Reading Swimming Club
News 2007/2008

11 May: In the distance day at South East Regionals Louise Gillatt put in the lone Reading swim, whilst immediately afterwards the Berks and South Bucks No-Frills meet has Harry Wilds coaching a small team of swimmers. There were PBs for Callum WIllcox (200 and 400 Free, 200IM) and David Mills (100 Back, 100 Free). However one of the "Frills" (of which there are none in this meet) is medals, the meet being designed for swimmers seeking qualifying times in other meets.

04 May: South East Regionals finished today (apart from the 1500m which is swum next weekend).  We can record Gold Medals for Garry Dixon (200 Free), Kristina Paige (50 Fly) and 100 Free), Adam Barrett (100 Back), Mark Harris (50 and 100 Free) Silver for Emma Harris (800 Free), Garry Dixon (400 Free), Mark Harris (50 Fly), Kristina Paige (100 Free). Bronze for Holly Tanner (200 Fly), Kristina (50 Free), Naomi Herring (100 Back) and Emma Harris (200 Free). Special mention to James Tichband, who took over 30 seconds off his (Long course) PB on the 800 Free.

03 May: A big thank you to everyone for their help, patience, swimming, support at the Allen Eyles meet.  It was a long busy day, but the atmosphere was brilliant, and the swimmers gave their all.  You can see how they got on by seeing the (searchable) results....Reading Swimmers alone completed 167 swims of which 125 were PBs!  In all, the meet there were just over 300 swimmers, swimming 1200 swims, a distance of over 110km.

It was also wonderful to see not just new swimmers, but new poolside faces: Many thanks to the RSC parents who helped: In the office, on the poolside, with the raffle, with the food, with the medals, on the door; Thanks too to our visiting clubs who made sure we weren't short of Timekeepers, supplied judges and those officials who are training as Judges and timekeepers: Your efforts helped the meet to run smoothly despite the large numbers.   

01 May: Entry forms for Newbury are out - Sorry - we've got to get them back for NEXT THURSDAY (8th) please. Godalming will be out next week too, but we'll have a few days extra for that - due back in 29th.

28 Apr: Over the weekend 9 young swimmers visited Tigersharks' meet again.  I say "again" because it was a return trip for coach Harry Wild - from 20 years ago!   An easy pool to find (just off M4 Junction 16), and a good busy meet, even if it was a bit on the cramped side. However Reading Swimmers swam well, collecting 28 PBs out of 41 swims, and Nicole Ryan taking 3 out of 5 Golds (the other two were speeding tickets). Harry Nash took a Silver in his 100 Fly (despite learning that air is better to breathe than water on his last leg), and Ladies' Club Captain Vanessa Wood collected a Gold or Silver medals for each race she swam.  A good outing for the young swimmers.

If you are following the upcoming meets in the diary, we've confirmed to the one day Goldaming meet on July 6, and Cardiff's Sprint meet in their new pool was cancelled by them so that's off the diary now.  Newbury is June 21.

23 Apr: Allan Eyles: Chris Thomas is looking for helpers, and especially food - for feeding the officials and helpers in the break.  If you can support the meet by providing a plate of food on the day it'll very welcome and all helps to the atmosphere of the meet.  REMEMBER the warm-up is 1:15, not 2:15 as on the paperwork!.

20 Apr: A few PBs from Crawley, a very packed, busy meet.

13 Apr: AGE squad: training tonight (Monday evening) at Bradfield 18:10-20:10

All Allen Eyles entries have been accepted - note the new start time - 1 hour earlier at 1:15 for warm-up. Thank you to Reading Cygnets for allowing us the pool time.

Also, all Berks & South Bucks No-Frills entries were accepted too (10th May).

12 Apr: Thank you to everyone who participated in the Learn-to-Swim and Development Gala.  We saw a great many young swimmers with a lot of potential in the pool today. Thank you also to the audience who applauded great swims and great efforts alike. As promised, here are the results of the Learn-To-Swim and Development Gala.

10 Apr: Queen Anne's school back from Sunday evening....

07 Apr: Crawley have published the list of accepted and rejected swims for the level 1 meet on 19/20 April.  2/3rds of all swimmers who entered have been rejected.  The list for Reading Swimmers shows 23 rejections out of 56 so we've fared better than some - but some of our swimmers have no swims at all.

06 Apr: The World Swimming Championships (Short Course) starts this week - it's held in Manchester this year.  There is Live TV coverage - on Eurosport - in the morning starting on Wednesday (until Saturday) at 10am-12:15pm and 6-9pm. There is BBC2 in the afternoon starting 2pm.

IMPORTANT: The Allan Eyles warm up is now 13:15pm - earlier than previously advertised - because of high demand.

04 Apr: If you are in National Squad, you probably know already that Saturday Morning's session is AT BRADFIELD, not central, 05:30 - 07:30. The coachs believe they have told everyone, but just in case...

03 Apr: Adam Barrett must be feeling pleased tonight after taking over half a second off his 100 Fly PB, recording 58.45.

