This Short History Has Been Prepared to Mark the 50Th Anniversary of the Preston Amateur

Preston Amateur Swimming

and Life Saving Club

- A brief history.

Written by Robyn Bowen

Edited by the Committee.

This short history has been prepared to mark the 50th anniversary of the Preston Amateur Swimming and Lifesaving Club.

Fifty years is a long period, a period that has seen many changes in the world and also many hardships. That the Club has survived all these changes is of great credit to the many members and the dedicated officials who have managed the Club over this long period. Without this dedication, enthusiasm and hard work, the Club would not have survived until today. To all those members and officials, and they would probably total over 5,000 people, we should all say thank you for a job well done.

Swimming has also seen significant changes - improvement in times and techniques, and the introduction of a new stroke - butterfly. In 1930 the Men's 220 yards Victorian Championship was won in a time of 2 min. 34.0 secs. and the Women's event in 3 min. 19.4 secs. Today many current Club swimmers can swim these times. No doubt in another fifty years today's times will seem slow by comparison.

The members of the Club have made a significant contribution to swimming in both Victoria and Australia. They have won medals at District, State and National Championships, and one member represented Australia at the Munich Olympics, and we should be proud of their efforts.

What of the next fifty years? If the members and parents in the next fifty years have the same dedication and enthusiasm, then the Club will survive and still be going strong. Let's hope so, and that many of today's members will participate in the Club's Centenary celebrations.

J.R. Bowen,

Honorary Secretary.

- 1 -

In 1926 the Town of Preston was proclaimed a City. The following years saw much hardship in the form of the Depression.

As early as 1925 moves were being made by Preston Councillors to get interest free money to relieve distress in the City. In 1927, E.J. Hogan formed a shaky labour government, and the Council was successful in getting a £1,000 subsidy for the excavation of the Preston Baths, the money to be used for unemployed relief. Sustenance work of a labouring nature, provided under the Unemployment Relief Act was one form of relief offered to the unemployed, however this tended to be intermittent, and often on the basis of work for part of a week. In Preston, many works were carried out by men on sustenance, including the provision of a swimming pool in St. Georges Rd. And so as a result the excavation of the Preston Swimming Pool occurred in the late twenties and was officially opened by the then mayor, Cr. G.E. Robinson in November 1928. The local schools and the Progress Association were the groups first pressing for swimming facilities additional to and safer than those available in the Edwardes' Lake, the creeks and the old quarry. It is interesting that the swimming pool should come at a time when surplus money was virtually non-existent and unemployment rife. However it was during this time that many Local Governments undertook projects which would provide relief work to the unemployed, and so the Preston Swimming Pool was built. It was not surprising that schools made maximum use of the municipal baths.

Soon after the opening of the Preston Swimming Pool the then baths manager of the pool, Jim Donnet set about forming the Preston Amateur Swimming and Lifesaving Club. Although there had been an unofficial swimming club in existence for a number of years prior to this at Edwardes Lake, it was in November-December of 1928 that the Club was officially formed. The Club originally consisted of nine members - the founder Jim Donnet and eight young occupants of the City of Preston, Edna Kruse, Beryl Cull, Bobby Swan, Jack Maylan, Alma and Bella Newman, Loris Jones, and Len Greens.

At its inception the Club concentrated on life saving and so it is not surprising that shortly after its formation four of the above members held their Award of Merit, one of the highest awards issued by the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia and many of the others held their Bronze Medallions and down. Of the original nine club members, only one, Beryl Cull took part in competitive swimming.

Despite Mrs. Colston's statement old newspaper cuttings seem to indicate that she herself was quite successful as a competitive swimmer and diver in the Aquatic Carnival of Preston Schools held at the Preston Baths on approximately 21st. March 1930. Jim Donnet was very influential on the members of the club and played a large role in Mrs. Colston learning to swim and in giving her and the other members of the club the much needed encouragement. Mrs. Colston has probably the most impressive record of any member of the club - having been a member since the club was formed, she is still an active member today. She was made a life-member of the Club in 1959 - 1960.

The Club, having been predominantly a lifesaving club in its early years, competed regularly in lifesaving competitions held at the "old Northcote Baths". At this point in time the Club's main source of finance was through Club picnics and party's, and the Clubs finances were in the vicinity of £2 to £3 in its first few years of existence.

THE DEVELOPING YEARS -- 1930's to 1950's.

From the initial nine members the Club grew fairly quickly even through the Depression years and the War, so that by the end of 1944 there were some hundred members of the Club. Considering that this is during the latter years of World War 2 it is quite a significant number. In fact, Preston along with several other metropolitan clubs - including Brunswick, Richmond, Brighton, Melbourne, Olympic and Y.M.C.A. - kept the spat of swimming going during the war years. It was in 1939 that the Pennant competition Inter-club was inaugurated, however, many of the clubs dropped out during the war years. In the first competition in 1939, Preston were runners-up in "BGrade" after a very close contest against Coburg. It was the final event

the springboard diving, which gave Coburg the pennant by the narrowest of margins. There is quite a story as to why and how Preston lost the diving when they had a competitor of the class of Tom Askell who was at the time a champion diver, and later to become the Senior 2 metre Springboard Diving Champion of Victoria.

Much of the success of the Club during the war years can be attributed to the work of Mr. R. Thompson, and Mr. H. Hazeldene who were responsible for the teaching and coaching of many of the Clubs champion swimmers and divers. Mr. H. Hazeldene, who was baths manager at Preston for a number of years successfully conducted many Herald Learn-to-Swim Campaigns at the pool, and is credited with teaching a large majority of the children from the City of Preston and surrounding areas, to swim during his association with the Club. In fact, in one season, probably 1939 - 1940, he taught some 1,100 children to swim.

