The Newsletter is back. We have an excellent website updated with news and information of all aspects of
club activities . Thanks to Ed Middleton for running the website so enthusiastically – it is updated
frequently and we know that most of the club is able to access it now. However we thought it was time for
a printed newsletter.

From the Chairman….

It was good to see so many swimmers and parents attending the Club Championship
presentation evening at Llanishen Leisure Centre. We are planning to hold the event (with
bar facilities!) a little closer to the event at the CIP this year.

April was our goal date for conversion to direct debit for squad fee collection. A big thank
you to everyone for supporting this sudden transition. This arrangement is cost-effective
and will enable us to keep fees to a minimum. A special thank you to Ian King for taking
on the lion’s share of the work involved.

Membership has grown by 11% since we moved to CIP in early 08, enabling fees to be
held flat this year and another positive sign that the club is growing in strength.

Our club has just been nominated by the ASA as one of only a small number of UK clubs
to be awarded development status due to the recent success of several swimmers at the
British Gas Long Course Championships in Sheffield. The UK Development Swimming
Coach Chris Martin will work closely with our Chief Coach Dave Haller to implement
further improvement to target our elite swimmers and pave the way for further swimmers
to reach National Level standard.

Our last local meet the Tiger Bay Meet was a huge success and enabled swimmers across
all development and junior squads to compete long course against both Welsh and English
clubs. The results can be found on our website. Many swimmers achieved personal best
times. We are looking forward to the first Level 1 meet in July and encourage all qualified
swimmers from the club to enter this meet.

 

British Gas Championships

Congratulations to the six swimmers from NPC who swam in the British Gas Long Course Championships
from 16th
to 20th
March, achieving outstanding results and performances that have resulted in selection to
swim for the Great Britain. The performances placed the club right at the top of the rankings. The
swimmers involved were Tom Haffield, Ieuan Lloyd, Danielle Stirrat, Alfie Howes, Tom Greenfield, Sian
Harkin and David Davies, who still swims for Cardiff.

Tom Haffield broke his own British 400 im record and will represent Great Britain in the forthcoming
world championships. Ieuan Lloyd was 4th
in the open 200m im in a British and Welsh Junior Record.
Ieuan Lloyd took nearly 3 secs off the British junior record in the 200IM with a best time of 2:04.89; he
also broke another 3 Welsh junior records.
Danielle Stirrat equalled Georgia Davies’ Junior Welsh record in the 200 Back semi-finals and qualified to
represent Great Britain in the European junior Championships and also for the European Youth Open
Water Championships trial

Alfie Howes did a 15 second PB in the 1500 m to qualify for the European Youth Open Water Swimming
trials for Great Britain. Sian Harkin and Tom Greenfield qualified also swam well in the competition.

Welsh Capital Open Meet, 29th – 30th November 2008 Information regarding this meet cna be downloaded from the ‘fixtures‘ page. Speedo League Final, 11th May 2008. Congratulations to the team, for coming first in the ‘B’Final at Sheffield. A full report will be posted shortly. Cardiff Bay Sprint Meet, Saturday 19th July 2008. This long course meet is being hosted by Barry Swimming Club at the Cardiff International Pool, and is open to all squads. The entry pack for this meet can be downloaded from the fixtures page. Hereford Sprint Meet, Saturday 12th July 2008. The club intends to attend the Hereford Sprint Meet (squads D4 to J1 inclusive). The entry pack for this meet can be downloaded from the fixtures page. Session Changes – May 2008. Changes to training sessions can be downloaded here. Swim Swansea Long Course Open Meet, 16th – 18th May 2008, WNP Swansea. The confirmed entries for this meet can be viewed on the ‘fixtures‘  page. Gloucester Open Meet, 21st – 22nd June 2008. Entries for this meet have now closed. The entry report can be viewed on the ‘fixtures‘ page. Annual General Meeting. This years AGM will be held at the Welsh Institute of Sport, Sophia Gardens, at 7.30pm on Tuesday 20th May 2008. Nominations are required for Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Promotions Officer, Sub Committee Organiser, Senior Swimming Parent Representative, Junior Swimming Parent Representative, Active Swimming Representative (Male) and Active Swimming Representative (Female). Notice of the AGM can be viewed here. Nomination forms can be downloaded here. Commonwealth Youth Games, Pune, India, 12 – 18 October 2008. Information relating to selection can be downloaded here. Lost & Found Property. There is now a lost / found property section, which can be found in the Swimmers Corner (lost & found property). Welsh Long Course Rankings (to April 2008). and British Age Group and Open Rankings (Long and Short Course) 2007  can be found on the results page.   WASA Age Group and Youth Qualifying Times 2008 can be downloaded [here]. ASA National Qualifying Times 2008 can be downloaded here.

