New 21 November Thanks to the volunteers who came onto poolside last evening to count lengths - Becky Bexley, Bev Hammocks, Michelle Hams, Diane Vignon, Darren Sayer, Gary Hams, Mick Little, Zena Mays, Mike Pond and Ben New.  Click here to see the distances swum. New 28 October It's been a while since there has been anything new on here, but there is always something happening in the background! Splash night - the annual Thursday where we get the inflatable island out - is booked for 18 December.  Swimmers attend at their normal time.  Siblings are welcome to play, providing that: - entry is paid, £1 each for a sibling, and £1 for parent/carer - siblings must be supervised by a parent or carer - ALL swimmers must be able to swim 50m (2 lengths) to go on the big inflatable - that includes grown ups! - please - no guests who are not siblings or parents/carers - we will refuse entry to friends, cousins, sleepover friends, etc There will be NO swimming on Thurs 25 December (obviously!) and 1 January 2009.  We return on 8 January 2009 at normal times. The gala is booked for SATURDAY 9 MAY 2009  at Hartsdown Pool, Margate, warm up at 6.30pm.  Likely finish time is about 9.30pm-ish.  We will continue with the standard events but might add another relay just to keep the excitement level high! Entry will open in early April so look out for the online entry on the website and there will be some paper forms, too but we are trying to keep them to a minimum. Presentation Evening is booked for Friday 12 June 2009 at the Broadstairs Pavilion.  We have ordered a fine, sunny evening to encourage you to bring guests to enjoy the evening! Please remember that the gala and Presentation Evening are organised by about 6 people, who sort out entries, races, officials, medals, trophies, paperwork, stopwatches, volunteers, results, raffle prizes, posters, & all sorts of other things that you might not notice!  The Gala Committee have already started working on the event some 6 months ahead of time, and volunteers are always welcome.  Please see Emma Kemp in reception if you can help. Here's some good news amidst a lot of gloom at the moment!  We have a couple of swimmers who have come to us from a competitive club via another lesson provider.  The swimmers have again been taught by their original teacher, about a year or so down the line.  She commented that she was impressed that they had maintained the quality of their strokes and are efficient swimmers.  We've taken that as a huge compliment, as we only have 40 minutes per week per session, and it's great to have some good feedback from a respected teacher. You might have noticed that we have been short of teachers for the last few weeks so any offers of help to clear up at the end of the evening is very welcome, as the teachers have been poolside for a couple of hours by then and need all the help they can get!  Please don't wait to be asked, just come out on poolside at about 9.30 to help pack up.  Thanks.  A big thank you is due to Lisa Andrews, who will be stepping in during the run up to Christmas to teach in the small pool - thanks, Lisa. For those parents who pay by cheque, we are encouraging payment at the beginning of December for that month and for January.  This makes life easier for us (less trips to the bank) and hopefully easier for you, as it will be one less bill to pay in the new year! We'd be delighted to hear from you if you have taken the skills that you have learnt with us, to another event, ie a Scouts' or Guides gala, or Rookies - email us with your story or catch us when we've got a minute on Thursday. Talking of success the Masters went to Gillingham a couple of weeks ago for the Medway Masters.  With a very small team of Darren Gambrill, Ian Cockerell, Bryan May and Simon Turner, and no female swimmers due to injury or work commitments, the boys gained a creditable 61 points and came 11th.  Well done!  Our training partners, Dover Lifeguards, propped us up in the table, coming 12th. If you are a Masters swimmer (age 25+) and just want a short term target to aim for, the asa have put out the details of the 2009 T30 swim.  This is where you swim for 30 mins, with someone counting your lengths on a formatted sheet.  Just send your sheet in, with £5, and you will get a placing amongst people in your age group and your name on the asa website!  It's a good easy swim if you just want something to get you in the water (maybe a bit of weight loss either side of the festive season!).  Entry starts 1st November and closes 31 January 2009.  Contact us if you would like more details - broadstairsswim@tesco.net  New 4 Sept Thanks to everyone who made it back last week and this week for their NPTS assessments - click here to find out who passed.  We won't be doing any more assessments for this teaching scheme. We will probably be playing water polo next week, 11th Sept, subject to having volunteers to put the goals together!  We've asked some of the senior swimmers to help. We will be doing more assessing on Sept 18th and possibly Sept 25th for the new teaching system that is coming in.  There will be some changes in the groups, see 24 August below for a bit more detail. And a short reminder to make sure your subs are up to date.  