Thurso
Amateur Swimming
Club A HISTORY OF THE THURSO AMATEUR SWIMMING CLUB
By
K.R.Melhuish
Acknowledgements: I would like to thank the Thurso Amateur Swimming Club
for making their minutes available. Ed and Ann Adam for access to their
daughters scrapbook and the Club Captains record book.
THE EARLY YEARS
The Thurso Amateur Swimming Club was inaugurated on
President Geo Meredith
Vice-Pres. Jim Livingstone
Secretary Mr R.Pert
Treasurer A.Alexander
This was almost 12 months before the
Thurso Swimming Pool was opened.
The Thurso
Swimming Pool came into being because the, far sighted, Thurso Town Council
decided that “ all schoolchildren in Thurso should be taught to swim”. Thus
they proposed to build a pool if the public would raise 50% of the estimated
cost (£24,000).Counsellor Don Dyer ( later made a Baillie) was the main
protagonist of the idea and was chairman of the Swimming Pool Committee. A fund
raising committee was formed and many fund raising projects (large and small)
were started to raise the money.
The Swimming Pool was opened to the public in May
1967, part of this
was a swimming display by the club.The club was allocated an hour on Saturday
evening for the teaching and encouragement of swimming. With some 330 members
the club night was rather swamped !!
By the middle of 1968 the Vice Chairman called an Extraordinary General
Meeting because so many committee members had left the district it was becoming
difficult to conduct the business of the club. The following were elected:
President Jim Livingstone
Vice-Pres. Mary Black
Secretary Derek Mosedale
Treasurer Phil Anderson
For the first time the name of Ed Adam appears on the list of
committee members.
There were 365
juniors and 39 seniors in membership in 1968 and overwhelming attendance’s
reported for the club night. Nevertheless 143 had been taught to swim. Extra
time was asked for to coach advanced swimmers with a view to competing with
other clubs. This extra time was allocated on Tuesday evenings.
During 1969 there were changes, the Tuesday time had been replaced by an extra hour
on the Saturday. The club committee now found that they were expected to
organise some 4 Galas in the year. The Thurso Town Council Trophies Gala, Thurso
Town Improvements Gala ,Scrabster Harbour Gala(RNLI and RMNDSF), plus the club
gala..At the 1969 AGM the officers remained the same. In September Ed Adam
started on Lifesaving classes. Later in the year it was agreed that the conduct
of the club evening was unsatisfactory.
By the time of the 1970 AGM the acting Secretary was reporting poor
attendance of instructors and of committee members, also no 1970 Gala had been held, however 6 swimmers had passed their
Bronze Medallion and Ed Adam had become
a Lifesaving Teacher. The officers elected were:
President Jim Livingstone
Secretary Jim Crossan
Treasurer Phil Anderson
Significantly Ed Adam was made head
coach
At the first
committee meeting (Jan 1971), Jim Livingstone retired and Ed Adam was elected President.
He had recruited a number of associates from work to teach on the poolside and
with a revised Saturday evening and agreed promotion standards
(beginner--intermediate--advanced) the club started to pick up again. The
Annual Gala ,held in February 1971, went well.
The next milestone, also in 1971, was when the Thurso Town Council decided to ask
the SASA Director of Swimming, John Hogg, to come up for
a week, to conduct swimming lessons for
all levels of swimmers. This he did in August 1971, he also held talks and gave
lectures to the committee members and parents about how to organise and run a
competitive swimming club. The full week of classes for swimmers included those
,twice a day, for the more advanced club swimmers. John quickly found that the
stroke technique of these swimmers was so poor that he could not teach them on
lengths. He therefore switched to breadths training , not that this was a
doddle because by the end of the week the swimmers were covering over1000m in
an hours session.
In September the
club affiliated to the Highland Area (of North District), the club were already
affiliated to the North District. It was decided not to enter the Highland Area
(HA) championships, which were spread over 3 venues as a club but individuals
could be entered.