02 Apr: News from the British Champs, and Mark Harris swam to 23rd place with a new PB in the 50m free, in 23.75, a new PB. Kristina Paige came 21st, in 27.27 and Adam Barrett swam the 200 Back in 2:15:52.

31 Mar: A small band of swimmers head off to Sheffield to the British Championships this week: We will follow their fortunes through the next few days.

29 Mar: The Thames Valley Junior League was well attended, and despite having some swimmers missing because if injury, they team just missed out on second place, coming in 3rd with 130 points.  Winners of the "B" final on the evening were Slough, but it's interesting to note that we managed zero disqualifications on the night, which greatly impressed Coach Harry Wild, who was full of praise for the young team. 

27 Mar: Good luck to the Thames Valley Junior League team on Saturday - Central pool, Doors open about 5:45, 6:00pm warm-up, 6:30pm start.

24 Mar: With Easter over, we look back and see Alex Cawthorne's first ever National Qualifying Time in the 200 Breaststroke, a couple more NQTs for Adam Barratt and Garry Dixon. Some exciting (noisy) Skins and other finals; Some 290 swimmers from 51 clubs swam 1484 swims covering over 305km. 790 of those 1484 swims beat their entry times (or, in the case of finals, their heat times) and those were for 238 swimmers.

Meanwhile over in Swansea, Ellie Wood was swimming in the Welsh Nation Championships at Swansea's 50m pool. She took Gold in the 100 and 200 Fly, and Silver in 200 Breast, 200IM (just missing an NQT by 3/100th...) and 400m IM. She won Bronze in the 100 Breaststroke.

18 Mar: Due to the Easter, there will be NO TRAINING at any pool Friday to Monday as pools are closed, and it's the Reading Easter Meet!

Queen Anne's status: From next week, County squad have Leighton Park Tuesday (7-8:30pm). Don't forget Monday mornings (although do forget thoughts of swimming on Easter Monday!)... We're still working on trying to get more time for those displaced squads.

17 Mar: The Meet Diary has been updated with dates for Sprints, Season End and Start, B Grade and Club Champs. Mark your diaries!

Make sure you've seen the note on Queen Anne's status, and the Club Timekeeper's course in the boxes above.

16 Mar: Counties have finished - Reading ended up 2nd in the boy's aggregates and 3rd in the girl's. Results are searchable online, or as paper sheets from the BSB ASA website championships section. Adam Barrett gained a 200 Free NQT, whilst the club has another 5 County Champions and 4 County Junior Champions. 

Next week in this non-stop time of year is the Reading Easter Meet... the week after is the final Thames Valley Junior League... Then (after a week) it's the Teaching and Development meet... The shortly after the Allan Eyles Meet (for the younger swimmers.. and Regionals for the older ones....

15 Mar: Melvyn tells me that Haslemere have rejected all our entries for the Open Meet on the 20th.

County 800m Championships: Reading
won 1-2-3: Holly Tanner (Silver), Emma
Harris (Gold) and Rachael Mills (Bronze)

Medal count? 11 Golds, 13 Silvers and 8 Bronzes in the age group categories.  5 County Champions, and 4 runner-ups. 2 Junior County Champions and 2 runner-ups.

The County Championships conclude next weekend.

9 Mar: Until I get the results, which should be later today, I don't get all the medal counts, but Alex Cawthorne broke a county championship record, Emma Harris took 800 County Champion and Rachael Mills retained her County Junior Ladies 800m title.  Reading had 1-2-3 for the (open) County Champs in the 800 (Emma Harris, Holly Tanner, Rachael Mills). I saw Mark Harris finish first a few times (once by well over a whole (long) body length in the 100m free I think). Will update this when I get more details (either by people sending me e-mail, or I get the results!)

MARK YOUR DIARY if you have swimmers in the Learn-To-Swim teaching programme, Development squads or Age squad.  April 12th (afternoon). If you can make it we're holding another gala like the December one.  Details in a few days time, but Teaching programme get to swim 50 free, 25 all strokes, whilst if you're in a squad it's 50m all strokes and 100IM.

4 Mar: We've processed the entries for the Easter Meet and we will post a list of swimmers soon. We do have a busy meet but we've been able to accept all the entries which is excellent news.

Day 2 County results now available. As well as a first placing for the Open Mens and Ladies Freestyle teams (Holly Tanner, Rachael Mills, Emma Harris, Kristina Paige, Adam Barrett, York-Peter Kloeppel, Garry Dixon and Mark Harris), Chris Boyce took County Junior 200IM Champion, and Alex Cawthorne tool gold in the Age Groups. The Open Medley Relay teams took silver (Ladies) and bronze (Mens)  Reading had 4 other silvers and 2 bronze medals.

The 11&under teams on their first outing managed a 5th and 8th place as well.  Congratulations to all

3 Mar: A number of parents in the lower squads have recently asked me about their first meets. Worth pointing out the "Club Information" link contains tips for new swimmers, guidance for parents on how to prepare their swimmers, and what to expect.  o ask other parents, coaches and so on on club night too.  Good luck in those meets.

