boys showing their diving skills at the Club Championships

Presentation evening

On Saturday 4th November 2006 ,NPSC were celebrating their annual presentation evening, at The National Hockey Stadium, Milton Keynes.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, from collecting well earned trophies, to eating food, then dancing the night away.

We received some nice compliments during the evening, even the DJ and the manager of the Hockey Stadium, who commented on how well the evening had gone, to how we all helped, from decorating the hall, selling raffle tickets, ice-cream boys/girls. etc. you all know who you are!!

Swimming is very important in the pool, so it was nice to have a fun well behaved night out!!  Well Done.

Thank you.

Liz Fields

ASA National County Team Championships

Congratulations to Carl Adamson, Daniel Heath, Charlotte Errington and Jonathan Fields who were selected as representatives for the Oxford and North Bucks county team recently. The event, the ASA National County Team Championships was held at Ponds Forge, Sheffield on the 22nd October. Unfortunately Jonathan was unable to attend but Carl, Daniel and Charlotte made the long journey.

The ASA National County Championships is the biggest county event of the season with 38 teams representing English Counties or Scottish and Welsh districts.

All three NPSC swimmers had excellent swims. Carl Adamson swimming in the 14-15yrs backstroke swam a personal best time of 1:06:72. Charlotte Errington swimming in the 16-17yrs also swam a personal best time of 1:16:73 finishing third in the division. Both these times were NPSC club records for their respective age groups.

Carl and Daniel swam in the boys 14-15yrs freestyle and medley replays whilst Charlotte swam the breaststroke leg of the girls 16-17yrs medley relay.

All three swimmers had an excellent day and really enjoyed representing their county. Congratulations must also go to Charlotte Errington who was selected as the Girls Club Captain for the meet.

COACH’S CORNER

Recent Results – since the last Newsletter we have swum 3 rounds of the Speedo League, gaining 1^st place at Bingham and 2^nd and 6^th place at Spalding, Lincs.  This gave us an overall 5^th place out of 24 teams to gain our 2^nd Speedo Pennant in 3 years.  Special mention to our girls 13/u Medley team – Emily Young, Hannah Wilson, Frances Merridan and Marie Patrick, the girls 15/u Medley team – Lisa Patrick, Hannah Wilson, Natasha Barton and Rachel Hpa, and also the girls Open Freestyle team, Claire Evelyn, Louise Prentice, Charlotte Errington, Ros Bray and Jenny Dean, - all were undefeated throughout the tournament as were Hannah Wilson and Charlotte Errington in their respective 100 breaststroke.  The boys, unfortunately, were unable to go into any of these galas at full strength.  The final round was a great experience for the younger swimmers and I hope they will learn from it.  Well done to everyone.  To make the Speedo League more interesting we all travelled together by coach, where the only person who didn’t appear to know the route was the driver, who spent most of the time going round the same roundabout.

Christmas Gala – This was another success for the Club.  Not only the result but also the running of it.  Trophies were presented by Ronnie Forster with Sophie Reid and Rory Dougal collecting the Cup.  This gala has proved a great success over the 4 years it has been running, with next year’s already full with teams waiting for somebody to drop out.

Club Championships – Not much to say on this subject – with a record entry and 400 PB’s it speaks for itself.  It was nice to see the Open Girls overall champion being shared by our three top swimmers – Jenny Dean, Claire Evelyn and Charlotte Errington ….. No! it wasn’t a fix.  Weekends like this make the Coaching Staff feel they have achieved something.

Head Coach, Les Woods, checking times and results at the Club Championships.

County Champs – With the Counties gradually creeping up on us, I would like to see a big entry from our Club, not only as individuals but also relay teams.  We will be holding Relays (4 x 50’s) at Bedford High School prior to the Counties where teams of equal ability will race each other to

practice takeovers and 50 sprints.  Teams for the girls and boys Open relays have already been selected, Age Group relay teams will be posted on the notice board a.s.a.p.   GET TRAINING!!

Training – Don’t leave your training for the Counties too late. The next 4 weeks are critical and use of the 25m pool at Bedford High School is a bonus. 

Some are still turning up late for training on Monday and Tuesday Senior Squad.  This doesn’t seem possible when we don’t start until 8.30pm and 8.15pm respectively.

Peri Sprints – I expect another good turnout as this meet is popular with both swimmers and officials alike.  It also gives us a good indication of who will swim in the age group relays at the Counties.  We have entered a girls and boys 9/under relay team and I expect loads of support from the Senior Swimmers on poolside that day.

