From January 2023, Sunday swimming starts at hour earlier at 5pm.
The Welwyn Garden Swimming Club has been working with children and young people to improve their swimming stroke for over 80 years. The club participates in many swimming galas and championships each year, these include the Peanuts League and the Major League. Our main swimming session takes place on Sunday evenings at the Hatfield Swim Centre. We also have life saving sessions at the Monks Walk School pool where children can gain recognised life saving qualifications. All of the club teachers have had many years of experience and teach on a voluntary basis. We organise social events for swimmers and their families, including a fun gala and an inflatable party.
If you are interested in joining our swimming club and would like some more information please go to our contact page.
Affiliated to Swim England East Region, Swim England Hertfordshire and RLSS
Welwyn Garden Swimming Club was formed in 1933 by Dr Miall-Smith and his wife, both local General Practitioners, using a pool created at Stanborough by diverting the River Lea and some freshwater springs through gravel filters into a large hole lined with railway sleepers. The 2 GPs made daily inspections of the pool during the short season, testing the water for impurities and checking the temperature. They taught swimming and introduced mile trophy swims thus starting the competitive side of the Club.
The Club was affiliated to the Amateur Swimming Association in the 1930s and regular galas were held. Before the war the club was well known for its water polo team, which continued after the war under the manager, Reg Potter, who was the first British post-war captain of the Olympic water polo team. The Club’s primary aims have always been the teaching of swimming, improvement of stroke work and personal survival.
A full list of events can be found on our Events section.
The club is SwimMark accredited for "Swimming at Teaching Level". SwimMark accreditation is Swim England's 'quality mark'. It recognizes, nationally and regionally, the clubs that are committed to providing safe, effective and quality services for the benefit of their members and means that the club also qualifies for the Sport England Clubmark.
The club is in need of pool side helpers and teachers. We also need non technical help when we are hosting galas. If you would like some more information, please contact a committee member on a Sunday evening session or one of the teachers.
The club shop is open between 6-7pm most Sunday swim sessions at the Hatfield Swim Centre. We have club branded costumes, trunks, bags and hats plus goggles and goggle straps.
For a full list of the all the products please contact shop.
Any purchases can be picked up at next Sunday's training session.
We run swimming sessions at Hatfield Swim Centre, Monk's Walk School in Welwyn Garden City and Hertingfordbury Cowper School near Hertford (aka Birch Green). The table below shows the location and times of the sessions.
Day | Location | Time | Squad(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Tuesday | Birch Green | 6.30pm - 7.00pm | Honey Bees (Non-swimmers and beginners) |
Monks Walk School | 7.00pm - 7.45pm | Squads 1 - 3 | |
7.45pm - 8.45pm | Squads 4 - 6 | ||
Wednesday | Monks Walk School | 7.00pm - 7.45pm | Squads 1 - 3 |
7.45pm - 8.45pm | Squads 4 - 6 | ||
Thursday | Monks Walk School | 7.00pm - 7.30pm | Rookie Lifesaving |
7.40pm-8.30pm | Lifesaving - Survive & Save program | ||
Sunday | Hatfield | 5.00pm - 6.15pm | All swimmers |
Hertingfordbury Cowper
Birch Green Nr. Hertford
Herts
SG14 2LR
Knightsfield
Welwyn Garden City
Herts
AL8 7NL
Lemsford Lane
Hatfield
Herts
AL10 0EB
The club offers lifesaving sessions to all members and also as a standalone activity (at a reduced annual fee) to those not wanting join the other swimming activities provided by the club.
The purpose of lifesaving at our club is to learn how to keep safe in and around water and how to save safely.
Sessions are run by Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) instructors John London and Stuart Clewlow, using materials and training courses available to them through the society, to deliver:
Click on the link below to look at 2023's events calendar, which may be updated from time to time. It includes swimming dates, galas we are involved in and social events.
The club currently has membership openings, particularly for swimmers aged 5 - 10. If you are interested in joining the club please email membership@welwyngardenswimmingclub.org. Membership is by annual subscription. We do not offer swimming lessons on a term by term basis.
