ABERYSTWYTH & District Amateur Swimming Club’s 50th anniversary celebrations took centre stage in September as past and present members came together to mark five decades of swimming success in Aberystwyth, writes Carol Macy.

The milestone was celebrated with a special reunion event, commemorative memorabilia and a unique relay race bringing together generations of club swimmers.

The celebrations coincided with ADASC’s annual gala, held at Plascrug Leisure Centre during the week beginning 7 September.

During the week, swimmers of all ages took part in long distance events ranging from 100m for the club’s youngest swimmers to the gruelling 15,000m. They also had an opportunity to compete against others in their age category in the 100 and 200 individual medley.

On Saturday, 12 September, swimmers took part in the main gala at the leisure centre.

This was a wonderful opportunity for swimmers to compete against their peers as well as for parents and family members to watch the fantastic progress the swimmers had made since joining the club.

Thanks to the hard work of the gala secretary and coach, the event was well organised with swimmers performing their best in their home pool.

There was much excitement at lunchtime when a very special relay was organised.

A team made of past swimmers and captains, raced against all the current swimmers in a much-anticipated relay.

In the past swimmers’ relay, there were several former captains such a Lynwen Jenkins, Catrin and Cari Davies, Aled (current coach) and Sam Middleton, Meganne Tooze (also a current coach), Elen Morgan and Ivan Rukov and recent swimmers Finley Saycell, Beca Evans and Holly Ellice Jones.

Current coaches Carol Macy and Helen Ovens also took part as well as Stuart Sherman who attended the club back in 1976 as a swimmer.

The current swimmers each took one turn to race 25m against the past club members whilst they continued swimming until the last current swimmers had swum. It was a close contest with the past swimmers winning by a small margin! After a much-needed break, the swimmers continued with their gala until 2pm.

Later on that day, swimmers and their families went to Plascrug Community School to get their medals from the gala and celebrate the 50th birthday of the club.

Lynwen and Meganne were thanked for organising the event at the school.

It was wonderful to see past swimmers, captains, coaches and committee members such as lifetime member Dave Jones and former Swim Wales coach of the year Nigel Parry share their experiences with the current crop of swimmers.

Lifetime member, former captain and coach, Lynwen Jenkins brought in lots of memorabilia to share and former swimmer Simon Gelly Jones brought in scrap books full of pictures and newspaper articles of his time at the club.

Past and present members chatted about their time at the club whilst enjoying a lovely buffet funded by Lynwen and the swimming club.

Current swimmers recorded interviews with former captains and coaches for posterity and at the end of the event, founding coach and lifetime member Trevor Miles and first chairperson Alun John, shared their memories of their time at ADASC.

Commonwealth swimmers Catrin and Cari Davies also shared their fond memories of swimming with ADASC such enjoying a pick n mix as they travelled by bus to galas all over the country and going to Saint Brieuc.

To end the wonderful evening, first club captain Karen Penry and swimmer Stuart Sherman cut the cakes with current captains Oli Lerigo and Seren Alexander. The current captains cut the cake with the current colours of orange and blue whilst Karen and Stuart cut the cake with the original colours of blue and white.

To celebrate 50 years of ADASC, all current swimmers were given a commemorative swimming cap with a special ADASC 50th logo designed by captain Oli Lerigo. They also received a wonderful 50th badge designed by Hattie Finney and temporary tattoos designed by William Green.

As we looked back at the fantastic 50-year history of the club, we look forward to our first trip abroad in several years to a swimming camp in Crete in 2027 and to continue providing the children of Aberystwyth and the district with fantastic opportunities to enjoy swimming on a competitive level.

If you have any interest in helping the volunteer coaching team at ADASC or would like to organise a trial for your child to attend, please email [email protected]