The AGM is on 15th June

at the Methodist Church Hall in Backcester Lane. The meeting starts at 8pm and we hope that as many of you as possible will be able to attend.  

We have received a £100 voucher for sports equipment from Sport Across Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent. We were asked to complete a questionnaire and were selected at random, as one of the clubs who took the time to respond, to receive a voucher. Paul and Sally are busy putting together a shopping list, including some new goggles. 

You should all have received a letter detailing the results of our questionnaire. If you haven’t had a copy, ask one of the committee or send an email to the club at lichfieldswimmingclub@ hotmail.co.uk and we will send you one.

The club has to submit a full audit of its activities to retain its Swim21 status. We have completed the initial audit stage and are now busy collecting evidence to support our application. This process will take several weeks and our Swim21 submission then has to be passed by a regional panel before it goes before the national panel for consideration. We first qualified for Swim 21 status in May 2003 and were one of the first clubs in Staffordshire to meet the requirements of the scheme.

Since qualification, we have had to submit annual plans and a review of the previous year’s activities to retain our Swim21 status. Although the full audit requires a lot of work, it helps us to identify which areas are running well and where we need to improve.

Level 1 and 2 Teachers courses are available in July and August. Please see the notice board for details and speak to Sally if you are interested in finding out more.

On 30^th June, the pool at Tamworth was booked for Competitive Start Awards. All our swimmers need to be tested to ensure that they are safe to dive from blocks at the shallow end. As blocks cannot be used at the shallow end of the Friary pool, we organised time at Tamworth to assess our younger swimmers.

Unfortunately, as most of you will know from recent newspaper reports, the pool at Tamworth has been closed and its future is as yet unknown.

Alternative arrangements for the 30^th June are being sought and we will let you know details in the very near future.

This session will also be an opportunity for swimmers to take part in timed swims, more details will be on the notice board soon.

ASA Law relating to minimum age of competition has been amended.  This change has already been put into place for some galas. The new rule states,

“The age of a swimmer at midnight on 31^st December in the year of competition is no longer used in the determination of a swimmer’s age with reference to the minimum ages of competition for any swimming competition.”

and

“For each category the age specified shall be the age of the swimmer at midnight on the day of the event or the final day of a series of events forming part of one competition, whichever is later.”

Unfortunately, short notice of this amendment resulted in team sheets having to be altered at the last moment for a recent gala. We apologise any inconvenience and disappointment this may have caused.

This new ruling will mean that one off galas will be age on day but a series of galas, which form part of one competition (such as the Diddy League or our annual stroke galas), will be age on day of the last gala of the competition. As we are already part way through our stroke gala competition, the committee has agreed that no change will be made to the age ruling for this competition until next year.

If you have any questions about the new age group rule, please ask Paul or Sally.

Nutrition, particularly what and when to eat before a gala, is often asked about by swimmers and parents. Paul has information sheets and nutrition plans and is looking for volunteers who would like to take part in following the recommendations of the plan. Copies are available for anyone who is interested. If you would like to find out what is involved, please ask Paul or Sally for details.

Advance notice of session times for the Summer holidays – instead of four sessions on Wednesdays, we will be running three, one hour sessions, as follows:

7-8pm – swimmers who currently swim in the 7-7.40pm session plus swimmers who are in the first three lanes of the 7.40-8.20pm session.

8-9pm – swimmers who currently swim in the top three lanes of the 7.40-8.20pm session plus all swimmers in the 8.20-9pm session.

9-10pm – no change.

We have been advised that the Friary Pool will be closed for maintenance work during the last week in July and the first two weeks in August. We are hoping to organise alternative pool time at Nether Stowe and will keep you informed of the situation.

Lesley is organising entries to an Open Sprint Meet at Braunstone on 25^th November. This event provides an opportunity for all swimmers to experience competitive swimming. If you are interested in competing in this event, please speak to Lesley before the end of May.