Swim England monthly updates 2024

The Swim England Board meets around six times a year and is made up of representatives from across the sport and physical activity sector. Members have background in legal, human resources and finance. The Swim England Board members are:

Richard Hookway (chairperson), Caroline Green (senior independent non-executive board member/deputy chairperson), Neil Booth, Alison Breadon, Aysha Kidwai, Andy Salmon, Barry Saunders, Bernard Simkins, Katie Walcott-Greenwood, Joan Wheeler, Carrie Ryan.

Nick Parkes urged people considering a fitness drive as part of a new year resolution to get active in the water – as it can be a ‘lifesaver’.

The 62-year-old had to be resuscitated after suffering a cardiac arrest during the Swim England Open Water National Masters Championships but his remarkable recovery had been attributed, in part, to his active lifestyle.

Swim England launched a refreshed version of its safeguarding policy and procedures document, Wavepower.

The new digital edition contained a number of important changes which aim to ensure everyone is able to take part in aquatic sports and activities in a safe, positive and enjoyable environment.

There were five key changes around adult safeguarding, safeguarding changing rooms, approved training, safer recruitment and the role of the welfare officer.

At the same time, the Swim England Handbook was also updated to reflect a number of updated regulations.

Two volunteers with Swim England’s Ripple Effect project were shortlisted for a national award.

Allyson Irvine and Ryan Carstairs are both Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Community Sport and Recreations Awards 2024 finalists in the Inspiration of the Year category.

Members of Swim England’s water polo talent centre took part in the Habawaba Spain International Tournament in Barcelona.

A total of 41 athletes and nine members of staff, coaches and team managers headed to the event which saw three Swim England teams take part. 

Meanwhile, the first Swim England Diving Team Z (Zone squad) camp of 2024 saw divers from seven clubs across England and Scotland come together for an ‘exciting weekend of learning’.

A total of 116 U16 athletes also took part in the inaugural Swim England Water Polo Talent Centre Festival at Liverpool’s Aquatics Centre.

Dorset became the first county to meet the standards of Swim England’s Governance Code for counties.

The code sets out the requirements counties must achieve in order to show they are demonstrating good governance and have necessary and up-to-date documentation in place.

Swim England’s volunteering team were hoping to recruit more people in 2024 in a bid to make aquatic sports grow and thrive.

Andrea Startin, the national governing body’s volunteering and development coordinator, said: “With so many interesting and varied volunteering opportunities, helping out in whatever capacity is a great way to participate in aquatics, have fun and potentially support your club or athlete to achieve their full potential.”

A number of the Swim England Performance Squad took part in the week-long training camp in Lanzarote.

The Barcelo Lanzarote Active Resort hosted the group as they focused on their preparation for April’s British Swimming Championships which play a key role in selection for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The Aquatic Activity and Swimming for Health eLearning resource, which has been described as ‘exceptionally helpful and practical’, was made available to access for anyone in the UK.

Developed in partnership by Swim England, the Aquatic Therapy Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (ATACP), University of Nottingham and NHS England, the resource raises awareness of the benefits of aquatic activity on health and wellbeing.

Swim England launched a brand new financial forum, aimed at supporting the success and sustainability of aquatic clubs.

The forums come as a follow up to the success of Swim England’s Club Financial Toolkit and last year’s Financial Sustainability webinars.

The World Championships were held in Doha at the beginning of February with Swim England members enjoying considerable success representing Great Britain.

Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe won Great Britain’s first-ever artistic swimming World Championships medal after finishing second in the technical duet final.

They followed that up with a bronze medal in the free duet final to book a place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Thorpe hoped their achievements would encourage youngsters to take up the sport.

She said: “I just hope it’s inspiring some young girls and boys back at home, we can lead the way for some of them and that there’s a bright future for artistic swimming in the UK.”

For the first time in more than a decade, Great Britain’s women’s water polo team competed in the World Championships and they finished a creditable 11th following victories over South Africa and Kazakhstan.

Britain’s swimmers won seven medals during the eight days of action, with both Laura Stephens and Freya Colbert topping the podium in the Women’s 200m Butterfly and 400m Individual Medley respectively.