How do I Join the City of Cardiff Swimming Club ? Trials for the City of Cardiff Swimming Club are held at Maindy Pool at 7.15pm on the first Thursday evening of each month. Swimmers should be able to swim to at least National Plan for Teaching Swimming(NPTS) Level 8. Advertisement Jeweller’s to the Club, Bezeal, will be exhibiting at the following locations, so come and join us and others at :- 3rd – 5th May 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff 13th – 16th June 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff 4th – 6th July 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff 1st – 3rd August 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff 5th – 7th September 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff 3rd – 5th October 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff 14th – 16th  November 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff 12th – 14th December 2008 Friday – Sunday All day Red Dragon Centre, Cardiff If you have any queries then please contact . Training Information 2008 Training Timetable  The training timetable can be viewedhere. Fixtures List              The current fixtures list can be viewed by clicking here. Key Dates 2008           Important 2008 dates can be viewed here. News City of Cardiff win the National Speedo League ‘B’ Final at Sheffield On 11th May 2008, a team of 36 swimmers from the club took place in the Speedo ‘B’ Final at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. Competing against nine other clubs, Cardiff took 1st Place. David Davies qualifies for Olympics in 10,000m event. On 5th May David Davies qulaified for the 10,000m Open Water event at Bejing, finishing second by 0.3 of a second to Russian world champion Vladimir Dyatchin, with a time of 1:53.21.3. He is the first British swimmer to qualify for this new olympic event. Cardiff Swimming Club Celebrate Young Volunteer Achievements Eight young people, Rhys Denton, Kirsten McRobbie, Rhiannon Leader, Sherman Fang, Kyle Blannin, Jade Zelko, Matthew Williams, Lana Evans volunteering with City of Cardiff Swimming Club have achieved a combined total of over 700 hours volunteering.   These swimmers are taking part in Swim Wales Millennium Volunteer Programme that requires young people aged 16-24 to volunteer for 200 hours to receive their Millennium Volunteer Award. The young people involved at Cardiff Swimming Club have been teaching and coaching younger swimmers at the club and are all committed to volunteering on a long term basis. City of Cardiff’s Development Coach Nikki Thompson says ‘’ This is a fantastic scheme, its great to see these swimmers gaining practical skills and swimming related qualifications while putting something back into the club from which they have come from. They have all been working hard and I am very proud of them ‘’. Leisa Forrest, MV Co-ordinator for Swim Wales says ‘’ It is great to see a group of young people demonstrating their commitment to swimming through their volunteering. All the volunteers are learning new skills and developing their experience within aquatics and should all go far. I would like to thank them all for their hard work and enthusiasm’’. To get involved with the Millenium Volunteer Programme, please speak to Nikki Thompson, or visit the MV section on this website. David Davies wins Silver at World Short Course Championships. David Davies finished second in the 1500m freestyle in a time of 14:36.30, to take second place behind Russia’s Yuriy Prilukov, finishing in a time of 14:22.98. In doing so he won his first World Swimming Championship (25m) medal, and helped the British team to its 24th medal of the competition. In the 400m Individual Medley heats, Tom Haffield swam a personal best of 4:09.22, to qualify for the final. In the final, Tom swam another personal best of 4:09.04, finishing seventh. Gold medal was taken by Ryan Lochte of the USA, in a time of 4:03.21. Tom Haffield secures place in the GB Olympic Team On Friday 4th April, at the Olympic Trials in Sheffield, Tom Haffield finished first in the finals of the 400m Individual Medley, in a time of 4:14.01 securing his place in the GB Olympic Team. Previously in the heats on Thursday evening, he had swum a time of 4:12.59, taking more than 6 seconds off his personal best, and claiming both the British and Commonwealth Records, by some 3 seconds. Second place went to Loughborough’s Euan Dale, with a time of 4:16.33. Tom is the 44th swimmer coached by Dave Haller to race at the Olympic Games since 1968.

