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CHAPELTOWN AMATEUR SWIMMING CLUB

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NEWS ARCHIVE MARCH 2006

25th March 2006 Chapeltown Amateur Swimming Club ask for help locating Girls’ School Swimming Trophy A School’s swimming trophy has been uncovered by local competitive amateur swimming club, Chapeltown ASC, after being missing for almost 40 years. Two silver trophies were presented to the Chapeltown & District Schools Swimming Association in 1961 and formed the basis for separate annual competitive freestyle team race for boys and girls from schools across the Chapeltown area. Ecclesfield Grammar School became the first winners in the inaugural year of the boys trophy, with Colley Secondary School winning the last recorded race in 1967; for reasons unknown, the competition appears to have stopped in that year. During recent work to enlarge the Club’s trophy cabinet, the Boys’ trophy (pictured below) was discovered but the Girls’ trophy could not be found and is believed to be with a previous winner, presumably from 1967, and the search is now on across the local Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley area.
	The trophy was presented by Alderman J. W. Trickett as part of the opening ceremony of Chapeltown Baths, home of Chapeltown ASC, in 1961. Tom Barlow, Chairman of Chapeltown ASC, which itself was formed in 1961, commented “We were amazed when we located the trophy; we’d no idea it existed. After a discussion across the club and with some of the local schools, we decided it would be a great idea to try restart the annual event but first we would like to locate the missing trophy.” The distinctive silver trophy is mounted on a dark wooden base, carries the inscription “Presented to Chapeltown & District Schools Swimming Association by Alderman J.W. Trickett, J.P. for Annual Competition Girls Free Style Team Race – 1961 –”.
Chapeltown ASC work closely with local schools such as Lound Juniour School who’s pupils recently trained with the club as part of squad selection for a Sheffield Schools Gala at Ponds forge in May.
	Deputy Headteacher Judith  Ellis of Lound Junior School concluded, “It would be great to restart this historic competition. Many of our children are good swimmers and several have joined Chapeltown ASC to swim competitively, a competition like this could generate greater interest in swimming from children across the area and that’s got to be a good thing in this age of Playstations, DVDs, and MSN." Left: Picture of Tom Barlow and Judith Ellis with trophy.
Below: Picture of Chapeltown Swimmers with pupils from Lound School with the trophy (back row left-to-right: Tom Barlow, Jack Eddison (10), Liam Bacon (7), Lewis Bacon (7), Charlotte Barlow (8), Judith Ellis; front row left-to-right: Ben Harrison (9), Phillipa Revitt (10), Ashley Revitt (9), Ellie Harrison (9). Note, parental permission to publish photos of children has been obtained.
Story by Kevin Canetti