One significant
event of 1971 was the arrival in
As time went by
those swimmers who wanted extra training were going to the pool and being
coached in small groups by various people, including David Malcolm, Ben Brock,
Alan Davidson and Jim Dunnet. This was done during normal pool time. One
swimmer to get the most out of this training was William Dunnet, then
aged 9 years. His father entered him in the H.A. Championships where he easily
won the freestyle event for 9 year olds. During the winter 1971/1972 William
also received some early morning training with coaching from Jim Bell who also
briefed his father on the after-school training programme.
In December 1971,
3 committee members attended the Highland Area AGM in
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1972
START OF THE HALCYON YEARS
In 1972 William Dunnet became the club’s first registered
swimmer. He was entered for and qualified for the finals of the freestyle
event for 10 yr. olds in the North District Age Group Championships. This was a
2 length ,75 yard, event which he won easily. This was the first District gold medal to be won by a Thurso ASC swimmer--the
first of many !!!
A very strong
swimmer, William’s stroke was not so good in the shorter events but his stamina
showed in the longer events. He was selected to represent North District in the
Inter-District competition for the Age Group Trophy. The events in this
competition were all 100m (despite being for 9,10 and 11 year olds). William
easily won the freestyle event over the longer distance. He did not do quite so
well over the shorter, 50m, distance in the SASA Age Group Championships where
he was 4th in the final.
The Highland Area Championships were the first opportunity for the rest of the
club swimmers to demonstrate their potential!. At the first leg, held in
The club had also
taken on board the lessons on competitive club organisation in particular the
club night was reorganised.
At the 1972 AGM, the officers Ed Adam, Jim Crossan and Phil Anderson
were re-elected, the committee was increased to 7 with the name of Ken Melhuish
appearing for the first time. Ed, Jim and Ken attended the North District AGM
in
By the end of
1972 the club session had been rearranged to the afternoon (
From late 1972
through to 1973 came the start of squad training. The club members, wives ,etc.
had sat in the pool foyer many days to identify the time when the pool was
least used during the week. This time was
identified as
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1973
START OF THE GOLD TRAIL
TASC burst into the North District (ND)
competitive reckoning with an
excellent performance in the ND Age Group Championships in Aberdeen where they
achieved a magnificent 7 individual gold
medals, 5 silver and 4 bronze with I team gold and 1 team silver.
As a direct result
of this performance 6 TASC swimmers were
selected for the ND team for the Inter-District competitions. They were:
Karen Edmonds, Cath Melhuish, William Dunnet, Neil Dearden and John Brock
This was the
first major trip away by the club. The team travelling was some 35 strong so it
as a large party. David Malcolm had arranged the lunch on the way down, on the
Friday, in
The HA
Championships were dominated by Thurso
Some Orcadian
swimmers started coming over to Thurso for occasional training, they were
entered in HA and ND events (registered as TASC) to give them some experience
of competition.
Mid-year found
the Aberdeen Parents Association inviting TASC for a head to head competition in
TASC also retained
the Mainland Trophy in a contest with Stromness in the Stromness Shopping Week
Gala with a resounding 242-174 points win.
In the SASA Age
Group Preliminary heats 7 TASC swimmers and 2 teams qualified for the finals.
in the Commonwealth Pool,
The SASA Age Group finals, some of which was televised, resulted in 1 team
gold for the 11yr boys medley relay team and 1 silver and 1 bronze for the
individuals. A promising start.
Later in the year
the club competed in the Pinta Gala in
Some time in the
autumn/winter land training was started to augment the pool training.
A new format for
the Club Gala was agreed, 2 x Saturday evenings for the heats to qualify for
the finals to be held on a third Saturday.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1974
1974 opened well with
TASC swimmers doing well in the Scottish
Schools Championships. Silver medals for Karen Edmonds and Elaine
Sutherland and bronze medals for Janice and Lynn Adam. There was also a team
bronze for the
Only one swimmer
was selected for the abbreviated Inter-District, John Brock to swim Fly and
Breaststroke in the ‘Age Group’ event
The HA
Championships were dominated by Thurso ASC, Thurso swimmers coming home with no
less than 32 gold, 32 silver and 29 bronze medals. Karen Edmonds was
outstanding winning all the 14/15 year girls events.
