A village swimming club has celebrated half a century of teaching kids.

Bere Regis & District Swimming Club – The Orcas – was launched in June 1976, in the village school’s 10m pool. The first session attracted an incredible 120 people.

As the years passed and more and more children’s clubs closed, the swimming club went from strength to strength, led by Bob Holman and a committee of parents – many of whom trained as swimming teachers.

Bob said: “Back in 1976 I was still very heavily involved in swimming. I was also on the PTA committee and a governor at Bere Regis Primary School.

“The school at the time had a 12 ½ yard by five-yard outdoor pool and it was used extensively for swimming lessons during the summer months.

“In early 1976, I took an ASA teacher’s course and managed to pass it.

“My friend Jane Phillips, a teacher at the school, also took the course and passed. I began to think “What should I do with my new qualification?” and it occurred to me that it shouldn’t stop there.

“I found myself putting up posters in the village (no emails or Facebook in those days!) inviting people to a meeting at the school to talk about the possibility of starting a club.

Bere Regis Swimming Club in the early days

“We decided to hold our first club night at the school using the school pool. For those of you whose memories go back that far, 1976 was a very long, hot summer.

“Our first club night on June 14 was another scorcher and unbelievably 120 people, including a number of adults, turned up for a swimming lesson.

“It was all very jolly and our three qualified teachers, Jane, myself and another good friend and teacher at the school, Bryan Clarke coped with the great turnout.

“Numbers settled a little after that first evening and we had some wonderful weekly meetings at the school under balmy evening skies.”

When autumn drew in, Sergeant Martin Ord from the Junior Leader Regiment at Bovington Camp offered their pool for the club.

Bob said: “It was only after a few years that we were discovered swimming at the pool by the Regimental Sergeant Major that we actually had to pay for pool hire and become official hirers of the facility!

“Of course, this would never happen today where things are so tightly regulated, but it gave our club a start and the rest as they say is history.”

Bob was chairman for the first 43 years. Alan White is now in the chair.

Bob said: “We would take part in the Bere Regis and Puddletown carnivals and I can remember one year leading a large group of children dressed as sea creatures with me as King Canute!

“However, the core and ethos of the club was to make it fun. We were never an ultra-competitive club but we did have some really good swimmers.

We taught diving, water polo, lifesaving and synchronised swimming as I was able to bring in specialist teachers from other clubs in the county.”

The club currently has around 150 members, 13 swimming teachers and eight club helpers. Two of its teachers were themselves taught to swim at the club.

Bob Holman was team captain of One Foot in the Wave, a six-strong septuagenarian relay squad (average age 75.6) that swam the Channel in September 2022 in nearly 18 hours.

For more information, go to bereregisorcas.co.uk

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