As we approach the end of the year, it provides us with an opportunity of reflecting back
on 2006 with, I am pleased to say that we have achieved considerably more highs than
lows. The ultimate highs had to be the achievements of the City of Cardiff Swimming
Club, through the success of David Davies and Gregor Tait, winning more medals than
the entire Australian Team between them, with their 3 Gold Medals and 3 Bronze Medals
at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Chief Coach Dave Haller was absolutely delighted with their performance and indeed with
young Thomas Haffield, gaining incredible experience in Melbourne, with his times
resulting in him finishing the year as 5 and 8 in the UK Men’s Rankings in the 400m IM
and 200m Backstroke respectively, at aged just 18.

These performances were recognised by the Sports Council for Wales, when our
nomination for Dave Haller as Top Coach of the Year covering all sports in Wales, was
successful, beating many worthy opponents in the process. At a ceremony at Sophia
Gardens to recognise the efforts of coaches across Wales in eight different categories,
Dave Haller scooped the Top Award, making it a total of 3 coaching awards just for the
swimming discipline. After being presented his award by the Sports Minister Alan Pugh,
Dave recounted a tale of what happened to him the previous weekend, when he
foreshortened an important British Swimming Conference, to dash back to watch our
swimmers in action at the Hereford Open Meet. When questioned about the whereabouts
of his Coach’s Pass by a lady on the front desk, Dave explained that he had not ordered
one due to him attending the ASA Conference with Bill Sweetenham and other Senior
British Coaches and did not think that he would be able attend the Gala, only to be told
that “You don’t look like a Coach!” A somewhat humbling remark for one that has
achieved so much in Swimming in his 41-year swimming career, but it was taken with
humility in typical Haller fashion.

Other outstanding performances have been achieved throughout the year by many of our
swimmers from local galas, Area, National and International Competitions, too many to
mention, but well done everyone!

If you can call it lows, it has been the disappointment of the closure of a number of our
pools at various times throughout the year, which has made it very frustrating to all
concerned, not least the swimmers. With Fitzalen and Howells sporadically closed at
times throughout the year and now Maindy for a few weeks, with Western LC due to close
for most of next year, our patience has been sorely tested. The on-going Fitzalen closure
has been particularly disappointing, especially as we strove so hard to form our first new
squad (Blue) for many years. However, the works to all these facilities is essential and
we will be the better off for it when we eventually return. I have written a separate update
on the new pool in the Sports Village, which I hope will be of interest to all.

It remains only for me to wish you all the best of Seasonal Greetings on behalf of all the
Officials and Coaching Staff, may I wish you all a happy Christmas and successful 2007.

Steve Airey
Club Chairman
CARDIFF SWIMMING
NEWSLETTER
DECEMBER 2006CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2006

The Club Championships for 2006 have been rearranged for
Saturday and Sunday 27th and 28th January 2007 at Cogan
Leisure Centre, Penarth. Please note that the age groups of
2006 still apply. The Presentation Evening will be held at
Llanishen LC on Saturday 10th February 2006. Details TBA

HELP WANTED FOR FUTURE GALAS.
We are looking for volunteers for forthcoming galas
particularly for the important role of announcer.
If anyone is interested, please contact Mark Jones.
[email protected]

AUTUMN SPLASH COGAN
FOLLOWING THE AUTUMN SPLASH AT COGAN
SEVERAL ITEMS OF LOST PROPERTY WERE
RECOVERED.PLEASE CONTACT MARK JONES.
[email protected]

MONTHLY FEES AND ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP FEE
2006/7
Please double check that your monthly fees are up to date and
that you are paying the correct amount for that squad.
Also, that you have paid your annual membership fee. Debt
recovery for non payers is now underway. If you have any
queries/concerns please contact Lizzie Brown (Secretary)07812
069459
Please note that it is your responsibility to notify the
secretary/membership secretary of any changes in address,
contact number etc.