The North District Age Group Championships showed
that TASC was the best club in the District (based on the
number of gold medals) The TASC swimmers taking 17 gold, 13 silver and 14
bronze medals with 4 team gold, and 4 team silver medals. Not only were the
TASC swimmers winning but they were also winning in new record times (12
records being set !). The outstanding swimmers were Karen Edmonds ( 7 x 1st, 2
x 2nd and 1 x 3rd) and John Brock ( 5 x 1st and 2 x 2nd places)
In June
Aberdeen(Parents Association) swimmers came up for the annual match. They
retained the Hutchison trophy but it was a very close match
In the 1970’s the
North District Open Championship events were split up between the constituent
clubs (who bid to hold them!!),usually the events were held on club nights
in venues rather remote from
Away from the
pool, the AGM in June produced one or two changes: Ed Adam continued as President with Ronnie Mackay coming in as
Secretary. Phil Anderson was still Treasurer. Ken Melhuish became Asst.
Secretary. In order to keep away from the ‘competitive season’ and to have the
‘accounts’ reflect more of a complete calendar year the 1975 AGM was to be in
December. A sponsored swim , held in February, had realised £728
TASC retained the
West Mainland Cup during the Stromness Shopping Week
A demonstration
swim by the SASA Age Group qualifiers (see below) was undertaken at Golspie
following a request from the manager of the pool.. This led to the formation of
the Sutherland Club. As with Orkney the Sutherland Club were assisted by Thurso
ASC. In particular their best swimmers were registered by Thurso and got
valuable competitive experience swimming with us.
In August a group
of TASC swimmers entered the British Age Group finals in
The SASA Age
Group Championship Preliminary Heats produced 7 individuals and several teams
for the finals. This was the Thurso ASC’s best performance at these
championships in the Commonwealth Pool ,Edinburgh.. Club swimmers coming home with 3 gold medals, all won in new record
times (by Janice Adam, Lynn Adam and Elaine Sutherland ), 3 silver and 6
bronze medals. Teams also did well with 3 gold medals won There was Television
coverage of these finals and as people at home said most events shown seemed to
feature a Thurso swimmer!
After the finals
the swimmers travelled to Motherwell for a match which was lost.
Later in October
the club held it’s first ND Open Championship events ( Ladies 100/200m
breaststroke and Ladies 100m backstroke); TASC swimmers had 2 silver medals.
For the first
time the club had entered competitive life saving .The RLSS Northern Branch had
started a Pairs Speed Tow Championship in 1973. In 19744 the Ladies Pairs Speed
Tow Championship was won by the TASC pair
Cath Melhuish and Lynsey Crum(from Wick) who later in the year also won the
Scottish Ladies Pairs Speed Tow
Championship.
In October the
departure of Ronnie Mackay meant the return of Ken Melhuish as Secretary and
Ronnie Sutherland was coopted to fill the vacancy . Twelve timekeepers and
three judges sat their officials exams.
At the North
District AGM Ed Adam was elected to the
Swimming and Selection Committee and Jim Crossan was confirmed as Highland
Area convenor. Bobby Macgregor (Olympic silver medal winner) came up for the
Annual Gala. He surprised the audience by admitting that he came late into
competitive swimming at the age of 14.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1975
1975 started well
in January when Lynn Adam and Karen
Edmonds were selected to be part of an SASA team to compete in the National Age Group Championships in Geneva.
In February ten TASC swimmers were selected to
represent the North District in the Inter-District competition. They were:
- Lynn and Janice Adam, Karen Edmonds, John Brock, Robert Malcolm, Stewart and
Janice Fraser , Elaine Sutherland ,Evelyn Dunnet and Cath Melhuish.. Alan
Davidson was also called upon to be the Coach for the 11/13 yr. Age Group team
who came a close 2nd.
