Chair's Report

The last twelve months has been a bit of a roller coaster for the club.  We have had a lot of highs – some fantastic individual and team performances by our swimmers including a considerable number of club championship records being smashed, and finishing as Division 2 winners in the Chiltern League.  We have also had great support from parents individually and collectively – a lot of time and effort by our committee members in their various roles, a good number of people qualifying as timekeepers and others furthering their training as swimming officials, and a sell-out quiz night.  And Bushey ASC has also been successful in retaining its Swim 21 accreditation in 2010 – no mean feat for a club of our size, and ensuring that we continue to get subsidised training for our teachers and officials.  But there have been some lows as well.  You will know that we had to take a hard look at the financial viability of the club going forward and seek the membership’s agreement at a special EGM to a significant rise in membership subscriptions and swimming fees to put BASC on a sustainable footing for the future.  We have also had quite a bit of disruption to our training sessions over the year due to bad weather and various pool operating problems.  And finally we have had some problems in maintaining motivation and commitment from our swimmers themselves.  We have seen sessions poorly attended, some swimmers regularly arriving late for their classes and others not taking full advantage of the teaching and coaching on offer.

I hope that everyone will make a special resolution for the New Year to give 100% to Bushey ASC, whether as swimmers, or volunteer teachers, officials and committee members, or by helping at club champs, galas and social events.  If you want more information on any of these activities please read the AGM reports that follow,  look at our website and talk to the “yellow shirts” who are poolside at all our sessions.  We are a successful club in so many respects, but we know we can still do better – we aim to inspire a passion for competitive swimming and so we must provide the opportunities and club structure that will foster this and enable all our members to develop and improve their technique and enjoyment of swimming.

Finally I would like to thank especially all the members of the Committee who have served the club in 2010.  It was a very challenging year and I am grateful to them all for the time and effort they have devoted to BASC business.

Jane Willis

Chair, Bushey Amateur Swimming Club