Thetford Dolphins Amateur Swimming Club recently held their club championships presentation evening and Christmas disco at Barnham Village Hall.

Over 100 people attended and it was a fantastic opportunity for everyone involved in the club to get together and celebrate the club’s achievements whether they were medal/trophy winners or not.

Sue Collins, open meet secretary, reported that this year’s club championships, held in October/November, had a particularly high number of participants, many of whom were competing for the first time, and everyone did themselves proud.

There were nearly 170 personal bests, 146 new times, 9 new championship records (Heidi Last, 100m IM 3:22.02, Liam Levi-Twomey 50m breast 46.12, 100m IM 1:26.01, Thomas Cobbold 100m free 1:20.35, 100m fly 1:45.11, 100m breast 1:46.4, 100m back 1:39.47, Dan Collins 50m fly 40.37, 50m back 40.61) and eight new club records set (Miami Pearson 400m Free 5:47.47, Luke Collins 200m free 2:30.39, 800m free 10:51.18, 200m breast 3:21.01, 200m IM 2:49.36, Liam Levi-Twomey 400m free 6:09.32, 200m IM 3:14.06, Elle Kleinau 200m breast 3:22.02).

As well as trophies and medals being presented to the individual participants for all the club championship events, the annual special club trophies were presented as follows: The Tom Warner Trophy (for the most points earned in galas attended): 1 Luke Collins, 2 Taylor Dean, 3 Grace McGill. The Ann Jacobs Trophy (for best boy swimmer of the Links gala): Luke Collins/James Trayton. The Louise Williams Shield (for best girl swimmer of the Links Gala): Georgina Free/Fiona Byford. The Green Shield (for most improved female swimmer): Alexandra Ashley. The Billy Wappett Trophy (most improved male swimmer): Barnaby Morgan. Biggest Championship record break: Heidi Last for 3.66 secs in 100m IM. Mellor Shield (best Championship PB in a 50/100m race): Bethany Farrow in 100m IM.

Chairman John Gooch presented awards to the swimmers (along with Terry Clucas, coach) and also to Malcolm Watkins who sadly has decided to step down from the committee after 15 years. John thanked Malcolm for his dedication and efforts across this time.

October also saw many club swimmers and family members attend the Links Gala (which sees Thetford compete with it’s European twinned clubs in Holland and Germany). Held in Germany this year, Thetford are to host in 2011. Thetford came a very close third, with only 12 points between them and first placed Hurth. The children were said by the chairman to be a credit to the club with many good reports coming from the German families who hosted the children.

Our most recent news is the presentation of a cheque for �870 to Heather Doe of the British Heart Foundation. This fabulous amount was raised thanks to a sponsored swim in which many of the club’s swimmers participated, which was the initial idea of Dolphins members Alice Smith, Kerry Douthwaite, Miami Pearson and Fiona Patrick.

2011 sees both the club’s 40th anniversary celebrations and the hosting of the Links Gala. For more information on Thetford Dolphins, please see our newly redesigned website www.thetforddolphins.com, which was kindly developed by committee member Peter Morgan.