2 Mar: An excellent turnout of about 30 club members and parents set up the water station for the Reading half-marathon. 4 large pallets of water were handed out to the 14,000 runners that made it past Forbury Gardens, just over 6 miles into the course.  We even outlasted the Lucozade point round the corner who ran dry!  The extra hands that came this year were extremely helpful, and we split ourselves into two teams: One handing out the water, and another supply team that replenished the tables with new bottles: Both teams at the peak were working flat out. 

We want to say a big Thank you to all the participants.

1 Mar: "A very successful session - they've not done too badly" was Head Coach Tony Woodward's comments at the end of the single county championship session at Maidenhead.  Somewhat of an understatement though, after first the Ladies' Freestyle team took the County Trophy, followed by the Men's. For the first year the County also offered competition for 11&Under relay teams, allowing our younger swimmers to swim for the first time, and the Reading teams were placed in the top 8.

26 Feb: I missed it at the time, but my computer tells me that Adam Barrett picked up a 200 Back Short Course National Qualifying Time (NQT) at the weekend, and York-Peter Klöppel, 100 Breast. Well done to you both.

25 Feb: See the box above about the Club Timekeeper Courses being put together. Please let us know if you are interested.

24 Feb: Head Coach Tony Woodward was pleased with the swims on the first day of the County Championships, held at the Maidenhead Magnets pools. Reading came home with 4 County Golds, 3 Silvers and 2 Bronze Medals.  In the Junior Championship we had 3 Golds, 2 Silvers and a Bronze, whilst in the Age Groups the haul was 7 Golds, 14 Silvers and 8 Bronze medals.  Nicve to see some first-timers amongst the medals: James Ellison picked up the 100 fly silver, and Alex Cawthorne picked up 3 Golds. Junior County Champions are Rachael Mills (1500), Adam Barrett (200 Back) and Ellie Wood (50 Fly). County Champs are Kristina Paige (50 Free and Fly), Emma Harris (200 Free) and Mark Harris (100 Fly).

The results from the County Champs (Day 1) are searchable online, or as paper sheets from the BSB ASA website championships section.

22 Feb: We've had to pull out of the BAGCAT Girls team on Saturday, but the teams for the Under 11, BAGCAT boys or Youth County Relay teams have been published.  Four weeks of County Championships kick off this Saturday - so if you're swimming, good luck!

With the entries coming in for the Easter Meet, it looks like it's going to be a good meet this year.  For those younger swimmers who might be concerned that they can't get to Swim at the Easter meet, remember the Allan Eyles meet which is about 6 weeks later is designed for you!  The Allan Eyles cuts out the top swimmers, so you don't get left out.

18 Feb: Congratulations to Dev 2 Coach Laura Tiley on becoming a Mum .. Daughter Freya arrived yesterday according to new Grandad, Club chairman Peter Tiley.  It's been a busy few days for Peter, who as also been voted President-Elect for the Berks and South Bucks ASA.

14: Feb: Apologies: I missed January Swimmer of the Month, Alex Douglas from Russell Korting's Development 1 squad.

County Relay teams - we're filling in the details - the First team being the Girl's BAGCAT team swimming on February 23rd - see the Team List.

12 Feb: Thames Valley Junior League - The Young 'uns did us proud - An excellent atmosphere at the Magnet Pools, and wonderful performance - only one race (did not finish) didn't score, There were no DQs on techniques which is something the swimmers can all be pleased with (and the Coaches were very happy about). Team spirit was brilliant, and the swimmers were really enjoying it.  Full results on the League website, plus our swimmers' detailed results. The final round is back at Central Pool in Reading just after Easter, March 29th. We're swimming against Amersham "B", Chesham, Chalfont and Slough.

Wycombe results are available: in all I counted 28 Golds, 17 Silvers and 6 Bronze medals at the weekend, plus Kristina Paige's 200IM NQT.

9 Feb: News from the Thames Valley Junior League is that 5 points separated second to fourth places, so it was an improved performance at Maidenhead.  Wycombe was also turning out to be a fruitful, if long, meet with many PBs, and I hear, an NQT as well.  More details on both meets when we have it.

8 Feb: We also have a team of older swimmers competing in the 2 day meet at Wycombe .. we wish them well too.

7 Feb: The Thames Valley Junior League team list is available - Good luck this weekend to you all!

5 Feb: County Championships have published the acceptances, together with the detail sheets for the swimmers, and Information for Competitors. I've extracted the Reading Swimmers sheets and linked to the Information for Competitors, but the full details of all clubs are on the County website.

28 Jan: Those of you at Central last week will have picked this up, but this is the potential team selection list for Round 2 of the Thames Valley Junior League, on Feb 9 at Maidenhead. Please make sure that you've confirmed your availability, or non-availability.

27 Jan: Another NQT in the 400 Free for Rachael on the last day.. Adam Barrett adds 100 Free to his collection, and a British Champs time.  The Club finished 18th overall, out of 93 teams, 2 silver medals, 3NQTs and a British Championship qualifying time. We did find another picture of Rachael's 800 Free and a couple of Ellie Wood...one, and two..