Forthcoming events – January 13^th Swimrite Trophy Gala at Wellingborough.  January 20^th Home Counties Round 1 at Luton.  January 27^th Chiltern League round 1 venue TBA.  I will give as many swimmers as possible the chance to swim in these competitions – so it is up to you to make your place permanent.

Coaching – with the departure of Ruth from the Club after the Counties, there will have to be changes for the New Year.  She will take some replacing and this will take time to consider.  More about Ruth in the next Newsletter.

County Championships.

Yes it’s that time again when we need your county entry forms. If you are eligible you will be given a named pack. This contains your entry form, qualifying / considered times, competition dates and promoters conditions. Please read the conditions thoroughly. You must ensure you check all your times, dates and venues where these times were achieved and fill in your form with all the relevant information.

See example below.

Surmane: Other                                                        Forenames: Alison Norma

Date of Birth: 27.03.1992                                          Age as at 25^th March 2007:  15

Registration No: 123456                                           Club: Newport Pagnell S/C

Female.

Address: 19 Whereabouts,

Post Code: MK1 2AB                                               Telephone No: 01908 987654

Your personal best times, venues and competition title should be entered as found on the NPSC website: www.npswim.com

We hope your entry is successful. Good luck and above all enjoy yourselves.

OPEN MEETS:

There will be many other open meets during 2007 and entry form will be posted on the left-hand side of the notice board in the pool area, please check regularly.

Swim 21:

Swim 21 Accreditation is a 'Quality mark'. It recognises nationally and regionally the clubs that are committed to providing safe, effective and quality services for the benefit of their members.

Swim 21 “Enables clubs to help swimmers achieve their full potential.  Swim 21 is a planning tool based upon the needs of swimmers and strives to provide them with the best possible environment..”

The ASA has three key aims which are reflected in the swim 21 programme.

·          To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to learn to swim.

·          To provide pathways to ensure everyone can achieve their potential.

·          To win GOLD medals on the world stage.

There are four levels for accreditation, Teaching, Skill Development, Competitive Development and Performance and this enables Clubs to be assessed according to the main focus of their activities. Although the levels are of course different, the standards required in terms of planning and operational excellence are equal.

We were awarded Swim 21 at the Teaching Level, which covers the Tuesday Learn to Swim activities, in May 2006.  Debbie Hawkins, the Head Swimming Teacher, Lesley Harvey and Bill Jones completed the majority of the work.  The key activities were:

·          Swimmer Development – Formally adopted the ASA National Plan for Teaching Swimming, produced supporting documentation and introduced assessment cards

·          Teacher/Coach Development - Formalised and documented all teacher policies and procedures including training, appraisals and induction.

·          Club Management – Agreed and documented a revised constitution and new policies and procedures based on the ASA models and tightened the administration activities.

·          Partnerships – Formalised the relationships with third parties, introduced links with schools and clubs and documented all the activities.

From the squad perspective the ASA has confirmed that the NPSC squad swimming activities fall into the level of Skill Development.  The primary reason for this categorisation is the amount of training time available to the squad swimmers.  During the summer Claire Evelyn, swimming coach and Lesley Harvey spent a lot of time developing the Skill Development Swim 21 submission.  We have just been given confirmation that we have been successful in our submission and have been awarded Swim 21 at the Skill Development Level. Lookout for the certificates which will be displayed in the cabinet at the pool.

Club Captains

Congratulations to our recently elected Club Captains. Jenny Dean is now our girls Captain with Carl Harris being re-elected as our boys Captain.

Swim Shop

Don’t forget to order any items needed for swimming from the Swim Shop run by Helen Merridan. You can catch her at the pool during training sessions, through the clubs website or contact her  online at  Helen@merridan.freeserve.co.uk

Congratulations and Apologies!

Congratulations to Claire Evelyn and Laura Sutherland who after lots of hard work, time and effort  gained their Level 2 Teaching qualification.

Well done to Charlotte Errington, Kirsty Rice, Carl Harris and Gareth Willcox for gaining their Lane Coaches qualification recently.                                                                                                    

Apologies go to Heather Patrick, who was missed out on the last newsletter when she qualified as a judge.                                                                                                               

New Members

Welcome to the following new members joining the club. Classes; Beth Angle, Luka Bochart, Mathis Bochart, Harry Constantine, Iris Du, Sarah Edwards, Harry Ewing, Thomas Ewing, Charlotte Fuller, Rebecca Hutson, Elizabeth Kinrade, Rebecca Leonard, Max Littlejohn, Thomas Mather, Jessica Nichols, Isabella Nokes, Jitan Patel, Charlotte Rogers, Callum Schofield Mellor and Kian Willett. Squad;  Emily Brazier, Hannah Lidbetter, Sam Rath and Mathew Skingsley.