City of Ely Swimming Club celebrates its 100th anniversary

 The club was formed in 1923 with training and events taking place in the River Ouse near the Cutter Inn.

An open-air swimming pool was built on Angel Drove in 1934 so, not surprisingly, members only trained in the summer months.

1977 saw the club take up winter training in St Ives which improved their standards and then in 1981, Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies opened the Paradise Pool which was home to the club until it closed in 2018.

The club relocated to new facilities at The Hive where they remain today.

The team celebrated over the summer with a centenary party at Witchford Village Hall, money raised through fundraising and donations helped to support the swimmers and families to enjoy this momentous occasion with outdoor inflatables and disco fun.

Each swimmer was awarded a special centenary medal and swim cap for their efforts at the short distance Club Championships.

Highlights for the club in its 100th year have been:

Three top club awards, 16 Top Boy and Girl awards; Team wins at Junior and Senior fenland leagues; 17 swimmers competing at county level; eight swimmers competing at regional level; three swimmers competing at national events; two swimmers selected for the East Region Development programme; one swimmer selected for the Swim England National Age Group Development programme and an amazing 154 club records broken.

The masters team has also grown with its biggest squad to date of 15 swimmers with three of these also competing at national level.

The club finished the year with its Christmas celebrations and awards for the long distance Club Championships with special recognition and trophies awarded for the year in the following:

Junior Swimmers of the Year: Gabriel Kim and Peony Jackson; Intermediate Swimmers of the Year: Alex Pashley and Jacob Schultz, Lauren Turnock and Felicity Gates; Senior Swimmers of the Year: Cillian O’Brien and Keira Mavin; Most Improved Swimmer: Jake Dunham; Coaches Award: – Lyra Schultz.