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It’s been a strange 18 months, which somehow makes such an achievement all the sweeter!

On 24th November 2021, 7 of our lifesavers were presented with their Distinction Awards – the highest award in lifesaving! To hold the award, you must achieve 3 Gold Level Survive and Save awards within the same 24 month period. A huge testament to our lifesavers’ skills, commitment and perseverance.

It’s been a tricky year navigating covid19, with so much cleaning, distancing, and finding new ways to learn and practice skills. All our lifesavers have shown John and I great patience and understanding, as we navigate the pandemic together.

It’s taken some head scratching, plenty of shouts of “distancing!”, and wow, did I mention… sooo much cleaning! But what a year it’s turned out to be! A lifeline for all. A teeny tiny piece of “normal” (or nearly normal). Laughter. Fun. Tears. Lifesaving!

John and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our lifesavers, and their families, for their help and support throughout the pandemic. It’s been a challenge but one that you have all have risen to magnificently. Whatever your achievement has been this year, well done, and see you at the pool!

When people ask us what is the best temperature to swim in, we try to explain that there is no simple answer to this complicated question. For fitness swimming temperatures around 26-28 degrees provide a feeling of less resistance through the water than with warmer water, it also means your face goes a shade less pink when doing a full swim workout! 🙂 But for families enjoying a fun splash, temperatures around 28-30 degrees allow you to stay still in the water without feeling the cold, additionally babies will feel the cold quicker than their accompanying adult.

As many of you are aware, our boilers have been steadily growing elderly for a number of years. Their recent failure highlighted that getting parts for them was turning into an absolute nightmare, and we had to borrow parts from one to fix the other! Thankfully Hampshire County Council stepped in and replaced both boilers, which although this meant we were closed for a time has helped to future proof the swimming pool!

A few “teething problems” meant that the boilers faulted on Friday night last week (21st May), a week after their installation. Consequently the pool temperature dropped like a stone as they stopped heating the water and air. A very urgent call to the engineer meant they were fixed by Monday lunchtime (24th May), but the water still needed to be reheated!

So here we are on 26th May and, as I write this post, the water is still steadily warming. And so we were faced with a dilemma, to re-open or not to re-open – that is the question! Or, more to the point… What is the best temperature to swim in?

The water for Thursday 27th May is anticipated to be at least 26 degrees, a little on the cool side but absolutely perfect for fitness and lane swimming. So we have taken the decision to OPEN! We all feel that having been closed for so long, and our swimmers deprived of their glorious chlorinated water, we should give the opportunity to as many people who wish to swim as possible. This includes being open for our Thursday evening 5:15pm fun swim session, we just ask you to be aware it is slightly cooler than usual and to “keep moving” 🙂

The water will keep warming by at least a degree every 24 hours, and so we anticipate that our Friday evening sessions and Saturday morning sessions can go ahead as planned – it shouldn’t even feel that much cooler than normal! Last Thursday and Friday evening the water was at 27 degrees if that helps to give you a “feel”.

After hankering for a swim in our lovely pool for so long, throughout the various lockdowns and pool closures, we feel it is important to give the opportunity to you all to enjoy the swim you have been craving!! We hope you will support us in our endeavors and look forward to seeing you at the pool over the next few days

With thanks, Hannah (BWCS Committee Volunteer)

We’re pleased to announce that membership for 2019/2020 is now available

So come on in and join us for a swim!!

Join up now, and grab your trunks and cossies, ready for our re-opening from Monday 9th September!

Find all the details with our NEW membership form !!

You can also find details on Term Dates and Session Times by following these links

We are pleased to give notice of our Annual General Meeting 🙂

This will take place on Monday 12th November 2018 at 7pm, held in the staff room at Bishop’s Waltham Junior School

We hope that you will be able to attend, and give feedback on your pool and its future!

For any queries, or to confirm attendance, please drop us a line at bwcommunityswimming@gmail.com

Many thanks,

BWCS Committee

Vicki Mazzara, our new Swimming Coach for Thursday evening and Monday’s Masters sessions.

Here at Mitres Swim Club we are very excited to welcome Vicky Mazzara as our new addition to our coaching team.

 Vicky started swimming at the age of six and soon afterwards joined her first swimming club, ‘Hamble Jets’. Progressing in the club and joining in novice galas, Vicky grew as a swimmer and her love and passion for the sport began. Her next venture was into the world of competitive swimming where her highlights were swimming at national and regional levels for her clubs.

Vicky’s professional swimming career saw her start out as a lifeguard in local pools, during which she studied hard to gain experience and her qualifications and became a much respected swimming teacher and coach. Vicky believes it’s never too late or too early to start swimming; during the day you can find her teaching babies to swim, whilst in the evening teaching and coaching young and mature swimmers.

Vicky has lots of proud achievements through her swimming career, from winning medals, and even competing in open water. One of her greatest is swimming the Solent from Gosport to Ryde in aid of a charity on the Isle of Wight.

Vicki is now ready and delighted to take on her next challenge in coaching Mitres and has already started to plan how she will move the club forward over the next year in tandem with Nicki our Tuesday session coach.

 Please join us in offering her a very warm Bishop’s Waltham welcome 🙂