26 Jan: Now I've found their results website that they are updating, Rachael Mills swam a NQT in the 200 Free. I can also report Ellie Wood swam 31.35 in 50 Fly to get an age group Silver (missing gold by 0.02) and a PB. She also came 4th in the 200IM.  Callum Willcox PBed in the 200IM. Both Kristina and Mark Harris were finalists in the 50 Fly. York-Peter claimed a 5th position in the 50 Breaststroke. So far I have only found only one picture .... here.

25 Jan: We wish the Team going to Luxembourg every success. You can follow their fortunes on www.euromeet.lu. Look under "The Meet" and "Online results". Over 600 swimmers from 18 countries, if you're into statistics...

24 Jan: This is the new training timetable: We believe to be correct. Remember this starts from the 28th January, NOT this weekend.  And a few things, labelled, don't happen until Feb 6th.The is also version which highlights the changes.

22 Jan: Thames Valley round 2 confirmed at Maidenhead, Feb 9th, which is the venue for Chalfont, Maidenhead, Reading, Windsor and Wycombe. Slightly later time - Door will not open until 6:15, warm-up 6:30, start 7.00.

At the debrief last night, particular mention by the other clubs on the behavior and support from all the teams, and the fantastic way in which there was quiet at the start of the races.  It makes a big difference for the little ones...

21 Jan: Queen Anne's still has problems with being too cold: Age Squad please go to Leighton Park 7:30pm tomorrow (Tuesday). 

20 Jan: Thames Valley Junior League last night .... Harry's comments: "A great effort by every swimmer, Lots of positives - and the youngest age group technically very good.  Looks good for the next round". Tony added "I was pleased with the overall performances on Saturday. The younger swimmers really shone and we should all get some encouragement from Saturday. I'm sure that getting the guys together on the Monday evenings has helped with better team bonding".

We ended up 4th on the night only a couple of DQs - no other team got fewer. The league website is www.tvjl.org.uk.  Round 2 is Feb 9th ... Venue should be announced Tuesday, but it's either Maidenhead or Amersham.

17 Jan: This note was suppose to be out yesterday afternoon, but the webmaster was just due to land at Heathrow about 1pm, but there was a Boeing 777 sitting on the runway so I was rather delayed. I can recommend Luton ...

The Thames Valley Junior League Team List for Saturday is here, if you didn't pick one up from Central last night.  See the note in the box above about traffic congestion around the time of travel to Central.  Thanks for the support of the swimmers at the Bradfield sessions!  We are hoping to continue these sessions

Apologies for the short notice cancelling of the parent's evenings yesterday - we hope to rearrange shortly.

15 Jan: From the Reading Cygnets, come their thanks for RSC's involvement with the Champs, and the results files.  There is an overall summary sheet, and also sheets for sessions 1, sessions 2 and sessions 3. If the summary sheet doesn't show your swim, look in the others in case there is a note there.  We may be missing a heat of fly swims. Our thanks to the Cygnets too, and to Gordon and Harry for organising it, and the many last minute changes...

Queen Anne's correction: the part is being fitted on Thursday .. then it needs to warm up. Watch this space for more news...

14 Jan: Queen Anne's update: They hope the pool will be back to normal by Thursday: In the meantime, Russell has again extended the invite for Age to join his squad at Willink on Tuesday evening.

12 Jan: Cygnets final championships round starts at 1pm today.

I've updated the meet calendar - NOTE that the South East Region BAGCATs have moved (Crawley wouldn't allow 2 consecutive weekends to be booked, so the first week has moved forwards)

11 Jan: URGENT: Queen Anne's is closed until at least Tuesday (apparently the water is cold and they are having problems heating it). Affects AGE SQUAD on Friday and Sunday.  You're invited to  join in with District at Arthur Hill on Sunday (11am for Gym, 12noon for their swimming), or with Tony at Central on Saturday or Monday am...

6 Jan: The Cygnets Club Champs final round is this Saturday.  If you are swimming please check that your details are correct on this entry document.  If there are any changes, please drop a message to Gordon or myself so it can be corrected before Saturday.

5 Jan: Catching up with a new notices...

District Squad: Monday night at Arthur Hill session has been cancelled: As a replacement session please try and get to Monday morning at Central...

Thames Valley Junior League: Initial team selection has been posted: Dev 2 and Teaching Programme swimmers are invited to some focussed training session with Tony at Bradfield Monday night for about an hour from 18:10. Please try and make one.  First round gala is at Reading (Central Pool) on Saturday 19th Jan at 6pm

4 Jan: Happy New Year!  Welcome back.

28 Dec: I managed to find the Bath Grand Prix and Bath Age Group results so have posted them to the website.

The Berks & South Bucks county times and entry information has been published on the County website.

15 Dec: The Training and Development Gala appears to have been thoroughly enjoyed by swimmers, parents and helpers.  With some of the club's top swimmers helping on poolside, the swimmers swam their races with great enthusiasm.  Coaches and Teachers were "very impressed" with their efforts and great enthused by the whole event.  Results for the gala - chart with times for each stroke are available to be viewed. Thanks to everyone - we'll repeat this again soon.