The diving team also secured a competition-best seven medals, beating their previous best of six from Budapest two years ago.

Tom Daley, Scarlett Mew Jensen, Daniel Goodfellow and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix claimed Britain’s only diving gold as they triumphed in the Mixed Team event.

Swim England confirmed it was to carry out a ‘thorough’ review of its SwimMark accreditation programme and would be seeking the views of affiliated clubs, regions and key stakeholders. 

It would be the first in-depth evaluation of the programme since 2017 and was being carried out in light of feedback from the sport.

Stone and District Swimming Club have shared their positive experiences of completing Swim England’s Club Health Tracker.

The tracker, developed alongside Sporting Insights, is available for all aquatics clubs and supports them with six areas of club development.

Ian Hall, Stone and District Swimming Club chair, said: “After completion of the tracker, Swim England got in touch and their approach was extremely helpful, with them offering a series of potential options.”

The English School Swimming Association’s Duke of Cambridge Cup has been hailed as a ‘real triumph’ after Swim England’s Talent Centre athletes were invited to join the competition for 2024.

The event – which took place at the Alan Higgs Centre in Coventry – welcomed 60 athletes from the Swim England Talent Centre programme alongside another 60 which were nominated from schools across the country.

Leeds Beckett University was seeing the ‘life-changing’ effects for some participants after being the first university pool to achieve Swim England’s Water Wellbeing accreditation.

The pool joins a cohort of around 180 sites to now be Water Wellbeing accredited.

Swimming and Health Commission member Professor Scarlett McNally has used the pages of the BMJ to send a clear message to the medical community about the importance of swimming for the body, mind and communities.

“Swimming and other aquatic activities have immense benefits for health and wellbeing,” said Professor McNally.

Jane Nickerson paid tribute to Swim England’s bank of ‘passionate and positive’ volunteers as she retired after a ‘memorable’ 25 years with for the national governing body.

She said working in an environment ‘which truly impacts on the lives of others and provides so much enjoyment to participants means so much.’

Jane was replaced as chief executive by Andy Salmon, who joined Swim England from a similar role at British Triathlon.

Swim England published in full the findings of independent research commissioned as part of its pledge to create a better future for everyone involved in its sports.

The listening report captured responses from past and present Swim England members and was written by award-winning company The Behavioural Architects

Chairman Richard Hookway said: “We are sorry that the culture within aquatics has fallen short of what we strive for and that this has resulted in negative experiences within our community.

“As part of this, we take the views expressed about Swim England within the report extremely seriously. We are committed to change.”

Swim England joined a ‘powerful’ coalition of more than 40 leading national governing bodies and environmental organisations to urge politicians to allow greater access to ‘nature rich spaces’.

The national governing body supported the Outdoors for All manifesto, which was presented to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Stephen Barclay.

Swim England inducted Mercedes Gleitze – the first British woman to swim the English Channel – into its Hall of Fame on International Women’s Day.

Mercedes was only the sixth person to conquer the channel and her induction was confirmed on the day a film, Vindication Swim, which celebrated her life and remarkable achievement was released nationwide.  

The first Swim England event of 2024 was held in Crawley with 170 athletes from 21 clubs taking part in the GoCardless Swim England Artistic Swimming National Age Group Championships.

Six different events were held over the two-day competition, which were judged on the new artistic swimming rules for the first time.

At the event, artistic swimming stalwart Hannah Secher was ‘grateful’ to join the prestigious list of Mary Black Award winners.

Some of the nation’s current and future stars enjoyed a three-day pathway camp at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre which will provide them with a ‘great experience’ ahead of their upcoming events.

Members of Team Z then took part in a camp at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre to support their preparation for the upcoming British Elite Junior Diving Championships and Swim England National Age Group Championships.

A new course to help swimming coaches play a key role in boosting the number of blind and partially-sighted people participating in aquatics was launched.

Swim England worked alongside leading sight loss charity British Blind Sport and UK Coaching to help create the bespoke online training package.

Andy Salmon gave his first interview since becoming Swim England chief executive.

