Amersham Swimming Club Legacy and History

For most people, 1966 is synonymous for that World Cup Win. However, in a room above The Griffin pub in Old Amersham, a group of local swimming enthusiasts had only one thing on their minds. How to create a swimming club...in a town that had no public pool!

Spearheaded by the formidable Councillor Doreen Wright (Link to article about Doreen from the Amersham Meuseum Archives), herself a former Commonwealth swimmer, not only did they succeed in establishing a local club, in the spring of 1967 the brand new Amersham Pool opened its doors for the very first time.

The early years of the club saw many a parent act as unofficial coaches. This enabled the club to get off to a great start and the 1980s then heralded a more competition focused club, with the introduction of their first professional coach, Joe Dixon. In what was still a relatively amateur swimming world, Joe’s appointment ruffled a few feathers. However, his impact on the club was immediate, bringing greater discipline and technical training.

During these years, a young swimmer by the name of Mark Foster was beginning to gain attention.  One ASC member, Andrew Moore, remembers competing in the 100fs at Milton Keynes. “In the last length I was blitzed by a 15 year old next to me. At the end he shook my hand and said Hi, I’m Mark Foster. More gutting still, was the winner received a colour TV”.

Over the following decades, swimmers and coaches have come and gone, many races have been won and lost. However, the overall feeling about the club has not only been about developing a lifelong passion for swimming but also the friendships forged along the way.  Many of those early swimmers still swim for Amersham as part of the ‘masters’ group or indeed have gone on to have children who have in turn become a part of the club.

Nowadays the club has with its 300 members has established itself as one of the foremost competitive clubs in the region. We have reached the National Arena League finals (A and B final) on three occasions, ranked in the top twenty clubs in the country and won the Thames Valley Junior League six times in the last nine years and never out of the top three. Individually swimmers continue to qualify, final and medal at County, Regional and National Championships each season.

The diving section is also steadily growing with 80 members now who take part in competitions at regional and national level. The club also participates in novice competitions in and around North and North West London and currently is in top form recently winning the Bill Johnston Cup at these Grand Prix events. The head diving coach, Shiraz Shamshudin, himself a gold medal winner at European masters diving, is looking forward to a very bright future for his diving squad as it continues to grow and attracts other experienced coaches.

As well as planned future diving and swimming successes, the club has recently moved into the new Chilterns Lifestyle Centre sporting and leisure complex which replaced the Chiltern Pools facility.  The new swimming and diving facilities are amongst the best in the county and will see the club grow further with the added lane space, numbers of diving boards and dry land facilities. Past club Chairman Simon Dolan is convinced the inclusive, friendly nature of the club has paid an integral part in its’ longevity. “No matter if it’s 6am training on a Monday morning or 7pm training on a Sunday evening, you’ll always see a friendly face at the club”. Simon believes, it is these values along with a commitment to technical and competitive excellence that will help the club to endure for another 50 years.

Celebrating 50 years
1966 - 2016

ASC Past Presidents

ASC Past Chairpersons

Old ASC News

2017

• Bright Future - Swimming Times February 2017

2016

• ASC Kick off 2016 County Championships with big medal haul

2015

• ASC claim promotion to premier division of the national arena league

• Amersham named top visiting club at Windsor Open

Over time it would be nice to complete a more detailed time line from those early days, if you have any information, photos, memories etc, please feel free to contribute by email.

Thank you