12 Dec: Just in case you've already taken a copy, I updated the Christmas tickover training sessions - adding a session on Monday and clarifying District Squad's times.

Last night was the Reading Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, and event put on the Reading Council and the Evening Post, amongst other sponsors.  In an evening which honoured people like Steve Coppell and Nicky Shorey, as well as paying tribute to Alan Porton, (already an RSC life member for his support of our club), Reading Swimming Club members Adam Barrett was Male Senior Schools Personality of the Year, and Hazel Syrad, known to most of you for running the Teaching Programme, received a Helper/Loyalty award too.

11 Dec: Yes, just to confirm, Aldershot IS open this Wednesday for District and National training.

10 Dec: The Christmas tickover training sessions are now published. For most squads, training finishes at the Fun Gala which starts at 18:10 on Thursday 22nd.  (County Squad and Development 2 Squad NOTE the start time, which is earlier than your normal start time)

9 Dec: We've had a lot of notes floating round about the "A" team's narrow escape from relegation, it's now time to comment on the "B" team who were away at Bognor Regis at the weekend.  They weren't fighting a relegation ... but that didn't tarnish their enthusiasm and dedication. Even though there was a last minute scrabble for swimmers after 3 of the team got hit by sickness, the team made it to Bognor ... (which was more than could be said for the Isle of Wight team, who missed their ferry.)

The atmosphere at Speedo leagues is always fantastic (anyone who hasn't been to one really must do so)  We had to swim up to fill some of the sickness induced gaps and almost all the swimmers got a solo swim too.  Great performance from all the swimmers - it's unfair to name some because of the ones you don't name, but the Girls 11 year team all improved their times, The 15 year old girls won 4 of their races and got second and third in the other two.

We got second and third in the big relays at the end, and almost made it to third place. Like the "A" team we only suffered a single disqualification and ended the night with 160 points, in fourth place, but not that far from third. Thanks to those swimmers who "swam up", and those who stepped in late.  Thanks to all the swimmers in the "B" team.  Here's to next year.

8 Dec: A truly magnificent effort, which included winning 13 of the 50 races, the A team finished third at Southampton and the B team at Bognor came 4th.  And before some smart alec tries it on, that's out of 6 teams. I was at the A Team venue, and I calculate that if we had dropped one single point anywhere, we'd be out of the Premier League. So if any one swimmer had dropped a place, or if anyone who came in sixth, had given up in despair and got DQed, or one of the 3 people who were clearly unwell, but turned up and swam anyway, hadn't... we'd be down.  It rested on a single point, that put us level with Southampton, and our big guns, who made more first places, that placed us third. The points from being third give us a single point edge over Black Lions... Well done all.

The Speedo League atmosphere was very like Madjeski where Reading gave Liverpool a 3-1 pummell: From the BBC website match report: "In the build-up to the match, Reading boss Steve Coppell had asked the home fans to make more noise and his players certainly gave the supporters something to shout about with a committed and energetic team performance."  To get the measure of The Quays at Southampton, just change "boss Steve Coppell" to "coach David Wittig". I was being frequently deafened (behind the blocks) with his urging on the team and the swimmers' team mates extracting the last ounce of effort from their friends' performance.

2 Dec: We don't usually get results from Bath, but there were some PBs. mainly in the Age Group swims.

30 Nov: Some of the top squad swimmers are off to the Bath Grand Prix this weekend. Good Luck.

Looking for ideas for Christmas?  We've been distributing leaflets on behalf of a guy raising money for the Special Car Baby Unit at the Royal Berks Hospital - So you can have pictures of the kids at a good price and help the wonderful work these people do ....  Don't worry about the dates - contact him as he'll arrange accordingly

29 Nov: The times from the Cygnets Club Champs reveal 18 PBs, and 36 Season Bests for the Cygnets. Thank you for your support!

26 Nov: The outgoing captains, Louisa Herring and Craig Frankum put on an impressive evening with never ending raffle and plenty of food.  The presentations of trophies (see complete list) was performed by Alan Porton, and there was an award of life membership to Graeme Thomas, our previous head coach.  Thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen including raffle donors, and helpers.

23 Nov: Speedo League Round 3 team lists published. December 8th.  VERY IMPORTANT we do well (top 2) at the A team gala to avoid relegation, so please do all you can to turn up.

22 Nov: Cygnets: All swims were accepted.  Warm-up is quite short, and starts at 1pm for about 15 minutes.

20 Nov: District Squad - I've just been given the changes in session times whilst Harry is away, up to and including Monday 3rd December... The two Bradfield sessions (Friday, Saturday)are moved to Central and Arthur Hills is now at Bradfield.

18 Nov: The Kath Saunders Memorial Meet was an excellent combination of the Teaching Programme and squads. With the same age groups as in the Thames valley Junior League (which starts in January), and as such is an excellent "warm-up" meet. In particular two of our teams, 9 & under and 10 & under where comprised totally of Teaching Programme swimmers. Jacqui Taylor and Tony Woodward were very impressed with our teams' performance across the board.