During this time the club produced many champion swimmers, amongst them were Ron and John Walker, the former being State Senior Breaststroke Champion in 1941, Ron Solly, a distance swimmer, Alan Dunstan, a backstroker, Ralph Majewski, a freestyler, and Jim Thompson, who was probably the most successful male Club swimmer during the war years, winning several Junior and Senior State titles for both backstroke and freestyle. The fathers of the latter four were all active members of the Club serving on the Club Committee at varying times during their associations with the Swimming Club. Les Clements, Ross Shaw, a promising swimmer who is now of baseball fame, Alan McDonald, and Ray Denman, who's name is now remembered at the club in the form of a memorial shield, together with Jim Thompson, were members of the club who as well as being successful in club competitions, achieved particular success in inter-school events during the early 40's.

On the girl's side of swimming the Club also had several successful swimmers during the early 40's. Sheila Finlayson, a distance swimmer, who swam in the V.A.S.A. 3 mile swim, Gwen Johnson, a springboard diver, coached by

Harry Hazeldene, competed in State competitions, winning intermediate titles, Doreen Thompson who won titles from 10 years through to 15 years, and successfully won State Junior Titles, and Harry Hazeldene's three daughters Pat, Olive, and Valerie, were all good swimmers and excellent divers, as was their father.

Apart from being successful in swimming and diving events which were held mainly over the summer months, the Club continued to swim during the winter months and controlled all winter sports of its members. The Club offered football for the boys and basketball (now netball) for the girls. In fact the football club which was known as the Preston Swimmers Football Club is still operating today, but now functions as a separate body within the Preston District. The moves to bring about the separation of the two groups began around 1949 and by 1951 discussion was till going on about the association between the two bodies, the Swimming Club at that time still believed to be the parent body of the "Preston Swimmers Football Club" , and according to records, although moves were about to break the connection between the two bodies, this in fact does not appear to have occurred.

The participation of the girls in the local basketball competition began around 1946 and continued on intermittently until renewed interest resulted in the team reforming in 1956 naming themselves the "Preston Swimmers Basket-ball Team", and won premierships two years in a row - 1957 to 1958, and 1958 to 1959. During the winter months, participation in both football and basketball provided a means of keeping members in contact with the Club and at the same time they were participating in sports activities.

It was some time during this period that the Club inaugurated the "City of Preston All Junior Championships" which they have continued to tun to the present day. The actual date of commencement of this carnival is doubtful, but it appears to have started around 1940, but records are vague at this time due I believe to the nature of the world political climate at the time, mainly World War 2, however the Carnival was certainly in existence by 1946. These Championships are only open to people residing in the City of Preston, and have long received the support of the Council who donate the trophies for

the Championships. Any money raised from the championships was donated to the Preston Hospital Appeal, now P.A.N.C.H. Over the years, these champion-ships have obviously provided a means of introducing members of the City of Preston to competitive swimming and the Swimming Club which has undoubtedly resulted in many new members to the club over the years.

In 1950 the Club began its association with yet another branch of aquatic sports, mainly Water Polo. Only three years later the Club was successful in winning the Grand Final against Northcote, 6 goals to 5 goals, to take out their first Water Polo premiership. There success in Water Polo continued winning several premierships over the next seven years. However, due to lack of interest by members participation in water polo lapsed till as recently as 1970 when teams entered once again in both male and female competition.

During the 50's many other developments were advanced, some being more successful than others. These included such things as the Industrial Carnival for factory workers in the City of Preston, the division of swimmers into four houses, each having a captain and points being awarded over the season for a variety of activities, however this only lasted for two seasons, 1953 - 1954, and 1954 - 1955, when they appear to have abandoned the idea. 1955 - 1956 saw the first running of the Club 1¼ mile Yarra Swim, an event which still exists today, although the location has changed. Members success-fully participated in V.A.S.A. 3 mile and 1¼ mile Yarra swims, winning the Teams trophy in 1955 for the 3 mile swim, ran 24 hour swim, which is believed to be the first one ever attempted, from 24th March to 25th March, the proceeds being donated to P.A.N.C.H. and Royal Children's Hospital, 22 swimmers swam a total of 45 miles, 1,165 yards in the 24 hours; won the Russ Kennedy Memorial Shield at the Royal Lifesaving Society in 1959, winning it for the next 3 years, making total of 4 years in succession.

Obviously the 30's to 50's were a period of much development for the Swimming Club especially in terms of success, achieved in such a wide variety of activities - including swimming, diving, lifesaving, water polo, football, basketball, table tennis, billiards and many social activities, such as picnics, parties, dances, and so on.

The Sixties and Seventies

Perhaps one of the biggest developments to occur during this period was the rebuilding of the Preston City Baths. It was estimated that £100,000 would be spent by the Preston City Council on the new pool. Work on the new pool commenced in April 1964 and it was anticipated that the pool would be completed for the 1964 - 1965 season. However, by September it was obvious that this would not happen and so Preston Swimming Club had to seek alternative accommodation for the coming season. For the 1964-65 season the Club shared facilities with the Reservoir Swimming Club at Reservoir Olympic Pool. As one would expect, this lack of facilities had a significant effect on the Club, the number of members being less than half the previous season. Even after moving back to the pool, numbers continued to be affected. It took approx-imately five years for numbers to once again approach the levels attained prior to the building of the new pool. The new pool, known as the Preston Olympic Pool contained four separate pools to replace the original single pool that had been in service since 1928. The original opening by the then Mayor of Preston Cr. Theo Cochrane took place on 30th October 1965, some 12 months after the original intended opening. At the official opening, members of the Club gave a swimming and diving exhibition to christen the new pools.