20% Reduction in Club
Monthly fees.
If your family has three or more swimmers with
CCSC they are eligible for a 20% reduction of
the 3rd child’s fees.
Please call Lizzie Brown (Secretary) for further
information on 07812 069 459 10% DISCOUNT when you order your swimwear from
Mailsports

Order online/telephone to receive your
10% DISCOUNT –quote ref. COCSC001

Tel. 0845 123 5503
Online follow the link on
https://cardiffswimmingclub.co.uk or use
http://www.mailsports.co.uk, proceed to your shopping basket and
use the reference above as a promotional code, your discount will be
automatically applied.

SUPPORT THE CLUB

We are currently looking for partners and sponsors to assist with
the financial support for the Club. We welcome all types of
sponsorship enquiries, examples being sponsoring a race, an event
or club kit. If interested, please contact Mark Newby by e-mail:
[email protected]

City of Cardiff Swimming Club Kit

Club kit has now being taken over by ANN REID (Ben swims in D2/1)
her email is [email protected] and home telephone number 029 2062
35121

Ann will receive all requests and endeavour to fill these within a maximum of 4
weeks.

She is however able to order via “other” sources for example Allen’s of
Kingsbury with whom we have an account.

If members want items from Allen’s and they order form us we are likely to be
able to negotiate a discount of at least 10%.

Lizzie Brown.

City of Cardiff Swimming Club Christmas
Shut Down D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, Blue & Yellow Squads Christmas Shut Down
is from Friday 22nd December 06 to Wednesday 3rd January 07 (inclusive).

Youth, J1 & J2 please see the timetable below.

NPC will be advised by Dave Haller.

Youth / J1 & J2 Christmas Training Time Table

December 22nd Friday Youth 5.30 to 6.30pm Western
David
David J1 6.30 to 7.30pm Western
Nikki J2 7.00 to 8pm WIS

December 23rd to 27th OFF

December 28th Thursday J2 5.30-6.30pm Fairwater
Nikki
Thursday J1 6.30-7.30pm Fairwater
Nikki
Thursday Youth 7.30-8.30pm Fairwater
Nikki
December 29th Friday Youth 5.30-6.30pm Western
David
Friday J1 6.30-7.30pm Western
David
December 30th Saturday Youth 7.00-8.00am Western
David
Saturday J1 & J2 8.00-9.00am Western
David
December 31st OFF
January 1st OFF
January 2nd Tuesday Youth 5.00-6.30pm Eastern
David
Tuesday J1 6.30-8.00pm Eastern
David
Tuesday J2 7.00-8.00pm WIS
Nikki
January 3rd Wednesday Youth 6.00-7.00pm Western
David
Wednesday J1 7.00-8.00pm Western
David

January 4th CLUB RETURNS TO NORMAL TIMETABLE

2006 Christmas Party
Thursday 21st December 2006

‘Whispers’
Guildhall Place, Cardiff City Centre
Following an overwhelming request to return again to
Whispers,
tickets are now available on a first-come-first-served basis
at just £10.00 per person, including meal and dancing after
(8.00pm until late)

