Posts Tagged ‘Freshwater’

Memories from Tina Hughes

MEMORIES FROM TINA HUGHES I can remember when the children of Freshwater only had the swimming pool at All Saints School to use. There were other pools in the area at local holiday camps but these were restricted to use by their visitors only. It was mooted by some local people that we, the residents […]


Memories from Sheila Young

MEMORIES FROM SHEILA YOUNG In the early days, once the pool was completed (albeit without a roof), I was one of a band of volunteers manning the ‘shed’ situated on the corner of the school field, keen to take money from potential eager swimmers. We always had a queue. The changing rooms were very temporary, […]


Memories from Pam and Arthur Barrett

MEMORIES FROM PAM AND ARTHUR BARRETT We moved to the Island in 1973 and at that time we had no knowledge of the pool. Our first recollection is a few years after when we started to bring our grandchildren to the pool. The pool was then actually open, albeit with quite primitive dressing rooms, which […]


Auctions for West Wight Swimming Pool

AUCTIONS SPLASH held yearly auctions at the Memorial Hall and our first auctioneer was the late Steve Ross MP, who was a very valued supporter of our very ambitious project of building an indoor heated swimming pool here in the West Wight. These auctions were run very professionally with viewing during the morning, catalogues already […]


Slave for a day

The fundraising efforts of turned to the selling of slaves for a day to raise money for the West Wight Swimming Pool. Slaves dressed in togas, beads etc sold for a days labour.


Memories from Barbara Richardson

MEMORIES FROM BARBARA RICHARDSON Attempts to avoid the ‘jumble sale’ tag Each Christmas and Easter during the fundraising frenzy, we tried to make our ‘Fairs’ stand out from the myriad of others taking place around the same time – not easy when they were basically exactly the same as all the others. I think our […]


ASA Swimtastic Community Project of the Year 2013

West Wight Sports Centre and Swimming Club have been awarded the ASA Swimtastic Community Project of the Year 2013. Representatives of both organisations travelled to Birmingham at the weekend where young swimmers took part in a ‘Swim with the Stars’ event and 9 representatives then attended a gala dinner at Edgbaston Stadium in the company […]


Ellen Bovil The Swimmer

Ellen The Swimmer I started swimming when I retired (in the 90’s). Originally my friend Sue and I went to the dancing which Rose organised. Rose asked us if we would like to come to excersisie classes which would be in the pool. Both Sue and I were not swimmers and raised our hands in […]


Pool work started at Ceremony

After 18 months of fund raising, work on the new West Wight Swimming pool was officially started on Saturday 23rd April 1977. Mr Ron Smith , chairman of both the West Wight swimming Club and the Pool trust fund, dug the first piece of soil on the site in Freshwater near the west Wight middle […]


Champagne Charlie

CHAMPAGNE CHARLIE Of all our fund raising activities, Champagne Charlie deserves a section all to itself. We have often said that the West Wight Swimming Pool was built on hot dogs and Pomagne – let me elaborate. I have already covered the fame of our hot dogs, but Pomagne was totally different. Pomagne was a […]


Memories from Joyce Shepherd

MEMORIES FROM JOYCE SHEPHERD The first time we used the swimming pool was when the police rented the pool for an evening session. We came to Yarmouth in 1970 and the pool was only a thought then, I believe. However, when we started swimming the only facilities were the pool and changing rooms. The roof […]


David Wilkie

Being the only indoor heated pool on the Island and being the only swimming club here we always aimed high and to this end we arranged for David Wilkie and his coaching team to visit us for a coaching weekend. He is pictured here with Dawn and Shirley, both West Wight Swimming Club Coaches.   […]


Trevor Collins – BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Trevor Collins – 2005 BBC Sports Personality of the Year – Unsung Hero My family joined the WWS club in 1975 as we felt that our sons should learn to swim in a properly structured environment with ASA teachers. From the moment we joined as with all other members we were made welcome to be […]


Hoist for Main Pool

HOIST FOR MAIN POOL We desperately needed a hoist for those who could not use the steps to get into the pool. It was to cost more money than we could not afford. 1981 was designated the Year of the Disabled and luckily for us a lot of local organisations decided to hold events in […]


Minutes of Parish Council meeting 18/3/76

EXTRACT FROM THE MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF THE FRESHWATER PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON 18 MARCH 1976 AT 7.30 P.M. IN THE MEMORIAL HALL FRESHWATER DEVELOPMENT OF LAND ADJACENT TO WEST WIGHT MIDDLE SCHOOL The Chairman (Captain J Riddet) explained that the reason for including this item on the Agenda was partly because […]


The Black Hut

THE BLACK HUT There was a black hut on the green opposite All Saints School which had been previously used by the Freshwater Scout Group. The owner, Mr Ninnis, who ran and owned the local ‘proper’ sweet shop (now the village bakery) with his wife and daughter, Betty, very kindly allowed us to use the […]


The Kingfishers’ Swimming Group

Bernadette and Keith Pinkard started the Kingfishers swimming group, which was a swimming session for young people with special needs, quite a number of the young people coming over from Haylands Farm. The Special Olympics was held on the Island in 1986/1987 and the swimming events held at the Westridge Pool, Ryde. Our young people […]


West Wight Sports Centre – Health & Fitness Day

The West Wight Sports Centre Health and Fitness Day is a big hit. People came to take part in fitness activities and beauty treatments. The IW Health Authority were also present giving advice the dangers of smoking and alcohol. There were also facials, manicures and pedicures on offer with advice from Cut & Run hairdressers […]


The Opening Ceremony of West Wight Swimming Pool by Earl Mountbatten

Earl Mountbatten

THE OPENING CEREMONY OF WEST WIGHT SWIMMING POOL – 14 JULY 1978 BY HIS EXCELLENCY, ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET, EARL MOUNTBATTEN OF BURMA, GOVERNOR AND LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT Although the pool was nowhere near completed we had to go ahead with the opening ceremony. Luckily the weather was kind to us […]