THE City of Hereford Swimming Club is creating a splash after incorporating a water polo squad.

The water polo squad has been welcomed as part of the swimming club.

The club had been running under the management of Halo Leisure for the last 12 months.

Simon Gwynne, general manager of Hereford Leisure Pool said “This is a win-win situation. By joining our partners at Hereford Swimming Club the water polo club has the ability to grow and excel with the support of one of the region’s top performing Swimming Clubs.”

“Hereford Leisure Pool will continue to provide a water polo teaching programme that will lead into water polo at the swimming club”.

Water Polo members will now be able to join swim training with the rest of the swimming club and will benefit from the excellent coaching base within the club

Water polo coach Dave Cash is the most highly qualified coach in the region with more than 30 years experience in the sport.

The water polo club has already made outstanding progress with Millie Boucher representing Wales and both Millie and Abi Duce joining the Great Britain talent selection programme.

City of Hereford Swimming Club chairman Dave Jewell stated “This is a major milestone in the history of the club; we can now offer the swimmers of Herefordshire the opportunity to take part in this growing and exciting sport.”

The City of Hereford Swimming Club now incorporates Ross and Leominster Swimming Clubs and is riding high after enjoying a fantastic year in the water.

The performance programme at the club, designed by head coach Alex Dallimore, provides a performance pathway across all three sites to develop swimmers from Academy level (7yrs) to National Athletes.

The Club currently has, 1 double British National Champion, 2 British National Finalists, 4 British National Qualifiers, 3 Swimmers ranked top 10 in GB Age Group, 1 Swimmer on England Talent ID programme,2 Welsh National Champions and was also the winning team out of 117 qualifiers in the Swim Britain Open water relay held at Blenheim Place. The Club has also won the Hereford and Worcestershire Sport Partnership “Club of the Year” Award for 2014. The Club is also proud to have as members Multi Paralympic medallists Sascha and Nyree Kindred.

The programme at Ross has been expanding under the leadership of Ross

director of swimming Andy Boucher, with membership doubling in the last year and swimming performance exceeding all expectations. Ross swimmers from the Junior Performance, Club and Senior squads gained Personal Best performances at the Gloucester open meet netting a good haul of medals as open meet debutants with Ben Kershaw and Maisey Tucker winning best boy and best girl respectively.

The Leominster programme is progressing well and the club is welcoming two additional coaches to the programme supported by the Club Development Grant from West Midland Swimming funding.

The Club also offers Masters sessions for swimmers over 17. This is ideal pool time for those who want to get back into adult swimming after taking a break from the sport or for those training for Triathlon.

If you are interested in joining our vibrant, friendly club why not come along to a free trial session. Contact us below:

For Ross-on-Wye contact Andy Boucher: andy.boucher@swimhereford.co.uk)

For Leominster contact Alex Dallimore headcoach@swimhereford.co.uk

For Hereford contact Alex Dallimore headcoach@swimhereford.co.uk

For Masters Swimming, at Hereford Leisure Pool contact Dave Jewell, chair@swimhereford.co.uk)

For Water Polo at Hereford Leisure Pool contact Dave Cash, waterpolo@swimhereford.co.uk