He urged the aquatics community to get behind the national governing body’s ‘commitment to change’ – and issued a sincere apology to anyone who had endured poor experiences or inappropriate behaviour.

It was announced more than 300 facilities were to receive a share of a £60 million fund to help swimming pools become more energy efficient.

However, while Swim England welcomed the investment from the second phase of the Swimming Pool Support Fund, it said the fact local authorities applied for four times the amount available showed the ‘scale of the problems facilities still face’ and called for a ‘long-term plan to help deliver the network of sustainable facilities we need for the future’.

A number of athletes from Swim England’s Team Y and Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) programme took part in the 8 Nations Youth Diving Meet in Turin, Italy.

Swim England has welcomed new guidance which offers ideas to ensure youngsters receive high-quality and inclusive PE, sport and physical activity at school.

Swim England supported the launch of Pride Swim 2024 at the Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships.

Pride Swim 2024 aims to connect the LGBTQ+ community and allies together through swim sessions across the country.

Mike Hawkes, Swim England head of diversity and inclusion, said: “It is imperative our sports champion inclusivity and equality. By working together, we can help to connect the LGBTQ+ community and their allies through aquatics and raise the visibility of LGBTQ+ members within our sports.”

A new bespoke Safeguarding in Aquatics course was launched by Swim England.

It covers ‘the important and unique aspects’ of safeguarding in an aquatic environment – and has been specifically designed to help people understand their role, duty and responsibility in relation to keeping everyone in their organisation safe and protected from harm.

Included on the course is an in-depth look at child protection and, for the first time, adult safeguarding and how to identify the types, signs and symptoms of abuse and harm.

Carrie Ryan was appointed to the Swim England Board as a trustee, independent non-executive director and chair of Swim England Trading Limited.

The vice-president and global head of strategy and business development at Dutch-based investment group Prosus replaced Raj Kumar, who has stepped down from the role to pursue an overseas career opportunity.

Carrie said: “As a keen swimmer, it’s a huge honour to be appointed to the Swim England Board.”

A campaign was launched to highlight the vital community value of swimming teachers as Swim England research revealed that an estimated 667,000 children across the UK will miss out on lessons due to an instructor shortage.

As part of the latest Love Swimming campaign, Swim England and a collaboration of leisure partners were calling on people to consider the benefits of switching career paths and taking on a more fulfilling profession.

Swim England business engagement director, Rebecca Cox, added: “This is a chance to celebrate the incredible work swimming teachers across the nation do.”

More than 20 English athletes were named in the Team GB pool and marathon swimming squads for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The 33-strong team included seven Olympic champions and nine Olympic medallists.

Tributes were paid to former Amateur Swimming Association President and Swim England Hall of Fame inductee Alan Donlan, who died at the age of 87.

The national governing body was also saddened to hear of the passing of Anne Reah, who was the President in 2017.

West London Penguin and City of Manchester were both victorious in the GoCardless Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships open and female categories respectively.

In the U19s competition held at Gloucester’s GL1 leisure centre, Cheltenham claimed the female title, while Worthing triumphed in the open competition.

Swim England announced a series of Values of Vision Roadshows would be held across the country in May, June and July.

The roadshows would give members the opportunity to help shape the organisation’s future direction and culture.

Chief executive Andy Salmon said: “The events will help create a clear vision for our sports and lead to a robust set of values that will be deeply relevant, meaningful and specific to the aquatics community.”

New figures released in Sport England’s Active Lives survey showed more people returned to the pool in the last 12 months.

Almost 4.2 million people took part in swimming activities at least twice a month between November 2022 and November 2023 – a rise of more than 400,000 on the previous year’s statistics.

Salford Synchronised Swimming Club won their first-ever Redwood Trophy at the GoCardless Swim England Artistic Swimming National Championships.

Around 150 artistic swimmers took part in the event at Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Sports Village.

Swim England appointed Richard Palmer-Jones to its Sport Operations Committee.

Richard, who has an extensive background in sport both inside and outside of aquatics, replace Ian Mackenzie whose four-year term on the committee had come to an end.  

A new engaging video campaign to help stop younger members falling foul of a key safeguarding policy change.