Karen and Lynn
were also entered for the Scottish Short Course Championships, this was the
first time that TASC swimmers had been entered for an ‘open’ Scottish event.
A touring team
from
The Highland Area
Championships were again dominated by Thurso, not as emphatically as 1974!.
TASC swimmers took 21 individual gold and 6 team gold.
The North
District Age Group Championships were again a source of many medals (not as
many as 1974) . There was a total of 12
gold, 20 silver and 12 bronze medals for individuals and 3 gold, 3 silver
and 1 bronze for the teams. Most successful swimmers were Brian Adam ( 3 gold
and 1 silver medal) Stewart Fraser, Karen Edmonds and Janice Adam all had 2 gold
medals , whilst Elaine Sutherland, Christine Begg and William Allan got 1 gold medal each.
The first Scottish Open Long Course Championship
medal was won by Karen Edmonds who was 3rd in the 100m Ladies Breaststroke event in the 1975
Scottish Swimming and Diving Championships at the Commonwealth Pool in
Edinburgh. This event was seen on TV, the commentator, not used to the two
letter code for THURSO ASC reported ”......and in 3rd place it’s Karen Edmonds
of...of.....Thistle Ladies”
For the first
time a select team from the North District was entered for the European Youth
Tournament in
In July there was
the usual two matches with Stromness. Thurso retained the West Mainland cup
during the Stromness Shopping week Gala and won easily at home later in the
month, for the Sutherland Trophy.
Competitive
Lifesaving also started well when Cath
Melhuish and Lindsey Crum retained the Scottish Northern Branch Ladies Speed Tow Championship (thus keeping the
large Huntly Town Council Shield).In second place were Karen Edmonds and Jenny
Sprague , also TASC. However the positions were reversed in the Scottish Speed
Tow Championships finals, held at Newtongrange, where Karen and Jenny became the Scottish Ladies Speed Tow Champions.
There were 3 gold medal winners ,plus a team gold, at
the Scottish Age Group Championships The gold medallists were: Janice Adam
in 11years girls backstroke ( new record). Lynn Adam in the Girls 12/13 yr.
100m backstroke (also in new record time) and Karen Edmonds in the 14/15 yr.
200m Individual Medley. The team who won the team gold were in the girls medley
relay 4 x 50m.( Yet another record !!). Other medals won were 1 silver and 4
bronze plus 2 team bronze.
10 Thurso school
swimmers were selected to represent Highland Region in the Scottish Schools
Swimming Association 25th Anniversary Gala in
On the club front
there had been changes during the year. In September the club ‘night’ was
changed from Saturday to Monday. Then in October Derek Mosedale resigned as
Lifesaving Convenor ( and from Lifesaving tuition), this post was then taken
over by Ken Melhuish. Ed Adam now became a Grade 1 Lifesaving Examiner .5timekeepers, 2
judges and 1 starter sat the ‘officials’ exams.
At the AGM there
were changes of officers: Jim Crossan became President, Ed Adam became Secretary and Ken Melhuish to be Treasurer, Ann Adam
became the Asst. Secretary
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1976
KAREN
In January Ed Adam was confirmed as Referee
4 TASC swimmers
were selected to attend the National Training Squad Weekend, they were : Lynn
Adam, Karen Edmonds, Elaine Sutherland and Stewart Fraser.
There was an
excellent start to the competitive year with the Scottish Schools
Championships. The
As a result of
her win Lynn Adam gained her second ’cap’
when she was selected to represent Scottish Schools for the 5th Annual Schools
Tournament , held in Wigan.