We will be enforcing the Club's Arrears Policy much more efficiently from now on.  Please have a read to see the details of this policy and the Club's hardship fund. New 25 August Congratulations to Team GB who are home today from Beijing!  Who could have forecast that the team as a whole would have excelled to this level.  Some people are saying that Team GB are good at sports where you can lay or sit down - cycling, swimming, rowing - but that's a bit harsh!  It's more to do with funding sport adequately and putting the right people in the support teams. Talking of supporting people, we know that everyone is busy but if you are looking around for a new direction to take in your work, or need to get some work experience before applying for jobs, or just want to give something back to our local communities, whatever your age, have a look at these two websites.  They can help you to find local opportunities in all sorts of organisations - one that captured my imagination was a Magic Reindeer Dust Distributor for MacMillan Cancer Support! do-it.org.uk is part of the charity YouthNet, a non-profit making organisation, and is the only national database for volunteer organisations to register for help.  Do-it match volunteers to organisations looking for their skills in local communities.  Partners include Marie Curie Cancer Care; DirectGov; The National Trust; Sky; Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), JobCentre Plus, London 2012 through partnership with Timebank and v TimeBank UK is a "national charity inspiring and connecting a new generation of people to volunteer in their communities, and enabling charitable organisations and businesses to develop innovative and effective volunteer recruitment programmes"  A short reminder that the Club supports SwimLine, the asa version of ChildLine.  The service is provided for anyone involved in swimming, including children and young people who believe that the welfare of a young child is at risk. SwimLine's number is 0808 100 4001. NSPCC Child Protection Helpline direct number is 0808 800 5000 - (open 24 hours a day and calls are free). Textphone: 0800 056 0566 New 24 August Please see the reminder below for 21 August regarding subs. A few dates for assessments - we are allowing 2 weeks for the current NPTS assessments, 28 August and 4 September, followed by a skills evening, possibly water polo.  The second wave of assessments will be on 11 September and probably 18 September, so please make sure your child comes along to these sessions to lessen the workload for the teachers. The groups will be sorted out in the couple of weeks after the last assessment. The moves will probably mean that existing groups of swimmers may be moved into different groups as they all develop and progress at different rates.  We always do our best to make sure that each swimmer is in the group appropriate to their ability, so that they are aiming for targets that are attainable but achievable. Masters swimmers - next event is the Medway Masters on October 19 at Black Lion Pool in Gillingham.  Go to the Medway ASA website for the form but be quick as it's close to closing date!  If you're interested in joining up, please contact us on broadstairsswim@tesco.net New 21 August The summer holidays are almost over and the number of swimmers coming to sessions is rising!  Please remember to check on your return that your subs are up to date if you pay by cheque and have been away on holiday.  Subs are still due during holiday times as we still have pool fees to pay.  See the new Arrears Policy page for details of steps that may be taken if subs fall behind and about the Club's Financial Hardship fund. We had special guests this evening from Hythe Aqua Synchronised Swimming section, who put our swimmers through their paces!  Everyone took part, from the little ones in the teaching pool, who joined us in the Main Pool for their session, through to the intermediate swimmers in 8.15 and the older, stronger swimmers from the 9.00 group.  These last two groups managed a double session - well done!  We'd like to offer massive thanks to the Hythe Aqua visitors - Helen, Sue, Penny and Natalie on poolside, and Collette, Lizzie, Hanna and Jessica in the water, doing some impressive stuff whilst upside down holding their breath!  Hopefully all the swimmers enjoyed themselves and tried lots of things that we hadn't been able to teach them ourselves.  We're delighted to say that the coaches and synchro swimmers commented on how well our swimmers worked, how they all tried everything and how well behaved they were - well done and thanks, it's very rewarding to get good feedback like that. If your child wants to take it a step further, and maybe go to Hythe for more development, please contact Helen on helenmseamer@btinternet.com  If you've wanted to have a go at synchro but never quite had the courage, and are a competant swimmer, contact Helen and maybe go along to one of their training sessions at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon at Hythe Pool. If we've got your email address, you will have seen a short update last week about the next few weeks.  