Foyer showcases - Two
 Granville’s aquatic clubs
Since the
formation of the Granville Amateur Swimming Club in 1936, several aquatic sports
clubs have gathered at Granville pool for training, socialising and competing.
The longest running club is the Parramatta City Amateur Swimming Club, which has
been active for over 50 years. The coaching, comradeship and focus provided by
these clubs has produced several national and international swimming, diving,
water polo and synchronized swimming champions.
Swimming
clubs play a vital educational role, and promote and encourage community
involvement. Over the years, many members have progressed to learn-to-swim and
life-saving instructors, and parents have become swimming officials. All worked
together to help raise funds for special events and uniforms.
“The Saturday
morning races were an important social occasion. The parents would go and have a
beer or morning tea in the plant room. That was a very important part of those
mornings – a chance for all the families to get together. Everyone became close
friends and worked very hard to raise money for various events. When you’re
young, it’s your social life as well, it’s all-consuming.”
Susan Costin,
Australian backstroke champion
There were no dedicated
training lanes at Granville until about 1960, when the opening of both
Parramatta and Auburn pools took some of the pressure off Granville. Some
swimmers would use butterfly or breast stroke to clear some space so they could
train.
“On very hot
afternoon getting a lane clear for the purpose of training was normally achieved
by a relay of three or four of us swimming a few lengths butterfly. The
recreational swimmers normally got the message without too many black eyes being
suffered. When it became impossible to train in the pool during school holidays,
our coach Bruce McDonald would take us for the day to Lake Parramatta where we
would combine a picnic with a four or five mile training swim.”
Julian
Carroll
Granville Amateur Swimming Club
Granville
Amateur Swimming Club was formed in 1936 by the first pool manager Rob Chalmers.
A separate ladies’ club was also formed, although women were still permitted to
join the main club.
Dave Ramsay
grew up close to Granville pool, joining the swimming club in the 1940s. He
remembers that during the Second World War, many of the good swimmers had joined
the forces, giving him the opportunity to win several titles.
“In 1946-47 I
won three championships over about a week. For presentation night they put on a
dance over at the Rechabite Hall in Granville. I’d already won quite a few
pennants and thought that would be my prize. It was a bit of a surprise when I
walked in and saw this big cup with my name on it.”
Dave Ramsay
Nola Campbell
joined both the Granville ASC and the Granville Ladies’ Amateur Swimming Club
aged twelve. Under coach Tom Penny, Nola trained after school, competed in
Sunday races, and joined the squad in winter training sessions at White Bay or
Bunnerong power stations. After she stopped competitive swimming aged 17, Nola
remained active in the club as a learn-to-swim teacher.
“We had a
good time. It was clean, wholesome, there was no trouble. We were fit and
healthy, and pretty happy. When you look back you realise how lucky you were.”
Nola Campbell
Parramatta City Amateur Swimming Club
Parramatta City Amateur Swimming Club was formed in about 1951 by police officer
and coach Bruce McDonald and pool manager Ted Simms. Often there would be over
600 children competing in Saturday races, in a single pool. The difficulties of
organising training for such large numbers of children were solved by Bruce’s
invention of ‘interval training’, which became a standard technique around
Australia.
Bruce McDonald
coached hundreds of children to regional, state and national titles – among them
Colleen Pettiford, Julian Carroll, Susan Costin, Rob Griffiths and Nick Whitlam.
When the pool was too crowded the team would train at ‘Little Coogee’ (part of
the Parramatta River) or in Lake Parramatta. In winter, when most clubs stopped
training altogether, Bruce’s squad would continue training and racing at White
Bay or Bunnerong power stations.
“In the early
50s I used set about teaching the local kids to swim. Most of the kids came from
the local Marist Bros schools and couldn’t swim at all. I taught ten kids and
then those kids taught another ten kids each. Within about three years nearly
every one in the school could swim, and so we had a swimming carnival. There
were around 50 kids lined up along the edges of the pool to rescue anyone who
wasn’t going to make it to the end of the pool.”
Bruce
McDonald, coach
“One Sunday
morning during a race I dived in alongside the official competitors since I
reckoned I could beat those kids easily. Fortunately the pool attendant who
ordered me out of the water, a wise old Scot named Jock with tattoos adorning
his muscular arms and a Glaswegian accent as thick as porridge, was in a good
mood and instead of throwing me out, explained that if I wanted to be in the
swimming races all I had to do was join the club. Two shillings and sixpence
joining fee, plus a bit more for the Parramatta City ASC club badge proudly
adorning my new Speedo racer, was all it took to launch my competitive swimming
career which continued for the next 15 years and changed my life.”
Julian Carroll, Australian backstroke champion and Olympian
Parramatta
City Water Polo Club
Parramatta City Club Water Polo Club
formed in 1958 at Granville as an arm of the swimming club, became a first-grade
team in 1962, and continued until about 1970. Members included several State
players such as Ron deGroot, Joe Konic and Graeme Hannan. In 1968 a team
embarked on a European tour, the first Australian water polo club to tour
overseas. Besides competing in Singapore and Germany, the team travelled to
Czechoslovakia, where they became caught up in the August 1968 Soviet invasion.
These days the Parramatta City Swimming Club has a membership which is much more
culturally diverse than in the early days., reflecting changes in the area’s
population. It still plays a vital role in teaching local children to swim, and
in coaching and supporting future champions.
Clyde Amateur Swimming Club
Schoolteacher
and coach Tom Penny, previously with Granville Amateur Swimming Club, formed
Clyde Amateur Swimming Club in 1946, taking top swimmers like John Devitt and
Barry Darke with him to the new club. In winter, Penny's team travelled long
distances to swim in the fast-moving water heated by the Bunnerong or White Bay
power stations, wearing sandshoes to protect them from the oysters. The
club operated for only two seasons.
Granville RSL Youth Amateur
Swimming Club
In 1958 Granville RSL formed a
youth club to provide healthy activities for local young people. In 1961 the
Granville RSL Youth Amateur Swimming Club replaced the Granville Amateur
Swimming Club. The club had about 100 members at its peak, and organised weekend
training and races, as well as learn-to-swim classes.
Former swimming club president
Don Ganter (1975 – 1981) remembers swimming carnivals held at Walgett and
Muswellbrook, and the time the club travelled to a carnival in Auckland, New
Zealand. Long-time club secretary Bev Gow (1966 – 1990) recalls that the club
members particularly enjoyed going to Dubbo for the RSL State championships in
1987 and 1989. One swimming club member, Naomi Young, went on to represent
Australia in synchronized swimming at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The RSL
swimming club folded in about 2002.
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