The History of Spenborough Swimming Club

The origins of Spenborough Swimming Club began in 1890. The club swam at the public baths on Tofts Road in Cleckheaton (now the site of Tesco Supermarket). The baths were built at a cost of £4000 and comprised of a slipper and shower bath as well as a large swimming pool.

To coincide with the move to the new pool, the club secretary Mr Walker, launched a membership drive to increase membership.He was quoted as saying "the aim was to increase membership from the current 285 to 500 members. A principle of the club is teaching swimming and we are keen to teach children to swim". When the club opened its doors on the first night it was front page news although there did appear to be some teething problems. One parent wrote to the newspaper saying they queued for over a hour to get in. When they finally got in they had to come out after 10 minutes.

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On 8th March 1969 a new pool was built which continues to be the home of Spenborough Swimming Club. The pool was officially opened by HRH Duchess of Kent. To mark the opening the clubs boy and girl diving champions performed and inaugural dive in front of the duchess. The club became the envy of its counterparts throughout the country and ran a two hour training sessions every Tuesday night, a tradition that continues to this day.

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In more recent times the club has had its ups and downs but nowadays is going from strength to strength. In 2015 we became Swim 21 accredited. This recognises that we are committed to providing safe, effective and quality coaching of the highest standard for the benefit of our swimmers - in fact we've also produced the odd GB swimmer or two.