It has been another amazing year of swimming for the Brockwell Swimmers club with a growing membership and an ever increasing choice of events.

The weekly Monday indoor swim sessions at Alleyns School are now regularly selling out thanks to the excellent tuition of head coach Sam and his wonderful clan of instructors Catherine, Robert and Henry. This has been backed up by our monthly Saturday morning swims at the Lido where we are glad to have seen more members bracing the colder winter months, skins and suited.

Our regular appearances at the Herne Hill Community stall have also helped boost membership, so thanks to all our volunteers who have given their time handing out our leaflets and explaining to the public our various events. Also thanks to Fusion for allowing us our notice board and poolside sign at the Lido which has been a big boost to our visibility as a registered Community Amateur Sports Club, CASC.

Started in 2018, our Spring and Summer invitation Relays again proved a great success attracting clubs from all over London. The Spring event was won by the Crystal Palace triathlon team and the Summer event was won by Out to Swim. Brockwell Swimmers came a consistent second from last so more training needed, but it is good to see the Lido used for the competitive swimming it was designed for.

Probably our greatest achievement of the year is the £5,375 raised for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute from our two Lido and Channel Challenges. On the Saturday 12th August, 33 swimmers swam 900 lengths of the Lido equaling an impressive 28 miles. Then on the Tuesday our team of 4 set off from Dover to swim the 21 miles to France which they completed in an impressive 14 hours and 40 minutes. We are already planning another relay team for 2024 so please contact us if this on your bucket list.

Other events included our usual social swim/walk following the picturesque Rye circular via Winchelsea Beach with wonderful weather and great company. Members also took part in the exhausting Herne Bay pier-to-pier and the ever popular Serpentine swims. Keep an eye on this web site for club activities 2024.

Brockwell Swimmers is an entirely volunteer led organisation and continues to grow through the combined efforts of its members. If you would like to join us in building a strong swim community for the Lido we’d love to hear from you.

See you in the pool.