17 Nov: Good luck to our younger swimmers - who are off to Windsor's young relay team meet at Maidenhead.

Please note that the Awards night is 7pm start - not 7:30 as previously though.  The tickets are printed correctly.

15 Nov: Speedo League final round: The A team are at Southampton, and the B team will be along the coast at Bognor Regis. The club will put on coaches to transport swimmers and supporters: Coaches will leave from Savacentre.

12 Nov: Geoff Willcox took some pictures at the "A" gala .. although unfortunately rather blurred, it does impart the atmosphere of a great time being had! Thanks Geoff.

11 Nov: The usual tumult and excitement brought the two Speedo league Galas to a close during the two exciting relays - and we can report that both teams ended in fourth position in their respective galas.  Coaches also reported that in both cases almost every swimmer PBed, and turnout was excellent.  Well done to all the swimmers - final round is December 8th (we don't know where yet). 

If anyone hasn't picked up club champs medals (particularly 800m) Tracey Boyce will have them at Central on Thursday / Club Night - Last chance!

8 Nov: Leighton Park is repaired and open again.  Saturday training as normal!

7 Nov: Weekly notices:  Please come and support the Speedo teams in action this weekend at Guildford (Reading A) or Central Pool (Reading B).  Swimmers - make sure you know where you're swimming, and turn up - if you have a problem call Harry or Tony as soon as possible please.

Reading Cygnets Championships - Dev 1/Dev 2/Age/District - These are excellent experience - come and join in. No entry fees - Give your entry form to Harry

Bowling Social Evening - See details - the organisers need to know numbers and deposits please by the end of Club Night - either see them or at least telephone to reserve a place.

6 Nov: The AGM last night received reports and accounts for the year - if you were unable to make it and would like to know more, speak to a committee member on Thursday night as they don't go on the website.  There were some rule changes approved for the Club too.

5 Nov: Some good swims; Some cracking swims: Tony Woodward was pleased with the swimmers performance in what is only the 9th week of the programme.  NQTs included Kristina's 100 and 200 Free; Emma Harris's (Open) 800.  Medals included Golds for Mark Harris, Kristina Paige(4) and Garry Dixon. Total Reading swag was 9 Golds, 5 Silvers and 2 Bronze.

2 Nov: We're having a social event: Bowling! A time when parents and children can get together (brothers and sisters welcome). We need to get numbers quickly though - with payment - See the details of the event. It's between Christmas and New Year: Saturday 29th December (5pm-7pm)

1 Nov: Leighton Park is closed again - flooded boiler - and we not quite sure when it will be back.  We recommend (a) watching the web site, (b) monitoring the mailing list, and (c) talk to people on Thursday night to see if we know more by them. Currently Saturday Mornings Dev-1 session (Russ) is training at Bradfield, 07:30, alongside Dev-2.

30 Oct: We have two new Club Captains: for the 2007/2008 season the swimmers have elected as Men's Captain: Garry Dixon.  Garry is a National Squad swimmer (indeed, was National 1500m Champion just over a year ago). The Ladies' Captain for this year is Vanessa Wood.  Vanessa is also a National Squad swimmer (with her sister).  Congratulations to you both.  Commiserations to the other candidates. Thank you to both the outgoing Captains (Louisa Herring and Craig Frankum) for your work last year, and for Club Awards night - being held 25 November (Sunday) this year.

29 Oct: It's lovely to report on the success at the National Championships: Not the Club Championships (I'll report on them tomorrow), but the National Masters SC Championships at Sheffield, where our swimmers had a very successful meet. 11 swimmers, 8 medallists, 25 medals  (including 7 Gold) and ONE BRITISH RECORD: Katie Henderson (200m Breaststroke: 25-29)  Remarkable.  Well done.

What a fitting "goodbye" to Gordon Carmichael, their coach: Gordon is "retiring" to Cyprus at the end of October, and leaving our cold, dank climate for peace, solitude and relaxation after many years as coach to the Masters. Gordon: We thank you for your commitment and dedication to your swimmers, and wish you well as you packup and leave for your new adventures.

800m Club Champs tonight: as over 90% of Top National and Top District are at Bradfield, tonight's s Arthur Hill session is CANCELLED. See you at Bradfield!

28 Oct: Club Champs Day 1, Day 2 (and the 1500) results available via the Club Champs pages. 800 Free tomorrow at Bradfield: 5:30 warm-up, aiming for a 18:15 start. 6 heats so we should be finished just before 8pm.    We WILL need help and assistance in running this so please offer!

27 Oct: Club Champs Day 1 (and the 1500) results available via the Club Champs pages.

26 Oct: Club Champs today:  Good luck everyone!  It's a good time for PBs and a great club event.  Don't forget the clocks go back tonight and turn up too early on Sunday morning...

Speedo League Teams are published - Please confirm you are coming to Chris Thomas...

