Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Welcome

Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club is one of the oldest competitive swimming clubs in Hertfordshire.  Whilst we strive to be competitive we realise our responsibilities to encourage sport for all and this is reflected in a club structure which ranges from our Learn to Swim School, through to our competitive squads and Masters (over 18s).

Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club is a club that puts its swimmers first and with over 300 swimming learners and members, we aim to provide an inclusive experience catering for those learning to swim, those starting out on their competitive swimming careers and those striving to compete at Counties, Regionals and Nationals, or even Internationally.

So if you’re looking for swimming lessons or a new competitive club, take a moment to look through our site and see what we can offer you.  

April 2021 – Return to the Pool

We are very pleased to share that from 12th April we plan to be back in the water in accordance with Step 2 of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown. Swimming club members, please check your inboxes for the new squad schedules and health declaration forms – remember, no form = no swim! Unfortunately our Masters squad will have to wait a little longer, as they are not allowed to join club activities until Step 3 (no earlier than 17 May).

We will also welcome many of our Learn to Swim members back from Sunday 18th April. Booking emails have already been sent out.

World Beating Masters

Three BSSC Masters swimmers have been named in the 2020 FINA World Masters Top 10 Rankings.  Despite limited competition opportunities in the UK compared to many other Countries, Elizabeth Bellinger (40-44yrs), Alyson Fordham (60-64yrs) and Sally Winter (60-64yrs) secured multiple top 10 finishes in their age groups.

Lizzie was first in the world long course rankings for 50/100m butterfly, whilst Sally (BSSC Club President) was first in short and long course 200m freestyle.

#KeepStortfordSwimming

BSSC has been operating in Bishop’s Stortford since 1884, but the impact of Covid reduced training hours and pool hiring opportunities and the club had to go looking for additional funding to stay afloat.  

BSSC launched their #KeepStortfordSwimming crowdfunder appeal with much trepidation on Sunday 1st November with a target of £10,000 – £5000 to be raised by the club, and £5000 matched with Sport England’s Active Together funding.  Members got creative with incentives such as car washing, shirt ironing, cake making, dog walking and overnight stays (Doggy Ray Care), local vouchers and raffles to reward donators.

Through the generosity of members and supporters and a Corporate Sponsorship from two locally based companies, the club smashed through the £5000 requirement within three days, and with the Sport England funding the final total was an amazing £11,555!

Pre-Covid BSSC had plans for increasing support to their members and offering more events to younger swimmers in the local community.  Covid turned it into a fight for survival, but with support through the crowdfunder campaign and ongoing support through this latest lockdown, the club can start to dream big again.

2020/21 Squad structure

[Summer 2020] Pools are gradually re-opening, and our coaching team is preparing for our return to the water.  We are a club that is changing year on year and to reflect those changes in size and competitiveness our head coach Benoit has reviewed the existing structure and made some updates that will take effect as soon as we start training.  

There are more details on the Squad Structure page.

Please review the PDF download that contains the plan of the new structure and the updated individual criteria for each squad.  Although many of the squad names remain the same, the entry criteria may have changed so please take your child’s year of birth and consider all squads for which they could be eligible.  For example, a swimmer born in 2006 could be in Cadets, Juniors, Minimes or Elites.  

DownloadSquad Structure and Criteria 2020-2021 (163.8 KB)

Movement between squads will be based on age (year of birth), entry criteria (where appropriate) and attendance during the active part of the 2019-2020 season and will be communicated to individual swimmers prior to us starting training.  Swimmers eligible for more than one squad may decide not to become part of a squad and will therefore be directed to a different squad according to their motivations.

Please direct any questions towards Benoit (BSSC Head Coach).

Learn to Swim

Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club’s Learn to Swim programme provides high quality swimming lessons based on the Swim England Learn to Swim Framework.  Our Learn to Swim lessons have some of the lowest teacher pupil ratios in the area with a maximum of 8 swimmers per lesson.

Lessons are held in two locations, Bishops Stortford College Pool on Sundays between 3:00pm and 6:00pm and Leventhorpe School Pool on Mondays and Wednesday between 4:15pm and 5:15pm.

For further information please visit our Learn to Swim pages or alternatively you can contact us by email.