June 2023 – Newsletter

We’re in the final run down to the end of this term and it’s been a busy one.

Grantown Try Tri

Many thanks to everyone who helped with this event! We were delighted to have such a great turnout of volunteers who manned the stalls, marshalled and those at the pool who oversaw the swim element of the event. Thank you!

To the bakers – thank you so much for your tasty treats. To the Co-op – we couldn’t have done it without your help. To Marie – thank you for making all the soup, donating this to our stall and manning the stall all morning! And to Gary too!

It was a great success, and we hope to be part of it all again next year!

Trip to Aberdeen

What a great trip!  The swimmers did Grantown Swim Club proud!  There were 22 children on the trip.  The trampoline park in Aberdeen was great.  For onlookers the ‘it’s a knockout’ was great entertainment!  We then headed across to the 50m pool.  The facility (Aberdeen Aquatics Centre) is amazing with a 10 lane 50m pool.  The kids who had been in the club longer swam for 90mins our focus was on keeping body position over the distance and extending stroke length.  The newer swimmers into the club experienced how long the pool was and how they ‘could do it!’  We all joined together for some streamline jumping.  Then to finish the older kids had a great relay.  The buses were very quiet on the way home!

Thanks to all who volunteered.  Thanks to Feri for booking.  John, Ingrid, Kerri Ann, Rachel for assisting.  Thanks to Kathryn for looking after the Moore’s small children!  Thanks to Pete & Frank for driving.  

Time Keeping

Congratulations to the parents who recently attended the online training to become a qualified SASA Timekeeper.  Following this they came poolside to complete the practical assessment.  Everyone passed with flying colours and can now officially operate a stopwatch at any swim meet in Scotland.  Watch out for the next course and join John Wallace, Gillian Rainbow, Eilidh Kirkbride, Kat Amos, Wendy Laing, Judy Burke, Heather Hill and Maike Willuweit as part of the Grantown Swim Club officials.  The swimmers cannot enter competitions without the Club offering up officials.  

Also a big thank you to Amy Murphie, Kirsty Sparham and Feri Collins for being poolside to help with the assessment and of course to the swimmer who swam really well even when they were asked to swim 100 fly! And thank you to Kathryn for organising the course and ensuring the practical assessment ran smoothly.

Date for your diary!

15 June Timing Night We will hold an informal timing night, within squads, rather than a full event involving parents and timekeepers. All children will be invited to participate during their squad sessions.

20 June Relay Night Always a lot of fun! All kids will be able to participate!

22 June End of Term Pool Parties!  Last sessions will be a celebration of the end of term and the achievements of all swimmers. Well done!

7 – 10 August Swim Camp All levels of club swimmers & top swim lesson children welcome. Book in through Highland Highlife website.

School’s Out – High Life Highland

Sunday 13 August 2023 10.30 – 12.00 Summer Trip to The Jungle Float at Loch Insh –

Have a look here: https://lochinsh.com/product/jungle-float/

Jungle Float: 10.30 start. Arrive for 10.00 for hire/waiver/changing so that all children are ready to swim out to the Float at 10.30.

Followed by picnic at 12.00 onwards. (Please bring own food and drinks). Kids can then play at the park/shore etc.

Cost: £12pp plus £5 for hire of wetsuit. Loch Insh have kindly discounted the price for us.

Please quote GRANTOWN SWIM CLUB when booking.

Book directly with Loch Insh. Bookings can be done either over the phone on 01540 651294 or via email at beach@lochinsh.co.uk

Payments should be made at time of booking.

Please book up as soon as possible as places will fill up!

Thursday 17 August New Term Starts Swim club will resume after the summer holidays.

Future meets – dates for the diary

Cath and Kathryn meet regularly to look at what Swim Meets are going to be running and take these into consideration when planning training. Since returning from Covid (sorry to use that word!) there are a lot less meets being held and the lead time for dates is much shorter.  

For NEXT TERM the following dates are currently published, as a Coaching team we will be looking at the relevance of the meets to the standard of our swimmers and decide if we are going to enter.  But we wanted to give you a heads up in case you wanted to make a note in your diaries.  Again, not all swimmers will be eligible for all the meets, and as a club we may not enter all the meets.

There are usually the Scottish Schools Swimming Championship regional heats which take place just after the October holidays.  Whilst this is organized by the Schools, as a Swim Club we try to help them and support the swimmers.

Lastly…28 August – NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING – Our Swim Club committee meet regularly to plan meets/events and to ensure the smooth operation of the club. If you have any questions or wish to raise any points, please contact club secretary, Claire Anne at mcfaddencam@gmail.com.

Last Swim Club Fees Payment June 2023

Please cancel your swim club payment after your June payment has been made. No payments required for July and August but please resume your payment in September 2023. Many thanks for all your payments over the year.

Swim caps

We are in the process of having new swim caps printed up ready for Sale.  Is anyone able to be in charge of selling these?  A system could be worked out that suits you to hand out caps and collect the money (cash only!).  Caps will be £5.

Meet the Poolside Helper this month is Isla

1. How long have you been in the swim club Isla?

    Since 2017

2. Which is your favourite event?

    Any sprints, especially fly.

3. What is it you enjoy about being a poolside helper?

    Encouraging younger swimmers to do the same things I did at their age.

4. What is your favourite food?

    Tacos

5. Do you have any other hobbies apart from swimming?

    Listening to music, netball, wild swimming.

Thanks Isla!

As always if you need to get in contact with the coaching team, please email cath.swim@outlook.com.

See you poolside 🏊