24 Oct: Winter South East Region championships - all our entries accepted.  Note that it's a K2 (not Crystal Palace) and the session times are different from the programme!  K2 "opens" at 1pm on Saturday and Sunday.  Finish times expected to be about 9pm on Saturday and 7pm Sunday.  Session 2 / 4 estimated to start about 4:30.

Champs weekend training arrangements: Sunday training cancelled completely of course. Dev 2 training is cancelled as per Jacqui's e-mail, and District are only training 6:30 to 7:30. Don't forget the clocks go back on Sunday morning as British Summer Time ends.

23 Oct: Records and PBs tumbled last night at Bradfield at the first of two distance sessions for the Club Champs. Even more heartening was the number of younger swimmers who tackled the 1500m race for the first time.  Well done to you all!  Thanks to to the parents who helped and timekept - much appreciated - indeed, we couldn't have done last night without you.

We are awaiting the results which have to be loaded onto the club's meet computer, hopefully ready soon....

20 Oct: Club Champs 1500m at Bradfield on Monday: Warm up starts 17:30, expected swimming start at 18:15. Mums and Dads: We will need help with timekeeping, so please plan to stay: We expect be finished by 8pm. 

17 Oct: Top-District: You are training at Central Pool on this Friday and Saturday morning, not Bradfield.

Speedo League: Change to the schedule: The "B" Team are now at Central Pool, Reading... Presumably as Cranleigh aren't participating.

16 Oct: Round 2 of Speedo League has been published .. The "A" team are at Guildford Specturm, swimming with Bexley, Guildford, Beau Sejour, Rushmoor Royals and Southampton.  The "B" team are just down the road at Cranleigh (Note: now Central Pool, Reading), swimming against just 3 teams: Bracknell & Wokingham (B), Wey Valley and Maidenhead.  Both are 18:15 warm-up and 18:45 starts.

15 Oct: To confirm the Parents' Meetings for the squads for this Thursday, 18th, the timings are:

The parent's evenings are an excellent opportunity to meet the chairman and head coach, and understand what the club is working on with your swimmers, and the expectations for the coming months.  Please try and make the meeting.

CLUB CAPTAIN Elections: The Mens' Captain candidates are Garry Dixon and Craig Frankum. The Ladies Captains Candidates are Louise Gillat, Holly Tanner and Vanessa Wood. Voting will take place over the Club Championships.

Speedo League: Terrific atmospheres and team spirits on show in both galas.  Coach Harry Wild reported being extremely proud of his young team at Basingstoke, many in their first gala, who swam extremely well and hard. Central hosted the A team where we were up against some of the top teams.  Both Reading Teams were placed 5th, but the margin wasn't so large that we can't improve next gala.  Round two is on November 10th, venue and opposition to be announced.

14 Oct: The 2008 National Qualifying Times have been published on the British Swimming website.

13 Oct: Speedo League: The B team at Basingstoke Aquadrome (the out of town one, near the cinemas and ice rink etc) is a 18:00 (6pm) warm-up for 18:30 start. The A team at Central is a 18:15 (6:15pm) warm up for 18:45 start. This is the last team list I had - but I understand there were some illnesses/injuries so if you've been asked to come along please do so.  Good luck everyone, and have fun.

11 Oct: Please can Trophy Holders return their cups to the Club, in a clean condition.  Destined for the Trophy Officers (Jenny Holyfield and Mel Sturgess) they can be left with one of the Administrators, etc on Thursday night. They would like all the cups back by October 25th please... If you can't recall what cups you have, here is a complete list of trophy holders.

10 Oct: URGENT News - tonight's Dev 1  and County squads - Leighton Park pool is closed because it sprang a leak!  Whilst repaired it won't be ready for tonight's session. Apologies - particularly to Dev 1 to whom this was an alternative whilst WiIlink was closed.

Crawley results published - Day 1 and Day 2.

9 Oct: Crawley results due soon, but Tony very happy with the squad performance: "Some reasonable swims, and a few very good ones. No big PBs, but good solid swims for this time of year. This wasn't a meet to gain PBs or medals but was chosen as more a 'fact-finding' mission, to see what we have to work with, work on, etc. It was more for the swimmers to get back into the routine for racing but not necessarily performing. After just 4 weeks training and only 2 long course sessions, great swims weren't to be expected. Having said that, most swam well and we did return with a couple of PBs and medals too, which was quite pleasing as a first meet. We will gear towards decent returns from Winter Regionals. Everyone had something good to come home with and nobody should be too concerned about any below average results, at this stage of the season it really isn't an issue.

7 Oct: The B-Grade results from yesterday are now posted to the web site in the B Grade area. Statistics: 101 swimmers, 396 swims, 40km swum by 7 teams, with 80 swimmers getting new PBs (242 swims were PBs). Thanks to everyone who swam, worked and supported the meet to make it run so well. The coaches said "A superb meet for the early season. Young swimmers from the lower squads held good technique in their swims few DQ's. All round an excellent meet."