We continually monitoring our swimming lanes and when space in the water becomes available we invite children to come along to one of our Tuesday or Wednesday night sessions for a try out. Our Head Coach will take a look at the swimmer’s ability and if there is a suitable lane for the swimmer they can join the club. If not, the swimmer would go on the waiting list.
The current fees (as at April 2023) are £330 per annum, pro-rata, 1 April to 31 March. We offer payment by BACS or direct debit for all of our members. There are also discounts for families with two or more swimmers.
Our learners will start swimming at Birch Green (Hertingfordbury Cowper Primary School pool) doing a 30 minute session. When they build their confidence they will also be able to do a session at Monk’s Walk School. Competent swimmers will be able to swim two sessions per week: Sunday evening (Hatfield Swim Centre) and either Tuesday or Wednesday evening (Monk’s Walk School pool).
We give our hard-working volunteer swimming teachers the month of August off, and we don't swim on Easter Sunday, during the Christmas break, or at the school pools when the schools are closed.
Our club is run by a committee of volunteers, mainly parents of swimmers. All our teachers are volunteers, with the exception of the Head Coach. The club relies on parents and carers to help on poolside, at galas and with social events, and in many behind-the-scenes administrative roles. We also encourage parents and carers to train to be swimming teachers or become qualified as swimming officials (timekeepers, judges, referees) to enable the club to run galas.
On joining the club, please consider how you could contribute – no experience is necessary. It’s a great way to get involved with the club, for the benefit of all our swimmers.
The club follows the Swim England Wavepower procedures for welfare, child safeguarding and protection. For full details see http://www.swimming.org/swimengland/wavepower-child-safeguarding-for-clubs/
Joss Stafford
[vacant]
*The Welfare Officers can be contacted at welfare@welwyngardenswimmingclub.org or directly as
above
Who is the ASA SwimLine for?
This service is provided for anyone involved in swimming, including
children and young people who believe that the welfare of a child is
at risk. This could be neglect or abuse, bullying or fear of someone,
or anything that is worrying you and you don’t know who to discuss
this with.
Who will take the calls and what happens?
When you ring you will hear a message. This will explain that if you
wish to speak to someone urgently – or it would not be convenient or
safe for someone to call you back – you can press a number to transfer
straight to the NSPCC Child Protection Helpline. This will be answered
by trained and experienced counsellors who will advise you and will
act to protect children. If there is no problem with someone calling
back and you wish to speak to someone who understands swimming, you
will need to leave your telephone number and a time convenient for the
ASA Safeguarding Team to ring you back. If there is an issue which
causes concern the ASA will act to protect the child.
Other things you should know
SwimLine calls are free and do not appear on itemised bills unless the
call is made from a mobile phone. SwimLine does not use the 1471 code
or any other call return or call display facilities. If you leave a
message we aim to ring back during the next working day. If you phone
over the weekend we will aim to contact you on Monday.
You can call the ASA SwimLine on 0808 100 4001.
You can call the NSPCC Child Protection Helpline direct on 0808 800
5000. This line is open for 24 hours each day and calls are free of
charge.
Source: ASA_Swim_England_Handbook_2017.pdf page 24
The committee meets every 5 to 6 weeks to aid the smooth running of the club, preparing for swimming galas, social events, club administration and other matters that may arise. All committee members are volunteers. They can be seen regularly at the Sunday swim session at Hatfield, so if you have any questions please don't be afraid to ask.
*The Welfare Officers can be contacted at welfare@welwyngardenswimmingclub.org
Volunteers, coaches, etc are subject to the Acas Discipline and Grievance Code of Practice. Members are subject to the member's disciplinary procedure (see below).
Please email us at mail@welwyngardenswimmingclub.org for general club enquiries. If you are interested in joining the club, please see Join the club above.
As a reminder, we DO NOT offer swimming lessons on a term by term basis. We are a swimming club not a swimming school.