The Keep it in Your Locker 60-second film was created following an extensive consultation with Swim England’s members aged under 18, parents, coaches and member’s of the national governing body’s Youth Advisory Panel.

It includes the key messages of changing rooms are changing, you wouldn’t like it if it was you and leave the fun for the pool – as the film’s stars are all seen putting their phones in their lockers to avoid breaching Wavepower.

A parliamentary debate on the provision of swimming and water safety lessons in primary schools was welcomed by Swim England.

John Cryer MP, Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead who is vice-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Swimming, told the debate that ‘the importance of swimming and water safety lessons in school should never be underestimated’.

Ryan Carstairs, a Swim England Ripple Effect volunteer, was awarded Great Britain Deaf Swimming Club’s ‘Andrew Rees Award’ for his volunteer work within the sport.

Swim England welcomed the creation of 27 new designated bathing water locations.

All 27 of the new sites were selected following a two-week consultation earlier this year – which Swim England lobbied in support of – and include more than a dozen river sites.

The Swim England Online Community was launched which would put members at the heart of the national governing body’s decision-making process.

Hundreds of members would be given the chance to have their say and help shape future opportunities and experiences.

New proposed statutory guidance which would ensure schools must teach children about water safety was hailed by Swim England as an ‘important and welcome step’ in helping to keep youngsters safe.

Swim England held the first of its Values and Vision Roadshows, with chief executive Andy Salmon encouraging all members of the aquatics community to attend.

Everyone Active was awarded Swim England’s Learn to Swim Accreditation for all 140 of its leisure centres delivering swimming lessons. 

The new two-year accreditation means the charitable leisure trust will, in 2026, have held the quality mark for ten years in a row.

Swim England announced it was to carry out a consultation with clubs and key stakeholders in June as part of its comprehensive review of the SwimMark accreditation scheme.

The insight gathered will help drive and shape decisions on how Swim England can best offer support, guidance and development opportunities to its clubs and members.

The nomination process for the 2024 Swim England National Awards began to mark National Volunteers Week.

A total of 23 awards were up for grabs with the winners being announced during a ceremony at the University of Birmingham’s Great Hall on Saturday 30 November.

Commonwealth Games medallists Kyle Kothari and Jordan Houlden are set to make their Olympic debuts after being added to a ‘really strong’ Team GB diving squad for the Paris 2024 Games.

They joined the eight synchronised pairs who had already been selected to compete in the French capital.

Swim England chief executive Andy Salmon gave an update on the organisation’s work to meet the recommendations in the Listening Report.

He said the report was the foundation for ‘a new approach to everything we do’ and that the national governing body would be making ‘considered, informed decisions for the benefit of everyone involved in aquatics’.

Swim England were one of more than 200 bodies, athletes, businesses and charities calling on political leaders to use the General Election to #TakeTheLead and commit to making the UK the most active nation in Europe.

As part of Pride month, Swim England people development director Marie Cooper officially opened the London Royal Docks’ second annual Pride Swim – and shared her experiences of the event.

A pilot project set up to help bridge the gap between learn to swim programmes and clubs has proved to be so popular it was being extended.

The Swim England Club Links initiative aims to encourage closer working relationships between clubs and learn to swim provider.

A new Swim England film encouraged nurses to consider ‘Swimming as Medicine’.

The latest film has been developed in response to research commissioned by Swim England in 2020, which identified nurses as a key professional group in influencing behaviour change at an individual patient level.

Nurse practitioner and Physical Activity Clinical Champion, Michelle Turner, said: “As nurses we have the power and influence to help our patients think about becoming active through swimming.”

free taster sessions were being held up and down the country as part of Swim England’s Inspired to Try campaign.

The sessions were being run to mark the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in a bid to inspire a new generation to take up aquatic sports.

Swim England staged the GoCardless Diving National Age Group Championships at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

Southend Diving were crowned as the top club for the first time in the their history as they collected a total of 20 medals across the four-day competition.

A group of 24 swimmers from Swim England’s Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) programme travelled to Tuscany to help them prepare for their end-of-season meets.

Following the General Election, Swim England chief executive Andy Salmon offered his thoughts on how swimming can help the new Government deliver on key policy missions.

