Club History

Leamington Spa Amateur Swimming Club was founded in 1885, initially, it seems, to promote open-water swimming. The Club soon after made its home at the former 33 yard pool at the Royal Pump Rooms, built in 1890. Except for an enforced suspension of its activities for five years during the Second World War, the Club has remained in operation since that date, recently celebrating its 125 year anniversary in 2010.

Newbold Comyn

The Club continued undeterred following closure of the Pump Room pool in 1989, hiring other local pools to keep its swimmers in the water. It lobbied to overturn the Council’s plan to build a new leisure only pool at Newbold Comyn in Leamington and the success of that campaign has ensured that Newbold is now the Club’s home.

In its early days, the Club represented swimming in a diverse sense, being better known, at least until the middle of the 20th century, for its water polo, diving and life saving activities, in addition to teaching and competitive swimming.

The Club held galas which sometimes included not only the usual races, but also novelty events and even water polo matches on the same evening! The Club enjoyed particular success in water polo, with teams reaching national finals.

Such was the Club’s success in developing a sense of community, it purchased the lease for a Club house, which on occasion saw as many as 200 sit down to dinner. When this was sold, the money was entrusted to specially appointed Trustees, and this has subsequently been used to help the Club develop, recently funding the installation of timing equipment at Newbold Comyn.

The Club currently supports both a popular teaching section and a series of successful swimming squads. The Club competes in the National Arena League; has had considerable success in the Nuneaton and District Junior League qualifying for the Northern Area final in 2019 and winning the Mercian League in 2012.

The Club has swimmers who compete at county, regional and national level. The Club enjoys SwimMark status and in 2012 developed its links with other local clubs, combining forces as “Team Mercia”.

All through its long history, the Club has been staffed largely by volunteers, from the community, for the community. It has always been a non-profit-making organisation with every penny of membership and session fees going towards pool hire, insurance, ASA affiliation etc. The Club is also committed to raising money for local and national charities.

Leamington Spa Amateur Swimming Club is immensely proud of its heritage, of its place in the Leamington community, and of its swimmers’ achievements.