In March 8 TASC swimmers were selected to represent
North District in the Inter District Competitions as follows:-
Kemsley Trophy::
Stewart Fraser
An Tostal Trophy:
Karen Edmonds and Lynn Adam ( first in her event)
Runciman Trophy:
Elaine Sutherland, Janice Adam, Julie Runcie, Brian Adam and Robert Malcolm
Later in March 5 TASC swimmers were entered for the
Scottish Short Course Championships in
The City of
The North
District Age Group Championships again provided good results for the TASC
finalists. The outstanding swimmer was undoubtedly Karen Edmonds who won 4 gold medals, 3 silver and 1 bronze from 9
swims. In total 12 gold, 22 silver and 16 bronze medals were won by individuals
and 5 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze by TASC teams.
Scottish North
Branch RLSS Championships, in
Seven TASC
swimmers went to
In July at the
Scottish Long Course Championships (East Kilbride) Karen Edmonds went one better than in 1975 by coming second in the Ladies 110yd breaststroke
event. She was presented with the shield as winner of the Junior Ladies
Championship.
Going on to the British Age Group
Championships in
For the first
time TASC decided to enter a team for the North District Swimming League
Championships ( now held at one venue) at Buckie. This was an Inter-Club Age
Group event ( previously the events had been staged, a few at a time, by
individual clubs. Of the TASC entries 3 teams got gold :- 10 and under boys,
11/12 girls and 13/14 boys. In all there were 12 individual winners from
Thurso.
A Highland Vs
Grampian match produced 27 pbs for the TASC swimmers
1976 was the year
that the Thurso pool was selected to be the venue for one of the Preliminary
trials for times for entry to the Scottish Age Group Championships.
The SASA North
District Open Championships were held in Aviemore, once again it was Karen Edmonds
to the fore winning 2 golds and 3 silvers. Her gold medal win were in the 100m
breaststroke and 200m Individual Medley. Other medal winners were Lynn Adam ,a
bronze in the 100m backstroke and Sandy Allan bronze in the 400m treestyle.
Dave Haller the recently recruited Scottish coach was at the Championships.
Thurso pool was the venue for the Scottish
North Branch Speed Tow Championships. Once again it was Cath Melhuish and
Lindsey Crum who were the winners in a new record time . Jenny Sprague and Karen
Edmonds came in second, so both pairs qualified for the finals in
North District
training squad weekends were re-introduced in October.
With a final
flourish to the competitive year Karen
Edmonds was the main TASC medal winner in the SASA Age Group Championships. Karen had one gold (15/16 girls100m
breast), one silver (200m breast) and one bronze. The only other medal winner
was Brian Adam who took silver in the 10 & under boys 50m backstroke final.
As a result of her excellent performances during
the year Karen Edmonds was presented with the prestigious Strachan Plaque at
the North District AGM
Mary Black,
President of the SASA was guest of honour at the club Gala. Her travel north
gave her an insight into the travel problems of Thurso .
There was little
change at the club AGM. Sandy Reid and Billy Mackay being the new faces on the
committee. The treasurer reported a turn over of £3316. Junior members 227.
HIGHLIGHTS
OF 1977
Thurso swimmers
were on the move early in 1977 when 7 were invited down to
Thurso swimmers
again did well in the Scottish Schools
Swimming Championships. Karen Edmonds got the gold ( under 19 girls 110yd
breaststroke ) with bronze medals for Lynn Adam, Marion Kirkpatrick and Robert
Malcolm.. Team relay golds were won by Thurso High School Girls under 19 relay
team and the under 12 Boys relay team from Mount Pleasant School won the
Kemsley Trophy.
Following her
success in the above event Karen Edmonds
was selected to represent Scottish Schools in the Inter Country Schools
Swimming Tournament (Port Talbot ,S.Wales) ,where she swam in the senior girls
100m breaststroke and the girls medley relay team.
5 TASC swimmers
went to the Scottish Short Course Championships but no medals were won. Best
placed was Karen Edmonds with a 4th place.
7 TASC swimmers
were selected for a North District training weekend. The 7 were Karen Edmonds,
Cath Melhuish, Lynn & Janice Adam, Marion Kirkpatrick, John Brock and
Robert Malcolm.
