• LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN, GRANT DENHOLM
• DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
• LETTER FROM THE CLUB SECRETARY, KATHY PITCHER
• RECENT RESULTS  
• GLENALMOND SWIM CAMP - SHEPPARD SWIM SCHOOL  
• THE CLUB SHOP
• AND FINALLY...

I hope everyone had a great summer and enjoyed the long holiday. We’re now getting back into the swing of things with training again and competitions starting very soon.  On the subject of competitions, I’m delighted to announce that Shona Skakle has agreed to take over as Competition Secretary.  I have enjoyed my 5 years of organising competitions and the time is now right to hand over to someone else. So please look out for competition emails from Shona.
 
I’m also delighted to say that Angus Allison, Cameron Alexander and Felix Hale have been selected for the East District Bronze Squad.  This squad is part of the National Performance Programme and it meets three times over the year for a day of intensive training and helps to develop a greater understanding of competitive swimming.  Well done boys for this achievement!
 
Details of this year’s East District Age Group Championships have just been released.  If you’re not aware, these are the main Championships for swimmers in the East District which is defined as Borders, Fife and the Lothians.  This year they take place over three weekends which are 31 October / 1 November; 28/29 November and 22-24 January 2016.  Entry is strictly by times achieved in internal competitions since 31 October 2014. The coaches will be able to guide you as to whether you have qualifying times.  For those familiar with the Championships, it is worth noting that this year the age criteria has been changed and it is no longer age on the day of the last round. Instead it is by year of birth.  This will benefit some swimmers but unfortunately will penalise some others who now find themselves with the required entry times but too young to compete.
 
Finally, many of you will be aware that we have decided to trial boy and girl Club Captains this year.  Applications were received from swimmers interested in these posts and the successful applicants will be announced to everyone at the next Huntley and Anderson Cups on Sunday 30 August.

PLEASE TAKE A NOTE OF THESE IMPORTANT DATES REGARDING INTERNAL & EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS THIS TERM

The coaches would like to thank everyone very much for the very generous gifts they were given before the summer holidays, it was very kind. 
 
FORTHCOMING INTERNAL COMPETITIONS

30 August – Anderson & Huntley Cups

27 September – Gavin Fulton Relay. For those of you new to the club this a tribute to our late friend, father of Faye and Mia, who was tragically killed by a drunk driver on Dundas Street the night before the Club Championships in December 2012. The competition takes the form of a canon relay, a fun event which allows everyone in the Club to take part. On the day please bring an in Inverleith T shirt for squad photos which will be taken on the day. We will also be presenting trophies from the first half of the year. If you have come in the top 3 of any of the internal competitions this year please ensure you attend (details are on the website) to collect your medals.

29 November – Anderson & Huntley Cups

5 December – Club Championships. Please ensure that you all have this date in the diary. As there are three winners per age group there is a lot more opportunity for swimmers to win medals and take pride in being presented with them at the Club Dance in the Spring.
 
FORTHCOMING EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS
 
EDINBURGH SCHOOLS

The club is not responsible for entering swimmers for the Edinburgh Schools Championships but it’s good to see Inverleith swimmers there. Last year a number of Inverleith swimmers went on from the regionals to do Scottish schools in Aberdeen.  This year it will take place on Sunday 22 November at Ainslie Park with Primary in the morning (50 metres only – max 2 events per swimmer) and Senior schools in the afternoon (two events, 100m plus one 200m or more. Max two events per swimmer) The closing date for entry is Friday 2 October.  Do encourage your schools to enter you. Entry times are quite strict but times for relay teams are more flexible. If they haven’t been sent information they can get it from convenor@edinschoolsswimassoc.co.uk If schools are unable to send staff on the day parents have volunteered to accompany their swimmers in the past in order to allow their children to swim.
 
INVERLEITH EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS

These are competitions that we are likely to be doing up until Christmas. You will receive an email from Grant / Shona to let you know if your coach would like to enter you.
 
Iain Macfadyen Memorial Gala – 5.09.15
Haddington 100’s – 20.09.15
ED Time Trials – 3/4.10.15 (selected swimmers)
Hearts Premier Meet – 10/11.10.15
Carnegie Winter Meet – 24/25.10.15
ED Age Groups – 31.10/1.11.15
                              28/29.11.15
                              22-24.01.16
LR Graded Meet – 14.11.15


For further information about the various competitions go to www.swimscotland.co.uk and click on Forthcoming Meets (in date order). The home page also lists latest results so that you can keep track of your times or watch how other swimmers are getting on from the comfort of your own home!

As you will be aware the Club is run by a happy band of volunteers, from our coaching staff up to and including the President. Inevitably volunteers move on as their children do which means that we need new people to take on their work. We have three specific roles which we need to fill please contact kathypitcher@yahoo.co.uk if you are able to help out:

TROPHIES FOR INTERNAL COMPETITIONS
 
It’s always difficult when a volunteer decides that they are unable to continue in the role that they have in the Club and I’d like to thank Grant for his work as Competition Secretary and Sarah Matthews for looking after the trophies.
 
I am really grateful to the parents who have volunteered to take on these vacancies, without their help the Club could not have continued in the same positive way.
 
Shona Skakle (mother of Angus and Michael) has volunteered to take over from Grant as Competition Secretary and Joan McDaid (mother of Adele) has agreed to take on the role of Keeper of the Trophies. So thank you ladies.
 