Please contact Phil Cook on (07971) 156003

Swim Wales & Regionalisation
(How it will affect Cardiff Swimming Club)
Swim Wales announced last year that they had secured a three year sponsorship
deal with Speedo. Swim Wales have now announced that they are very close to
securing a sponsorship for a regional grass root development with a major UK
company. To secure this sponsorship, it is necessary to formulate 3 Regions,
with the agreement of the Clubs, in the preparation of a Strategic Plan for the
future. The Regional boundaries are basically the North, the West and the South
East of Wales. Our own Region, the South East, encompasses Mid Glamorgan,
Cardiff & the Vale and East Wales Areas. This will mean that the old Cardiff &
the Vale Area will cease to exist.
The City of Cardiff Swimming Club has benefited greatly over the years financially
from the old Area structure, as there were only three Clubs in it – Cardiff, Barry &
Penarth, allowing us to earn a larger slice of the proceeds from the galas that we
have organised together. The downside of this has been that our swimmers have
not had the opportunity to swim in much needed Regional Championships. Yes,
we have always had great participation at the various Welsh Championships and
Development Meets, but there has been little chance for a great tranche of our
swimmers to compete in Championships of any note, as they had not achieved
qualifying times.
Regionalisation will now provide us to compete in much greater numbers and I
am pleased to announce that effectively from December 2006, our Club will join
the South East Wales Region and be able take part in their forthcoming Regional
Championships in February 2007. Qualification and Consideration Times
obtained from which will be accepted for the Welsh Age Group Championships in
Easter next year.
This can only have advantages for us as a Club on a developmental basis, but
the loss of revenue will hit us hard. I have therefore pledged our support in the
setting up of a new sub-regional group to allow us to continue to hold our Junior
Championships and the Sprint Meet, on the basis that both Meets are Licensed,
thus ensuring that times achieved are acceptable for other Championship
Competitions.
Cardiff International Sports Village – A Pool Update
I was invited to attend a site inspection of the new pool a few weeks ago and to
meet the future operators; Parkwood Leisure. I stood on the 2nd floor of what will
be the Gym in a superbly-designed building and was amazed to look down on an
already completed 50m pool structure, fill to the brim of water undergoing a full
leak test. I can report that the building is almost structurally complete and the
builders Laing O’Rourke are very confident of a completion to programme by the
end of next year.
A most interesting and lengthy discussion then took place with the Director of
Parkwood, to make us and them aware of each others requirements and
ambitions for the future. It formed only to serve as an exchange of ‘wish lists’ and
expectations, but it became quite clear for both of us that the new pool will be the
home of the City of Cardiff Swimming Club. This first meeting, the first of many
over the months ahead, has firmly set a strong bond between us and Parkwood
and you can be assured that we will be negotiating appropriate and affordable
training in the new pool for all our swimmers. Whilst we will be developing a strategy for training in this new pool from 2008, the
membership must appreciate that we will not be in any way moving all, or even a
significant percentage of our current usage down to Cardiff Bay. We will continue
to train at the various locations around Cardiff, including Sophia Gardens, the
Leisure Centres and private school pools, as Parkwood will have requirements of
giving other Clubs, the general public and their own teaching programmes access
to short course and long course training.
And finally ………..

City of Cardiff All-Time Club Records

I was asked a short time ago “Do we have Club Records”? Well, they say that
nostalgia is not what it used to be, but from my old Club archives, I was able
to locate a set of long and short course records for all strokes and all ages
from 8 to 18, up to the year 2000. Many of those times were not ratified fully
at that time and the list was withdrawn for updating. I can understand why this
was not fully carried out since then, as I have spent the last few months or so,
trawling through bona fide records and archives from WASA, ASA, Area,
Club Results etc. etc…. and it has been no mean feat to have even got as far
as I have!

Of greatest help has been Phil Cook, who has volumes of results going back
to 1995 and amongst his collection, I located a bumper December 1995
Newsletter, confirming times of our fantastic swimmers at that time, including
details of Mark Foster’s recent 22.4s and 49.3s for 50m and 100m Free, 23.9s
for 50 Fly at the British Grand Prix, then topped that with his World Record
time at the ASA Short Course Championships with 23.45s Fly. A brilliant
Medley Team victory for Cardiff saw the following times, which would still be
the envy in any Club in the world, one decade on:

Chris Jones 56.2s Bk
Phil Melhuish 61.9s Br (Now Bridgend’s Coach)
Mark Foster 53.6s Fly
Adam Johnson 51.8s FC

Dozens of other results are also detailed, with many gala reports and the
announcement of a change in Club Structure from the colours to what we still
run today. I have asked Sarah Warden-Smith to put a link of this old
Newsletter on our web-site, which I am sure will be of interest to both our long
established and new members. Our web-site is currently being updated, but
details can be found on cardiffswimmingclub.co.uk

In respect of the Club Records, once the results of the forthcoming Welsh
Winter Championships are entered over the Christmas period, I hope to
release to the membership early January 2007.

Steve Airey

City of Cardiff Swimming Club is home club to Olympic medallist David Davies and Olympic finalist Gregor Tait as well an additional 350 competitive swimmers of all ages. The Club has been in existence for ? years. There are three professional coaches and nine volunteer coaches involved in the development of swimmers of all ages.

The City of Cardiff Swimming Club has two teams involved in the National Speedo League (Western), the A team is in the Premier Division and has made the both the National A and B Finals, the B team in in the First Division.

David Davies – Olympic Medallist, Bronze medal 1500m Freestyle