Rugby Artistic Swimming Club (pictured below) were crowned champions at the GoCardless Swim England Artistic Swimming Combo Cup in a thrilling finale at Ponds Forge.

Around 800 athletes from 33 clubs took part in the event at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge International Pool.

The following day, the GoCardless Swim England Artistic Swimming National Masters Championships saw around 200 competitors from 26 clubs take part.

Swim England announced it would be publishing updated regulations which aim to reduce the workload on club officials and volunteers by offering increased structure and support when dealing with complaints or safeguarding concerns.

The revised Judicial and Safeguarding Regulations will come into effect from 3 September 2024 and aim to ensure a fairer process for all involved.

Industry partners Swim England, the Swimming Teachers’ Association and Swim Wales published a joint statement on the use of temporary, ‘pop-up’ pools.

A new fact sheet which explains how people can benefit from swimming and aquatic activity after a stroke was produced by Swim England.

The Swimming after a Stroke fact sheet has been developed by the national governing body in conjunction with the University of Nottingham and the Stroke Association – and is aimed at helping more than 1.3 million stroke survivors in the country to get active.

Swim England’s Online Community had been sharing their thoughts on membership benefits – and having their say on how they could be improved.

Cognita Enrich ME has been awarded Swim England’s prestigious ‘Provider of Excellence’ status – becoming the first international organisation to achieve this.

The accreditation, valid for two years and exclusive to international Learn to Swim providers, will see Cognita Enrich ME hold the esteemed quality mark until 2026.

Swim England members shared their good luck messages to Team GB’s aquatic athletes ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

More than 500 swimmers descended on Rother Valley for Swim England’s two open water competitions.

Portsmouth Northsea came away with the top club award at the GoCardless Swim England Open Water National Age Group Championships.

Only 24 hours later, the GoCardless Swim England National Masters Championships took centre stage.

The event saw Nick Parkes back on the podium only 12 months after suffering a cardiac arrest during the 5K race at the 2023 chanpionships.

A hectic end to the month saw the GoCardless Swim England National Summer Meet start at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge International Pool.

For the first time, the competition was held across six days and attracted almost 1,000 competitors from 242 clubs nationwide.

The start of the month saw the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in full swing.

Team GB’s swimmers, divers, artistic swimmers and marathon swimmers all impressed in the French capital.

The swimming team picked up five medals, one gold and four silvers, while the divers won five, one silver and four bronze.

Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe provided a highlight on the penultimate day of the Games as they won Team GB’s first ever Olympic Games medal in artistic swimming, taking silver in the duet.

Swim England chief executive Andy Salmon hailed all of TeamGB’s aquatic athletes saying they ‘had inspired so many people of all ages simply by competing in Paris – and that was a legacy which is as equally important as any medal won’.

William Roberts was appointed as the new chair of Swim England’s Swimming and Health Commission Group.

He replaced former Swim England chief executive Jane Nickerson, who took up the position following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indoor Swim Safe sessions had reached more than 120,000 young people at 140 Everyone Active venues.

The Swim England and RNLI’s experiential water safety sessions are traditionally held at outdoor locations but staging them at pools allowed more young people to receive a consistent water safety message and experience.

Athletes competing at World Aquatics and European Aquatics Masters Championships would no longer have to complete an international permit when travelling independently.

Following feedback from the Masters community, Swim England, Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales would now authorise eligibility to compete for individuals.

New research from Swim England has found that children involved in swimming lessons are not just gaining vital water safety skills – but extensive additional benefits.

As part of the latest #LoveSwimming campaign, the insight also revealed that swimming lessons help build confidence, happiness and social skills to create friendships at an early age.

One mum, Joanne, hailed the ‘wide-ranging life skill benefits’ that swimming helps to develop after seeing the positive impact on her twin girls.

The end of the month saw the Paralympic Games begin in Paris – with Swim England talent pathway athlete Iona Winnifrith the youngest member of the entire Paralympics GB team at the age of 13.

ParalympicsGB swimmers won a total of 32 medals in Paris – 18 of them gold – as they topped the swimming table.