The trophies from the Internal Cups will be presented on Sunday 27 September during the Gavin Fulton relay event. Joe Penman, Claire Dow, Carla Lovell, Cameron Alexander, Jack Bennie, Charlotte Drainer, Rachel Macleod and Felix Hale should all ensure that they are there to collect their silverware plus any medal winners. All results from the 2015 internal competitions can be found at www.swiminverleith.com
  
SOCIAL COMMITTEE

I have already asked for volunteers to take over this role and although a couple of parents have replied to say if I need help I only need to ask what I really need is for a few parents to get together and take this on. This is a new collaborative role to help with fund raising and the social aspect of the club. Ideas already in hand are designing temporary tattoos featuring the club logo for competitions, organising the Club Championships and Annual dance, and supporting Judith (who is the treasurer for this aspect of the club) with gear shop items.

The major part of this would be to organise the cafe for the Club Championships and organising the Presentation Dance. It may be that one person to takes on one event and one the other with a team of supporters to help out. If you are interested in helping out with one or both please contact kathypitcher@yahoo.co.uk

If you have an idea for fund raising but don't necessarily want the responsibility for implementing it please contact Kathypitcher@yahoo.co.uk so that it can be considered by the committee
 

AQUANAUTS GRADED MEET 20/6/15

We had seven swimmers taking part in this meet, two others were accepted but had to pull out for various reasons. The competition took place at the pool in Bathgate which is a great venue with plenty of parking space, always important, the pool is pretty good too!!
The four swimmers taking part in the morning did PB’s in all their events. Daniel Main did well to take 18secs off his 400F/C coming in 7^TH in his age group. Ines Donald swam extremely well to get gold in both her 200BR & 200IM, Jack McInally swam a very brave 200Fly & took home the bronze medal for his age group.
In the afternoon there were six swimmers who again swam really well doing 8PB’s out of 8 swims. Orla Kennedy took a massive 25secs off her 400F/C time & Daniel Main improved his 200IM by 21secs. The rest of the swims were all new times as the swimmers had not competed in these events before.
I am really impressed that our swimmers are entering the harder events such as 400F/C & IM & the 200Fly which a lot of them would not have done a few years ago. Great swimming 

all round, well done.

Gold – Ines Donald 200BR, 200IM, 200Fly
Silver – Ellie Hunter 200Fly

Bronze – Orla Kennedy 200Fly
               Jack McInally 200Fly

4^TH – Leo Bryce 200IM
         Michael Skakle 200IM

Fiona Anderson (Head Coach)
 
MUSSELBURGH FUN MEET 20/06/15
 
It was such a pleasure for me to be asked to help at this meet.  Fiona had some other swimmers in Bathgate and cannot split herself in two, however hard she would like to.  The officials got into the spirit of the fun summer theme by wearing Hawaiian shirts and sun hats!  Our swimmers did very well raking in an amazing 10 gold medals, 5 silver and 6 bronze between them!
 
The relays were especially exciting, as all the other swimmers were screaming at the end of the pool cheering on their team. It was such a fantastic atmosphere, hopefully all the kids had as good a time as I did.
 
Hilary Alexander (Poolside helper)
 
SCOTTISH SUMMER MEET 24-26/07/15
 
Due to Fiona and Chris being away, David stepped in to sit poolside with our swimmers, and myself for one day.  Big thanks to David!  Joe Penman and Angus Allison swam all three days, Claire Dow swam Saturday and Sunday.
 
Joe and Claire swam in the mornings and Angus in the afternoons, fortunately our ex coach Lana was there to look out for Angus in the afternoons, giving David a wee break as Angus and Joe managed to get into finals. Big shout out to the Warrender coach Lana Borwick for getting Angus to the call room in time. Thank you.
 
Angus was in a tough age group 12/13 as he is only 12, he did so well getting into the 50 and 100 breast finals, coming in a very respectable 8^th and 5^th respectively.  There were no finals for 200 breast and he came in 4^th.  Claire had two great swims, with which she was very happy, she too was in a tough age group 17/18 and she is 17.  She came in 11^th for her 100 fly and 13^th for her 100 back.  For both of them they could do exceptionally well at this meet next year as they will be at the top of their age groups.
 
Joe swam the 200 back on Friday and did a long course PB, but didn't make the finals, then on Saturday he came in 1^st for his 50 back with a cracking time of 29.76, Sunday saw him achieve silver for his 100 back.
 
Well done kids.
 
Hilary Alexander
 

A number of Inverleith swimmers went to the training camp run by the Sheppard Swim School during the summer. The school is often advertised in competition programmes but none of the recent swimmers had experienced it. In total there were 13 Inverleith swimmers there out of approximately 40 swimmers - Faye Fulton, Angus Allison, Adele McDaid, Charlotte Drainer, Cameron & Amber Alexander, Scarlett & Ines Donald, Emily, John & Katie Mander, Gavin & Sarah Tennant We asked Emily Mander to tell us what it was like:

During the summer I attended the Sheppard Swim School along with many other Inverleith swimmers.  The main swim coach at the camp was Gary Sheppard who was a Canadian Olympian and then became a British Olympic coach. He coached his future wife Alison Sheppard who through his coaching became number one in the world.

At the camp we did two swim lessons, one land session and two sports education classes every day.  We learnt many different things at the swim camp ranging from learning about the mental aspect of swimming to nutrition and to stamina and technique.

I really enjoyed the swim school and found it really helpful in improving every aspect of my swimming

Emily Mander (Advanced)

A huge welcome back to Eve Lovell who like Joe Penman before her has returned to Inverleith from Warrender. We are so happy to have her back.