We will be changing to the new ASA teaching plan over the next couple of months, which we think will be a bit of an admin nightmare! It means that the main pool swimmers will be assessed for their current Level targets and then assessed to see which of the new Stages they will fit into. This process may take up to 3 weeks for us to sort out so please be patient as there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes as well to make it all happen.  Please make sure your swimmer attends the sessions just after their return to school so that all the assessments can be done together. This has been put on us by the ASA and we have to go with it. Very advanced warning that the Club Gala will be at the end of April/early May 2009 with presentation evening about a month later. You might remember mention of one of our former Masters swimmers, Mich Toptalo, who was going to swim the Channel in August.  The great news is that she managed it in 15 hours 14 minutes a few Sundays ago on a beautiful day.  It's been Mich's dream for some years to acheive this challenge and she is rightly delighted.  She swum to raise money for the Pilgrims Hospice, and her Just Giving page is open until October in case you would like to show your utter astonishment that anyone would willing do that swim!  Congratulations to Dave Campbell who we understand did rather well at the Broadstairs Water Gala.  We think his streamlined hairstyle helped. And lastly, please see our Volunteer Vacancies page on the website to see if you would be able to help us out occasionally. New 13 July It's been a while so here are a few updates! As mentioned below, the Committee discussed how and when swimmers can come through to the changing rooms, particularly for the 7.30 session.  It's now our policy that:  swimmers may come through to the changing rooms at any time before their lessons BUT - they remain under the charge of their parent or carer - this is for their safety, other swimmers' safety, and also to supervise behaviour The Club and it's reps do not accept any responsibility for the safety of members unless and until they are poolside   Swimmers may come out onto poolside when there is a Lifeguard AND a Club teacher/poolside helper in attendance 'Poolside' means on the pool side of the barriers from the changing rooms This may mean that parents/carers should remain in the changing rooms with their child until a teacher or poolside helper comes onto poolside, or the swimmer, if unsupervised, should wait quietly and safely by the barriers Please remember that Thanet Leisure Force are our hosts and are in charge of all of us whilst we are in the building.  We have had occasion in the past to cease membership of swimmers who have behaved inappropriately in the changing rooms, causing damage, etc - we don't wish to be in that awkward position again. Hopefully this clears up any confusion!  If there are any issues around this policy, please let the Secretary or one of the Parent Liaison Officers know.  Thank you. Talking of the Secretary and Parent Liaison people, there are now some pictures on the Who's Who page which might help you to figure out who you need to speak to as we have a new volunteer or two out the front - have a look - there are more to come! You might have seen the new Volunteer Vacancies page - we are also looking for a Press Officer - see the Volunteer Vacancies page for more details. Badges - on awards nights, it's very busy on poolside!  We tried various ways of communicating to the volunteers out the front, to tell them which swimmers have passed their respective awards, straight after the lesson, but have not quite managed it successfully on a consistent basis!  The system that we have currently adopted is as follows: Teachers complete the relevant paperwork on poolside and give the details of passes to Sue White The Newsletters & Info page of the website is updated The badge officers swing into action to ensure that there are enough badges for all, and if not, they are ordered The following week, the Parent Liaison people print off the webpage and bring it with them and sign and sell the awards Possible hitches are that badges don't arrive - but they will usually have arrived the week after, or that the person who has custody of the badges is unable to attend, in which case we'll make sure the badges are available the following week New 27 June Just a short one today - once the small pool lessons have finished at about 8.30, this pool should not be used.  Teachers do not supervise anyone in there after the lessons are done, and we want the lifeguards to be looking the other way at the Main Pool swimmers!  If 9.00 group swimmers need to be out on poolside, rather than waiting in reception, they should tick themselves into the register and wait quietly on the bench.  Thanks. Some swimmers missed their PS assessment on 19 June - see the Personal Survival pages for who needs to finish off what. New 24 June It's back to stroke swimming this week, so time to find those fins and paddles!  If you need to order fins, find Matt Lawrence in reception, he has the catalogue and will be able to help you. We will try to polish off any unfinished PS assessments in the future, but can't fix a date for these in advance.  