Poppy Maskill and Alice Tai both collected five podium places each during a hugely-successful Games for the British swimmers at the Paris La Defense Arena.

Swim England published updated Judicial and Safeguarding Regulations which aimed to reduce the workload on club volunteers.

The new regulations offered increased structure and support when dealing with complaints or safeguarding concerns – and a dedicated web page was published containing guidance documents and everything club officials and volunteers needed to know.

Paralympic champion Stephanie Millward has hailed the publication of a new fact sheet on swimming with Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis. 

Millward, a MS Society ambassador who won 10 Paralympic medals, including two golds at the Rio 2016 Games, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was 17.

The Clean Water Sports Alliance welcomed a new Water (Special Measures) Bill which would give increased power to regulators to tackle companies who pollute and make it easier for them to get fined.

Four new sports also joined the Alliance to help Swim England and other national governing bodies who are members of the group to tackle the issue of water pollution.

Valuable insight gathered from Swim England’s ‘refreshing’ Values and Vision Roadshows is helping to shape a revised version of the national governing body’s strategy.

Chief executive Andy Salmon said: “The roadshows really exceeded our expectations. From the very start, we received some fantastic inputs and insight and it was pleasing to see so much positivity and passion at every venue.”

Swim England highlighted key projects which provided equal access and opportunities during National Inclusion Week 2024.

They included the Ripple Effect project, why swimming is so inclusive and much more than just a sport or exercise activity and an update on Inclusion 2024.

Meanwhile, Andy said Swim England were committed to making sure that inclusion is embedded in our decision-making process and it will be a key feature in our refreshed strategy.

A new Masters Swimming Leadership Group was created by Swim England after listening to feedback from its members.

Eight English divers were selected as part of a nine-strong Great Britain squad for the World Aquatics Junior Diving Championships in Rio later this year.

They’ll head to the Brazilian seaside city for the 25th edition of the Championships which will take place from Saturday 24 November to Saturday 1 December.

Meanwhile, the Swim England Youth Development squad and the Junior Development squad had their first training camps of the new diving season at the London Aquatics Centre and  and Ponds Forge respectively.

Swim England celebrated the importance of Black History Month throughout October and the individuals and organisations from all aspects of aquatic sport who champion equality.

A series of articles and videos included thoughts from André Blackman, a member of Our to Swim, mother and daughter Andrea and India Brown, hair care tips from Marie Owen, swim teacher Elidia L’Eveille and the first Black woman to represent Great Britain, Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell.

Swim England announced a new strategic partnership with the Swimming Teachers’ Association (STA). 

For the first time in history, the two organisations had drawn up a Memorandum of Understanding with the aim of fostering collaboration in the swimming sector for the betterment of its stakeholders and the wider sector.

Swim England patron Prince William has hailed the benefits of swimming as he praised a team of passionate trustees for their efforts to reopen a community pool.

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales visited the newly-opened Birtley Community Pool, in Tyne and Wear, and said: “The next generation need to know that swimming is important. It can save your life. It’s a great skill. It’s fun. It’s good for your health. It’s good for social reasons. It’s good for not being isolated.”

Kent were crowned champions of the GoCardless Swim England County Team Championships as they topped the Division One table by only four points from Yorkshire.

A total of 38 counties took part in the colourful competition at Sheffield’s Ponds Forge International Pool with Berkshire & South Buckinghamshire making an instant return to the top flight as they triumphed in Division Two.

Swim England announced it was developing a range of new educational resources to support females at all levels and ages to continue to enjoy the water.

The first to be published focused on the menstrual cycle, while other topics to be covered include female nutrition, pelvic floor, contraception and the menopause.

A new network which aims to share research into open water swimming has held its inaugural meeting.

Delegates from around the world, including Swim England, attended the first get together of the Outdoor Swimming Research Forum at the Windermere Jetty Museum.

A number of free online school swimming and water safety training sessions were set up as part of the Inclusion 2024 programme.

The sessions have been specifically designed to create water safety training for people working with students with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities.

Swim England created a free interactive course to give young volunteers a basic understanding of safeguarding, welfare and best practice.

