Rushcliffe Swimming Club (RSC) has struck gold after celebrating its 50th year of teaching.
Marking its Golden Jubilee with a community festival on Saturday 4th July attended by more than 200 club members, teachers, alumni, and councillors; the club presented the Mayor of Rushcliffe with a commemorative plaque, and Nottingham Hospitals Charity with a £1,000 donation.
Taking pride of place outside Rushcliffe Arena a few days after the event, the plaque pays tribute to the hundreds of volunteers who have kept the club running over its five decades and the thousands of children who learnt to swim.
The £1,000 donation raised from ticket sales will be used to improve family facilities at Nottingham’s maternity units, Children’s Hospital and Hayward House Hospice.
Run entirely by community volunteers, the club was founded by a group of local parents in 1976 not long after Rushcliffe Leisure Centre opened on Boundary Road.
The club moved to Rugby Road with the leisure centre in 2016 and has been operating from Rushcliffe Arena since.
Rod Jones, who taught at the club in the 1990s, still volunteers on an occasional Saturday. He said: “Rushcliffe Swimming Club has been at the heart of the community in West Bridgford for five decades. I’ve seen young swimmers come through the club, become adults, start their own families and bring their own children back to the club to learn to swim.”
The 500-member-strong club celebrated its 50 years with a Golden Jubilee Community Festival at the rugby club in Wilford featuring live music, an open mic session, bouncy castles, lawn games, face painting, and children’s activities.
Tim Dobson, who is hanging up his blue T-Shirt after 10 years of teaching, said: “People give years to the club because we are focussed on creating the most inclusive way possible of nurturing strong, capable and confident swimmers while injecting a lot of fun along the way. The children make friends. The parents and teachers make friends. It’s a happy place to be every Saturday morning. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Outgoing Club chair, Katie Hillier, said: “The club has a strong community ethos. We are unusual in that we don’t compete against other clubs. This allows us to focus on ensuring our members can use swimming as a foundation for fitness, friendship and confidence.”
The club runs three sessions a week on Tuesday evenings, Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Contact [email protected] to enquire about membership.
Image above: John Hillier, Richard Kirkdale, Cllr Hari Om, Mayor Cllr Richard Butler, Cllr Phil Matthews, and Steve Forrest presenting a cheque for £1,000 to Nottingham Hospitals Charity. Proceeds from the Jubilee event were donated to the charity.