A touring team
from
The North
District Age Group Championships were again a source of many medals for the
TASC swimmers. The medal haul was 13
gold, 15 silver, and 17 bronze for individuals and 2 golds for teams. Most
successful swimmer was Robert Malcolm with 4 gold ( 1 in new record time) and 1
silver. Karen Edmonds, Carolyn Mackay and Janice Adam all had 2 gold medals.
Single gold medals were won by Brian Adam (NR), Evelyn Dunnet, and Strachan
Fitzpatrick
The Scottish
North Branch Lifesaving Championships at Inverurie resulted in a second place
for Karen Edmonds in the Ladies Event ( won by Lindsey Crum- now of Aberdeen
University.) and a win for the
In July a
sponsored swim raised £ 868
The North
District Leagues were held at
During Thurso
Gala week a combined Stromness/Kirkwall team came over to be beaten by 237-181
points.
Continuing the
TASC success in the Speed Tow field , Lynn Adam and Elaine Sutherland won the
North Branch Ladies Speed Tow Championship at Keith pool. They could only come third in the Scottish
Speed Tow Championships in Huntly a month later.
After the summer
break Karen Edmonds went away to do a final year at the prestigious
In August Thurso
were invited to be part of the 4way match in Stromness( Stromness Shopping Week
Gala). The 4 clubs being Thurso ,Stromness,
The SASA Age
Group Championship Preliminary heats for the North were held in Golspie, as a
result 8 individuals and 2 teams qualified for the finals.
1
3 were entered
for the North District Open Championships in Aviemore. No gold medals this time
but we got 4 silver and 11 bronze medals. John Brock got 1 silver and 2 bronze.
Other silver medal winners were :- Robert Malcolm, Marion Kirkpatrick and
Evelyn Dunnet.
In the SASA Age
Group Championship finals the best TASC performers were Morag Reid with 2
silver medals, Marion Kirkpatrick one silver and Robert Malcolm 2 bronze.
A Grampian Vs
Highland swimming match gave a very close match for the boys
(Gramp.156-High.155) but resulted in a win , by 194-110 for the
10 TASC swimmers
were selected for the North District training weekend :-Morag Reid, Evelyn and
William Dunnet, Carolyn Mackay, Janice ,Lynn and Brian Adam, Marion
Kirkpatrick, Robert Malcolm and John Brock .
There were
virtually no changes at the club AGM. Membership was given as 245 juniors and
37 adults. The treasurer reported an income of £2714. However at the North District AGM Ed Adam had been elected to be Vice President to Alan Robertson as President
When the pool closed on
HIGHLIGHTS
OF 1978
Well, what to do
about training? It was arranged was that the club took the
Despite this
restriction in training there were still medals being won in the Scottish
Schools Championships. Morag Reid and Robert Malcolm both getting bronze medals
in their freestyle events. Thurso High School Girls under 16 relay team got the
silver medal. All individual swimmers faded in their last length where the lack
of regular training showed. Full marks for effort !!.
In April the
Forres ‘Dickson’ Meet was held for the first time with teams invited from
Medals were also
won in the North District Age Group Championship Finals. 4 gold, all won by
John Brock, ( including 1 in new record time)7 silver and 12 bronze with 2 team
silver and 1 team bronze. Very good performance in the circumstances.
In the summer a
North District team Age Group was formed to tour Europe, 8 TASC swimmers were
included ( M.Kirkpatrick, L & J Adam, E & W Dunnet, J Brock, S
Fitzpatrick and R.Malcolm) The team met up at Scarborough (en route) and
visited the following Frieburg (win), Weil Am Rhein (win), Basle (win) and Sowgen (win).All matches were in outdoor
pools, some described as ‘freezing’
In August the pool reopened at last and the club got back on track with a
number of events
In September the
recently formed Moray District came up
and beat TASC by 248-213 in a ‘good match’.
