Warminster & District Amateur Swim Club celebrated a year of success in 2019 at the annual awards night, with presentations to swimmers and coaches for their achievements and continued hard work both in and out of the pool throughout the year in in-house and external competitions and Club Championships.

Over 180 people attended the annual event held at the Civic Centre in Warminster, the largest the club has held in its history. It was hosted by the Club’s Chairman Jeff Williams, Head Coach Anthony Phillips and Club President Doug Winstone.

The evening was kindly sponsored by Forrester Sylvester Mackett Solicitors with many of the individual awards and trophies also sponsored by a number of local companies that for many years have strongly supported the ethos of the club. Awards were sponsored by local companies such as The Fudge Trust, RACS and Howdens.

The club were also overwhelmed to be given a splendid array of cheeses for their supper platters from the Westbury company Savenica Fromage and Dairy, and would like to thank them for their generosity, which absolutely wowed all who attended.

This year the club had a VIP guest: Roland Lee, who competed in the European Championships, Commonwealth Games and three consecutive Olympics for Great Britain.

Roland joined the Warminster Club in 2019, trains with the Masters team and has recently competed in the Masters Gala competition, winning for Warminster.

It was a fantastic opportunity for our younger swimmers to have Roland present their ribbons and medals.

Ribbons, medals and trophies are awarded primarily to swimmers who competed in the club’s annual Club Championships in October and gain a place in the top six of their races.

Trophies are awarded for swimmers who achieved the highest points across an array of races in their age groups and fastest times.

The highlight of the evening is the secret awards which are not announced until then and are decided by the Committee or Coaches. The awards are in recognition of not only achievements in the pool but commitment to the club and their sport throughout the year.

Awards are also given to swimmers for Courage, Passion, Respect and Determination.

The club is continuously growing in membership due to the diversity of benefits that swimming can offer – from improving swimming technique, progression from swimming lessons to competitive swimming, stamina improvement, injury recovery, GCSE Sport contribution, Duke of Edinburgh physical achievement and general wellbeing. Ages range from seven-87 with all abilities accommodated.

After a two-week Christmas and New Year break, the swimmers returned immediately to County Championships, Open Meet Competitions and preparations for Masters Galas and have already competed in the first meet of the Moonraker Winter League in which they took second position.

This year their aim to host their own Level 4 club championships allowing more swimmers to achieve county times within their own club environment.

Congratulations to all swimmers and a big thank you to the local companies that support the success of the club as they go from strength to strength.