The Swim England Foundation Safeguarding for Young People is aimed at anyone aged under 18 who doesn’t have a designated role at a club that requires a DBS check but wants to improve their understanding of the topic.

Swim England supported Women in Sport’s fifth annual #TimeTogether campaign, which focused on encouraging midlife mums to understand the importance of being active with their teenage daughters.

It was announced swimming and para-swimming were included in the 10 sports at the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Andy Salmon, Swim England chief executive, said: “It’s fantastic to see that Glasgow has stepped in to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games when there has been so much uncertainty at whether the event would go ahead at all.

“However, it’s particularly disappointing that diving, artistic swimming and water polo haven’t been included among the 10 sports that are being staged as part of the Games … and our athletes are not going to have the opportunity to represent their country at such a prestigious event.”

The Clean Water Sports Alliance – of which Swim England is a member – welcomed the Government’s decision to launch an independent commission to look at the largest review of the water sector since privatisation.

Trafford Metro won the Otter 150 Cup for the third year running at a successful GoCardless Swim England National Masters Championships.

The three-day event saw 119 British, 44 European and 17 world records broken. 

Swim England revelled the finalists for its National Awards, which were taking place at the University of Birmingham’s Great Hall on Saturday 30 November.

West London Penguin were crowned GoCardless Swim England Water Polo Female U15 National Age Group Champions following a dramatic penalty shootout victory over City of Liverpool.

In a repeat of last year’s final, Penguin avenged their defeat from 12 months ago in spectacular style – scoring three times in the final 90 seconds to take it to penalties before going on to win the shootout 4-3.

Representatives from Swim England were among 15,000 people from across the country who took part in the Clean Water March in London.

The event called for clean, healthy and abundant water for all and was coordinated by River Action and supported by the Clean Water Sports Alliance.

Swim England paused its SwimMark accreditation scheme for future submissions as it confirmed it was looking to create a new framework to support the long-term development of clubs.

The decision was taken following a six-month review of SwimMark and feedback from clubs, volunteers, stakeholders and operators.

Ally White, Swim England sport development director, said: “The decision to pause SwimMark is not one that has been taken lightly but it’s been made with the interests of members and volunteers at its heart.”

Tributes were paid to former Great Britain water polo coach, Jim Caulfield.

Swim England water polo programme lead Craig Figes, who was coached by Jim, said: “Jim gave so much to support the sport of water polo all across the nation.

“He was an inspirational figure to so many people in our sport and left a lasting legacy that will go on for years to come.” 

A youthful England senior men’s water polo team returned to competition with a 10th-place finish at the EU Nations Cup in Brno, Czechia.

West London Penguin sealed a GoCardless Swim England Water Polo U15 National Age Group Championship double with victory in the open competition.

They defeated Croydon Amphibians 11-6 in the gold medal match in Coventry.

Devon regained the Swim England National Masters Inter-Counties title after five nationwide events took place.

It marked the county’s return to the top of the standings, following their victory in 2022, after they secured a total of 1972 points.

The England U18 women’s team went undefeated as they won gold at the EU Nations Junior Women’s Cup tournament in Brno, Czechia.

They scored a total of 80 goals and conceded just 39 on their way to an impressive five wins from five.

Swim England announced its world-leading Learn to Swim framework would be the focus of a nationwide tour which gets underway in February 2025.

Six destinations across the country would host the tour, which was aimed at all Learn to Swim providers, from operators, swim schools and teachers.

Swim England launched its new strategy which had been shaped with the help of the aquatics community.

One Swim England had cultural change and collaboration running through it and chief executive, Andy Salmon, said it represented a ‘significant milestone’ for the national governing body.

He added: “We’re thrilled about what lies ahead and can’t wait for everyone involved in the aquatics community to be part of this vibrant, evolving story of One Swim England.”

The strategy was unveiled at the Swim England National Awards, which took place at the University of Birmingham’s Great Hall.

A total of 27 awards were presented during the ceremony, recognising the vast contribution made by individuals and organisations from all aquatic sports.

Andy added: “It was wonderful to spend an afternoon with so many inspirational people gathered in one room. Congratulations to all our winners and nominees.”