6 Oct: Reading Cygnets are again holding their Club Championships as an Interclub Competition with Reading Swimming Club.  This is ideally suited for the lower squads as it's a great fun event with no pressure, held at Central Pool.  So if you are in Dev 2, Dev 1 or Age Squad, print of the Cygnets Championships entry form, fill it in and give it to Harry, Gordon or your Squad Administrator. There are no entry fees involved.  Most of Harry's squad usually turn up too.

4 Oct: Annual General Meeting: The AGM Formal Notice for the meeting on Monday 5th November is also on the notice board at Central. Forms for nominating Officers of the Executive Committee can be filled in.  (refer to Who's Who to see what other folks are involved) Please note that we are urgently looking for a (preferably two) Trophy Officers ... to manage the cups between the end of Club Champs (29 October) and the Awards night (25 November) - it's a short term job but needs a bit of focus!  If this might be you, talk to one of the committee folk at Central on Thursday...

A reminder that Adult membership fees are probably falling due now too .. If I recall correctly it's about £5 for the year.

It's also time to appoint the Ladies Club Captain and the Men's Club Captain - who are elected by the swimmers.  First of all start filling out the nomination forms!  (Junior Club Captains are appointed by the coaches for particular events) after reading the full details.

The team list for Speedo League is on the notice board at Central, as well as online.

3 Oct: The Evening Post, our main sponsor, is sending a photographer on Thursday 11th October to take a fresh set of "mug shots" to use with our regular meet reports. S/he will be at the pool from around 5.45 p.m.  and will aim to be out within an hour.

Please could squads going in the water at 18:00 (Dev 1, Age) try to get done beforehand and squads getting out at 18:00 (District, National) cooperate afterwards, and those training at 18.45 or 19:00 (County, Dev 2) try to arrive a little early - say by 18:30.

It is absolutely NOT compulsory and swimmers or parents are welcome to opt out, but obviously it's good to have the photos as up to date as possible. If you can't make it at all or on time, please let press officer Phil Tanner know and we will arrange to take individual shots at a later date.

Grateful if coaches could tell as many swimmers as possible. Coaches are welcome to have their own photos done if they would like.

2 Oct: Again, Dev 1 are hit by an Open Day at Leighton Park, which means they can't swim there on Sat 6th October.  We're try to arrange an alternative slot on Saturday, so stay tuned.

1 Oct: If you're in Development 1 Squad (coached by Russ Korting), you need to know that there will be no session tomorrow at Willink pool, as their boiler has flooded and the pool is closed.
They tell us that they expect to be open next week.

29 Sep: All B Grade entries are accepted. It's a cardless meet so no cards to forget - Once change is the second session starts 30 minutes earlier/: Warm Up 5:15, start 5:45.

28 Sep: The Annual General Meeting of Reading Swimming Club will be held at Reading Civic Centre (Kennet Rooms) on Monday 5th November 2007, starting at 8pm for 8:30pm.  Parents, swimmers, please try and be there if you can.

26 Sep: If you've not got your B grade entry, we still have space.  Now we operate cardless we can accept entries closer to the wire so try and get them in this Thursday please!

25 Sep: Aldershot re-opening next week. Some changes as the timetable reverts in that Age Squad will train at Bradfield on Wednesday rather than trek over to Aldershot, and National will Train at Aldershot Wednesday and Friday.

21 Sep: Two notices: Chris Thomas is asking for helpers for the B Grade on October 6th: If you aren't able to stay on the day, perhaps you could provide a plate of food for the coaches and officials at the half time break.  Chat to her on the Thursday Club night if you can help...

Club captains want to remind people the AWARDS night is on Sunday (yes, Sunday) 25th - at a venue near Central Pool. Book it in your diaries and swim well in the club champs!

20 Sep: Due to asbestos in the roof, Crystal Palace is currently closed.. This may affect the South East Region Winter championships. This is just a place holder if you might be affected, to keep an eye on their Website.

15 Sep: The County Championship qualifying times have been published on the County website.

9 Sep: There has been some re-jigging of pool times for some squads, reflected in the updated Training Timetable (which, incidentally also shows the displaced Aldershot sessions).  The affected squads here are Age and District. The coaches have been trying to contact all the affected swimmers, so if this is the first you've heard of it, and you're affected, please accept our apologies - we have tried to let you know directly first. Essentially the Queen Anne's sessions and Arthur Hill have been sort-of-swapped with slight timing changes.

3 Sep: Don't forget - Our October "B" grade gala, at Central, October 6th.  Entries in please!  If you can't find the forms from last term, the Entry Forms are on the web.

2 Sep: Welcome back: Hope you are all rested and ready to go!    We'd like to say "Welcome" to our newest members who've joined us over the summer break.

Welcome too, to our new Head Coach, Tony Woodward. We welcome Tony back to RSC as Head Coach: Years ago he was a parent to two RSC swimmers, and cut his coaching teeth with us.  We're delighted to have you in the role Tony!

We return to RSC having a two National Silver Medallists, who also won 4 Bronze Medals. Well Done to Adam Barrett and Kristina Paige.

Last years' website can be accessed through the archived pages: including the news and calendar, which contains links to meet results and reports.

---------------------------