The 6/7th October was a busy weekend the top
squad being in Peterhead for the North District Open Championships . John Brock
took 2 gold and 3 silver and 1 bronze, he also received the Ian Black shield
for his win in the 200fly event. Marion Kirkpatrick also did well with 1 gold
and 2 silver medals .In all 15 medals won and 17 club records set. Meanwhile
the younger swimmers and those who had not qualified for the ‘Open’ were at
Golspie taking on Sutherland ASC, many TASC swimmers had to ‘swim up’ an age
group ,despite this they won 180-155. Later in the month a team went to
Stromness where the home team won by 275-220 , the coach remarked on the poor
showing of the younger age group in the short distance event
The club felt
‘shattered’ in October when the coach ,Alan
Davidson, who had taken the club to such heights of achievement announced
he was becoming the full time paid coach
of the City of Glasgow training
squad !It must be admitted that back in 1976 the parents of the squad
swimmers, concerned about the possible loss of Alan ( the advent of part-time
paid coaches for Aberdeen Parents Assoc. and other groups meant that good
coaches were now ‘in the market’) held a meeting and agreed to the payment of
‘Squad fees’, these were held in a separate account and paid to Alan on a
quarterly basis. In some small way it was felt that this would compensate for
the long hours and dedication that Alan put into the job.
The performances
in the SASA Age Group Finals was disappointing. There were only 4 medals ( 1
gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze) all won by John Brock.
In November ,14
TASC swimmers were in the ‘Rest of ND’ vs
6 TASC swimmers
were selected for the Inter-District
contest at the end of the month
. At the North
District AGM Ed Adam was appointed Vice President and Swimming Committee Convenor
On the club front
the minutes show that the membership in November was 212 jun. and 34 senior.
There was little change at the club AGM. Chris Powell joined the committee
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1979
The early action
of 1979 was all out of the water, Alan Robertson, Chairman of North District
was proposed and accepted for the post of Chairman of SASA. Thus Ed Adam was left with no option but to
take over as the Chairman of the North
District, (confirmed in March ) the
first time that a non
Who was to
succeed Alan Davidson as club coach? Well, one of the senior squad swimmers
,John Douglas, volunteered his services to become the part-time paid coach,
this was accepted by the committee at the February meeting.
At the SASA AGM
the per capita fee was increased from 30p to 60p !
As usual TASC
swimmers were in action early in the Scottish School Championships at
At the ND Age
Group Championships Evelyn Dunnet was the best club swimmer picking up 2 gold,
1 silver and 1bronze medal. There was a team gold and silver for the 14/15
girls relay team. Robert Malcolm achieved 2 silver and 4 bronze medals. Brian
Adam got 1 silver and 1 bronze .Carolyn
Mackay got a single bronze.
Preliminary
discussions were held regarding the Thurso Swim Meet which will be the subject
of a separate report (see Appendix)
.
In August there was a 3 way match in Orkney,
Orkney v Thurso v Sutherland The scores being, respectively 232-169-131 It was
noted that Thurso lost on the relays, we only won 2 of 16 relay races!!
In September John
Douglas gave up ‘A’ squad and was replaced by Lynn Adam, quite a commitment for
a 17 year old. John taking over the ‘B’ squad.
At the club AGM
there were a number of changes :A. ‘Sandy’ Reid became Chairman and new
committee members were Bill Finlayson and Donald Bruce
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1980
At the first committee meeting, Jim Dunnet became the
Swimming Convenor with Bill Finlayson and Lynn Adam( A squad coach) as his
committee. They were later to introduce some major changes to the club night,
some very good and overdue , some not so good!!
The Scottish Schools
Championships produced only one individual medal winner, a bronze for Janice
Adam in the 200 IM, however, there were 4 team golds.
In March,the Highland Council
organised a Preliminary Coaches course
in the Thurso pool for the first time. The course instructor was a D.Nichols (
a PE teacher from
In April the Swim Committee proposed major changes in the
club night:
The existing structure for the club night (which had been
static for some time) was a 4 lane beginner/improver set up : the shallow end
lane for the real beginners , then 2 very widelanes ( one ,with up to 24 improvers and 2 teachers
) and a top lane where they were introduced to butterfly. This was out of date
,and should have been revamped a long time before. The club night at the time
had 4 sessions ,all on widths.