If your child did not finish their assessment or if they were absent for that session, please leave their extra clothing in their swim bag for the forseeable future! Sue is going to do the new registers for the coming 13 weeks over the next couple of days, so please let us know if you no longer require a place for your child, so that we might fill it with someone from our waiting list.  Contact Sue via broadstairsswim@tesco.net (please cut and paste this into your message otherwise it won't go :-) And lastly, one of our former Masters swimmers, Mich Toptalo, is swimming the Channel at the end of July to raise money for the Pilgrim's Hospice.  She is in excellent shape at the moment so if you sponsor her - www.justgiving.com/michelletoptalo - it is very likely that you will have to pay up!  Scheduled date is 30 July, subject to the weather and tides. She is also whipping up some of our Dover based Masters into a Channel relay next year - eek!  In the meantime, good luck Mich for your solo, Mich! New 19 June Have a look at our new Volunteer Vacancies page to see how you might be able to help us, and the Who's Who page for the new Committee, some new roles and a brief intro to our new Secretary, Paul Highsted.  We've welcomed Matt Lawrence, who has taken on the job of ordering kit, and Darren Sayer, who is joining us next week (with his daughter) to be our Registrations Officer.  We're very appreciative of the help that these guys will provide! Click here to find out who passed their Personal Survival awards in the Main Pool this evening. Access to changing rooms for the 7.15 group - Our current policy is that parents are allowed to take their children round to the changing rooms after 7.20pm (on the poolside clock) IF there is a Club teacher or poolside helper on poolside, with the lifeguard.  This is for Health and Safety reasons, and so that there is a Club rep there to supervise the children, rather than leaving them with a lifeguard or pool employee.  This is also mentioned on the update below 25 April. We're aware that this has caused some issues recently and at our next Committee meeting in the next couple of weeks, we will be discussing whether this is still the right approach.  Thanks for being patient with us.   New 1 June Just a short one today - unfortunately, none of the swimmers passed their NPTS Levels in the Main Pool two weeks ago.  After the Personal Survival courses, we will be switching to the new ASA NPTS Scheme where the swimmers are in Stages instead of Levels.  This will mean a rearranging of who is in which group, so please be prepared for some moving around!  More info will follow when we have assessed the swimmers under the new scheme, which will be in the near future. New 23 May AGM - We are sorry to say that there was another disappointing amount of support from parents, but thank you so much to those who did take the time to attend.  The Committee and Officers were voted on - more to follow with names and jobs.  Thanks again to those who showed their support for the Club and it's volunteers. The Personal Survival courses start on Thursday in the Main Pool.  Please see the Personal Survival pages to find out which course your child is on, and the extra clothing that they will need each week.  We have decided that we will not be requiring written homework this year but will be checking each individuals knowledge as we go along and may use the first session after the PS courses have finished to fill any knowledge gaps. Sadly we have waved goodbye to Cathy Tuddenham on poolside as she has stepped aside from teaching every week.  She has been a parent, grandparent, Teacher, Committee member and mentor with the Club for many years and is an excellent teacher, especially for breaststroke!  Cathy will no doubt be seen at our Club events in the future - we wish her a happy and healthy retirement. New 17 May It's the AGM this Tuesday 20 May at the Racing Greyhound pub, Hereson Rd, Ramsgate, 7.30pm.  The meeting will last about an hour.  All parents are invited along to hear how we have spent your money, what success your children have had, and to propose and vote for a new Committee.  The Committee cannot function without the support of the parents and we would like to see people give an hour of their time in appreciation of the hard work that the Comittee and particularly the Teachers put in every week, both at the pool and away from the pool, in their own free time.  The Club will buy each parent who attends a free drink!  Please make every effort to show your support for us, as we support your children.  Thanks. The list of who is doing which personal survival course has been amended this evening, please see the link below on 8 May to see the sheet. We are delighted to say that we have a volunteer to take on the Membership Officer role, as outlined below.  This volunteer is actually the parent of a prospective member, not an existing member, as no-one came forward to help us.  So Darren Sayer will be joining up with us from early June - thanks, Darren.  