Home Start Aquathon

As a trustee of the Ward Freman Community Group and lifelong swimmer and lifesaver he was nominated to captain the team and gracefully accepted (Yes Dear!).
His swimming adventures started over 50 years ago learning to swim at Potters Bar swimming pool. As a teenager he represented his school, county and Southgate Swimming club at numerous swimming galas. He was also part of the National Air Training Corps (ATC) Swimming Team. He obtained his Bronze Medallion and worked as a lifeguard at Broxbourne Lido aged 17-19.

A former police officer, he represented the Metropolitan Police at swimming. He was part of their Men’s relay team which won a Silver medal at the 2003 World Police and Fire Games in Barcelona. He still participates and helps to organise the annual Police National Lifesaving Competition.

He currently swims twice a week down the Dave (David Lloyd Leisure, Stevenage) and favourite stroke is front crawl and he loves a ‘catch up’ drill. At the Aquathon he is looking forward to demonstrating some lifesaving rescue tows as well as putting in as many laps as necessary to keep the team swimming.

At the age of 91 Brian has seen and done it all! Swimming, Lifesaving, Water polo, Wild Swimming and water for rehab. Some say he now moves faster in water than on land!

Brian recalls his mother taking him to the Empire Swimming Pool in Wembley (now the OVO Wembley Arena) to learn to swim. He loved the water and went on to earn his Bronze Medallion and Bronze Cross for lifesaving.
In fact he loved swimming so much that during the Blitz when his mother sent him to live with his Aunt in Soham he often preferred to be wild swimming in the ‘Soham Drain’ than be at school!

He was a member of Hampstead Swimming Club and played water polo, most notably with and against Edward Temme, an Olympic Water polo player and the first man to swim the English Channel in both directions.

Brian moved to the Buntingford McCarthy & Stone retirement apartments in March 2024. Had the pool been open he would have continued with his 3 sessions a week. He has therefore never swam at the Ward Freman swimming pool, but really wants to help reopen the pool so he could walk, swim and socialise there regularly.

Who knows what Brian will do in the water come the night of the Aquathon, but he will definitely be giving it his best shot. Perhaps he will be the oldest participant, which just goes to show that swimming is great for all ages!

Cameron learnt to swim at the Ward Freman Swimming Pool at the age of four, but as the youngest of four siblings had been visiting the pool since birth whilst his sisters had lessons. His favourite teachers at WF were Sarah, Amanda & Gillie. Now aged 11 he is still having swimming lessons and is in stage 8 at Grange Paddocks, learning tumble turns, how to dive and being able to swim 400m continuously.
He has a natural ability to perform egg beater and was encouraged to try water polo which he now loves to learn with Hertford Water Polo club on a Thursday evening. If you are interested in either senior or juniors (10-15) sessions please visit http://hertfordwaterpolo.club/

Cameron is a pupil at Edwinstree Middle School and is sad that they have missed out on school swimming lessons and the fun swim sessions previously offered as rewards. He knows that if you can’t swim you can’t do fun things like water polo, paddle boarding or H20 Rampage at Westmill Lakes.

Watch out for Cameron at the Aquathon doing some heads up front crawl controlling the ball, and how high he can get his head, shoulders and both arms out of the water with his strong eggbeater kick.

Andrea is well known in Buntingford for running Rib Valley Gymnastics and (formally) Trampolining Clubs. So whilst an accomplished gymnast and trampolinist, she describes herself as a weak swimmer.

She tried to learn to swim at the Stevenage pool aged seven, but admits to being a nervous swimmer and never really got past doggy paddle.

Aged eleven, she was on holiday abroad and made friends who taught her how to dive in and to love having fun in the water. She sees it as the game changing moment and although she was still a very weak swimmer she could now swim under water without freaking out.

Andrea would love to be able to have proper lessons as an adult to improve her swimming technique as she can only do a basic breaststroke and swim on her back. Despite this her biggest achievement in swimming was about a year ago when she was able to swim regularly for 5 months at Royston swimming pool and managed an impressive 44 lengths in an hour.

Come the 27th April Andrea may do a few lengths demonstrating her improvement from doggy paddle to breaststroke.

Claudia, like her brother Cameron (and many other residents of Buntingford) learnt to swim at the Ward Freman swimming pool. She completed all 10 learn to swim stages and Jess was her favourite swimming teacher.
As a good strong swimmer she joined Buntingford Swimming Club and was on the cusp of being old enough to walk herself to the pool when it closed in December 2023.
With the clubs closure she tried Royston Swimming Club but didn’t enjoy it as much as Buntingford. Thankfully Ware Swimming Club have been really friendly and despite their home pool of Fanshawe now being closed she still swims twice a week with Ware SC at Haileybury pool.
She refuses to wear a Ware SC hat, instead wearing a silver hat (which does make it easier for parents to spot her in the water) as she considers herself just visiting and hopes to be back at Buntingford Swimming club soon.

Now as a teenager in Buntingford and student at Freman College she would love for the pool to be open as somewhere she and her friends could visit on foot (without parents) to keep fit, destress, have fun and socialise.

Watch out for Claudia in her silver hat at the Aquathon doing laps of catch up drills or corkscrew. Out of the water she will be the team motivator always smiling, providing words of encouragement and trying to get a high five or two!

Karen will be representing all those who use the swimming pool but don’t swim!

Karen learnt to swim at primary school in Huddersfield by being ‘guided in‘ by the teacher as she wasn’t very keen. This actually means forced into the water and being kept away from the side of the pool with a stick, a memory that is familiar to many people of Karen’s generation. Thankfully teaching techniques have changed over the years and it did not stop her from enjoying the water.

She has lived in Buntingford for 22 years and when the Ward Freman pool closed she kept up her aquatic activities by joining Nuffield Gyms and using their pools.

She loves to do aqua aerobics of any kind, especially if there is good music playing. Anything by Bruce Springsteen works for her with Dancing in the Dark a great tune for marching in the water and getting your heart rate going. So expect her to be aqua jogging, cycling and moving through the water with aerobic moves on the 27th April.

Karen is currently away from home caring for a relative, so was unable to make the team photo shoot, but will be with us for the Aquathon.