The committee introduced multi-lane improver sessions and
recruited a number of interested parents from the spectator area to become lane
teachers. Thus we got John Frew, Willie Sinclair, Liz Porteous, Dave Gordon,
Jack Mathie ,and Bill Robertson (who may
have already been helping.) They were initially offered instruction by Jim Bell
but were expected to get the swimmers fit by doing as many widths as possible
!!
The transition swimmers ( now ‘C’ and ‘D’ squad) ,known
as Blue/Greens were taken by Bill Finlayson
By June there had been complaints from parents,
especially about the Blue/Greens. Thus a Special General Meeting was called to
ask what was the Swim Committee doing? (As a tool of the club committee it
should have only been doing that which was approved by the main committee.) At
the meeting it was reported that the club night had 3 sessions on widths and 1
on lengths. A coach and a teacher for the top 2 lanes and then 1 teacher per
lane going down the pool. Registers for each lane had been introduced but were
queried.
After a lot of acrimonious discussion the meeting
appointed Lynn Adam to take ‘A’ and ‘B’ squads with Bill Finlayson and Donald
Bruce taking the Blues/Greens.(but had to have a Bronze Medallion holder on
duty with them!). Ken Melhuish to be the Club night supervisor
Later in the year 5 TASC members took their Preliminary
Teachers course at Golspie, thus , between these and the Preliminary Coaches the club had a group of
qualified personnel for the poolside .
The ‘C’ squad is first mentioned in the minutes in August
1980. The following information is listed:
‘A’ Squad; David Malcolm
‘B’ squad ; Lynn Adam
‘C’Squad: Donald Bruce.
Lynn Adam to continue as club
coach.
The North District Age Group Championships produced 5
individual gold medals, 5 individual silvers and 3 bronze medals The 16/17 year
girls team set 2 new records in winning both relay races.
Four TASC swimmers were selected for the Inter District
competition: Janice Adam, Evelyn Dunnet, Morag Reid and Robert Malcolm. Lynn
Adam also went as one (of two) coaches to the Runciman Trophy team.
9 club members took the
Timekeepers exam.
There were several changes at the AGM.held in December.
Sandy Reid resigned and Ed Adam became Chairman, John Frew took over as
Secretary . Jack Mathie ,Chris Powell and Elma McCulloch joined the committee
E.R.Adam intimated that after
2 years as President of Norh District he
was not standing for re-election.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 1981
At the first committee meting
Bill Finlayson resigned from the committee and was replaced by Chris Powell. The committee vacancy
was filled by Dave Gordon. The subject of the ‘Constitution’ was raised at the
meeting. Did it comply with the SASA rules of affiliation? I f approved ( by North District) Rules &
Regulations are subsequently altered by the TASC at a properly constituted AGM
, does the club need to resubmit the modified rules & regulations to ND for
approval?
After discussion at 2
meetings the committee decided to set up
a rules revision sub committe to report back with proposed changes before
November 1981.
Ed Adam took over a swimming
convenor. In June revised squad training times and also squad qualifying times.
In September . The revised
rules were tabled for comments.Chris Powell resigned to take a teaching
qualification. John Frew became ‘B’ squad coach
In October Donald Bruce
resigned as ‘C’ squad coach.
In mid-November there was an
accident at the pool, during the club night, that could have been serious.
Contractors equipment outside the south end of the pool broke loose in a gale
resulting in a baulk of timber penetrating a window at the deep end and
showering the pool in glass fragments. Fortunately the swimmers at the time
were all at the shallow end with 4 lined up ready to start a timed swim. Very
fortunate. The pool was closed . It took 2 days to clear the pool of all glass
shards!
At the AGM there were few
changes but at least two new committee members were elected., Bill Robertson
and Harry Henderson .The modified constitution was adopted.