If you have time to spare to take on the other roles, or would like more info, please talk to Chalkie, Tony Taylor or Sue Smith, the Head Teacher. If you're a potential Masters swimmer (age over 19) and want to have a go at a local competition, remember that we offer a membership for £15 for the first year, £10 is renewing.  The next competition is the Kent Masters at Gillingham on July 5th.  If you're interested, please speak to Sue White, or email us - broadstairsswim@tesco.net. New 8 May Click here to see who is doing what Personal Survival course in the Main Pool Swimmers for Personal Survival 1 and 2 and the Extension Courses will need extra clothing - swim wear plus LONG SLEEVED SHIRT and LONG SLEEVED JUMPER and LONG TROUSERS (like pyjama bottoms).  If the swimmers do not have the appropriate clothing they will not be passed for their award.  Swimmers for the National Curriculum for Water Safety and Preliminary Safety Award need a short sleeved tshirt and long trousers (like pyjama bottoms) New 4 May Thanks to everyone who is up to date or in advance with subs, as is expected of our members.  See the reminder below - subs are due on or by the FIRST Thursday of the month.  If subs are not paid by then, we have a long waiting list and will give places to people on the waiting list rather than let families who pay on time, subsidise the late payers.  New 25 April Subs - please remember that subs are due on the FIRST Thursday of every month.  If a swimmers subs are just 2 weeks in arrears, we may offer their place to someone on our waiting list.  Please make every effort to ensure the subs for your child or children are up to date - switch over to standing order if it would help!  The form is on the Download page. Kitbags - our supplier suddenly pulled the plug on the original bags that we had been ordering.  We are now looking around for new ones, and Chalkie is taking orders if you wish to put your name down.  The price is likely to remain the same, just £12.  Please remember that all kit, including the bags, must now be paid for by cheque only, to reduce the amount of cash that we handle. At the start of our sessions, entry to the changing rooms is allowed if there is a lifeguard on poolside and one of our teachers is on the premises, so if this is the case, and it's 7.20 or after by the poolside clock, feel free to go through! Still on the subject of the changing rooms, there was a lot of noise and some inappropriate behaviour last night in the boys changing rooms when the 7.30 group were changing after their session.  If your son is in that session, please make sure that he is behaving safely and supervise him if necessary. New 22 April Oops! Slight hitch with the orders email address - it is now orderkit@tesco.net.   If you have sent an order to the other email address please resend it to orderkit@tesco.net - thanks.  To have a look at what is available, either get a catalogue from Chalkie or Matt Lawrence to look at on a club night, or go to www.swimshop.co.uk to see the stock.  Then email your order, including the product code, item name, size, colour if applicable, and your name and contact number.  See below for the rest of the requirements.  The teachers are starting to prepare for the personal survival courses that are starting 29 May.  Have a look at the Personal Survival pages for an outline of what happens, and there are resources on the Download page.  There are some fun sheets for swimmers in the small pool.  More info will follow about who is doing what course in the Main Pool.  New 18 April Thanks to the very small handful of parents who took the trouble to submit nominations for the Secretary, Treasurer and Committee members.  These nominations will go to the vote at the AGM on 20 May - please make an effort to come along as the volunteers run the club for the benefit of YOUR children and make decisions as to how we spend YOUR subs.  We really need the support of families to help everything tick along efficiently as the Teachers, Poolside Helpers and Committee already do their bit. Click here to see who has been nominated for which role.  We are still willing to take nominations for ordinary Committee members if you feel you have something to offer - check out the job descriptions on the Club Rules and Info page. Another thank you to a willing volunteer who has come forward to take over the Swimshop orders.  It's good to see a commitment to the swimmers!  We have a new orders email address - - please use this to take the pressure off the volunteers time during club sessions.  The final details are being ironed out but the following practice takes immediate effect: - orders will be placed as soon as possible after the first swim session of the month.  This is so that we can roll orders together to save on post and packing costs, to keep the cost to you right down. - please note that in future, we'd like kit to be paid for BY CHEQUE (payable to Broadstairs Lifeguard and Swimming Club) as we are trying to reduce still further the amount of cash that we handle, and reduce the time that is spent away from club sessions on counting cash. Payment is due when the goods are collected.  Badges may still be paid for by cash.  - We sometimes consider including badges within the amount of subs that you pay.  If you have got any feelings either way as to why this s