Old News

This weekend past, SAS ran our first ever Graded Meet at Westhill Swimming Pool. The Meet was a great success on many levels and my sincere thanks to the many helpers and technical officials, many of whom did not have swimmers in the pool, who made the event happen. These events could not happen without you.

As a little back-ground, the Meet was first conceived earlier this year when the SAS Junior Meet had to be cancelled due to several feet of snow. The SAS Management Committee decided we would like to run an alternative meet for our younger swimmers, the founding principles of which were simple;

· To provide opportunity for our youngest SAS swimmers to compete for SAS, many for the very first time

· To provide the opportunity for our youngest swimmers to compete in a two day meet

· To provide the opportunity for a large number of swimmers to gain 1500m & 800m entry times to District Regional Programme

· To be a bit different, slightly experimental, and provide a bit of diversity to the standard meet format.

The Meet certainly ticked all of the above boxes, and has also given us plenty of thought for running a similar Graded Event next year. For those that took part, I hope it was a positive experience. There were certainly very many very good swims throughout the weekend.

Please note that there will be no training on Monday 3rd and Tuesday 4th May. Training will resume on Wednesday 5th May as usual.

After our Bag2school collection back in September, we managed to raise £112.00 for the club.

Following this success, we shall be having a second collection the new year. Further details will be issued nearer the time, but in the meantime, please do not throw any unwanted clothing, shoes, bags, belts, soft bedding etc. If you would already like a blue bag to start collecting, please get in touch with Graeme Gordon who has a supply of bags.

SAS are organising a huge bag packing event at Sainsbury's, Garthdee, Aberdeen on Saturday 19th December. As members of SAS we are asked to help out on with this event. Please contact Graeme Gordon (graeme.gordon@uk.bp.com) to arrange a time slot. If you are stuck for transport, please still get in touch with Graeme - there may well be someone who will be happy to give you a lift. This is a big fundraiser for SAS, so please do help if you can. Thanks.

This is our own club event. We need support from parents for this event - if you are able to help with timekeeping, this would be appreciated. You do not have to have done the timekeepers' course, and you will be placed with more experienced parents. Please contact Karen Bruce as soon as possible if you are able to help (kmbruce@btinternet.com) Thank you.

This is our chance to welcome swimmers to Aboyne - help is need from all the club, whether your child is swimming or not. If you have not offered your help yet, please contact Janet Thomson on 87620. Thanks.

Congratulations go to both Andrew Thomson and Fraser Gordon who have achieved well-earned places in SAS Top Squad. This is no small achievement, and means that they will now undertake all their training at Westhill in addition to their training at Aboyne.

This year's sponsored swim reached the incredible distance of 64.8 km during the two hour session. There were some fantastic distances swum by all involved from the small Tadpoles to Top Squad. It was also great to see parents in the pool doing laps!!!

These small fundraising events are an important part of enabling us to support the swimmers in achieving their full potential. This has been another great year for the club overall with medals and trophies being won by all levels of the club, and I'd like to say thanks to all those involved in the sponsored swim.

On a more practical point, could money that has been collected by each swimmer be placed in an envelope marked for the attention of Graeme Gordon and handed in to the swimmer's coach.

Training Time Changes

There will no longer be training for Seniors on a Monday morning. (Sharks/Killer Whales - training will continue as normal at this time.)

The taster session is open to children aged 7 and up who are able to swim 25m in at least two (preferably three) recognisable strokes, and are confident swimming out of their depth.

For further information please contact Rachel Green on 013398 89033 or Linden Tapper (86467/ email linick4@btinternet.com).

Saturday 31st January saw a group of Aboyne Primary and Academy pupils gather at Tollcross for the Scottish Schools Finals. Everybody swam really well. The team consisted of Holly Phimister, Andrew Thomson, Fraser Gordon, Ross Mackay, Hannah Gordon, Rachel Masson and Alasdair Bruce.

Andrew Thomson won 2 bronzes in the 200IM and 100 Backstroke and Holly Phimister won bronze in the 200m Breaststroke.

Holly has been selected to represent Scottish Schools at WISE (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England) International in Swansea on the 14th March.

Well done to all pupils who represented their schools in the finals on the 31st.

The four clubs which comprise SAS (UDASC, Banchory Beaver, Westhill and Stonehaven) are joining together in a social event later this term - a ceilidh, to be held on 20 February at Learney Hall in Torphins. For more information please click here.

There will be a presentation of medals on Friday 23rd January in the Partition Area at 7.30pm.

All swimmers from the club should attend and parents are most welcome to come along as well.

The Dolphins/Sharks session will finish at about 7.15pm to allow them time to change and go upstairs.

The presentations should not take much more than an hour, after which Top and Junior Top Squad should make their way to the pool to train until 9.30pm.

The Community Centre is closed for most of the Christmas holiday and so there will be very little swim training.

For Killerwhales, Tadpoles, Dolphins, Sharks and Seniors there will be no coaching for the whole 2 weeks. Enjoy the holiday!

For Top Squad and Junior Top - there will be no morning training. On Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd there will be training at 5.15pm - 6.30pm only.

After this the next training session will be on Monday 5th January when the Community Centre opens and the normal training timetable resumes.

Earlier this month, Fraser Gordon travelled with other members of SAS to compete at the North Sea Meet in Stavanger. He produced some excellent results including 2 silvers - for 200 IM and 100 free, and 2 bronzes for 100 back and 200 free. Well done Fraser!

During the second week there will be training for Squad 1 only:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 7.00-8.15am

Tuesday/Thursday 5.15- 6.30pm.

Don't forget that there will be no UDASC training for Tadpoles and Dolphins on Friday 26th as Squads 1 & 2 will have their distance championships that evening.

Don't forget that there will be no UDASC training for Squads 1 & 2 on Sunday 28th as Tadpoles and Dolphins will have their distance championships that afternoon.

Due to industrial action at Aboyne Community Centre there will be no swim training on Wednesday 24th September as the pool will be closed.

Training will recommence on Thursday 25th August, when hopefully there will be no more disruptions.

Thanks to all who helped raise funds for SAS and UDASC by selling Spree Books. Please click here for a note of thanks by Doris Mair, SAS Chairperson.

South Aberdeenshire Swimming (SAS) will be holding its AGM this year at the Community Centre in Aboyne at 7.30pm. As a member of UDASC you are a member of South Aberdeenshire Swimming. It's important that a good representation of members from all 4 clubs - UDASC, Westhill, Banchory and Stonehaven are present at the meeting to hear about the overall condition of the club and help inform the decisions. If you can make it please come along. With the meeting being held in Aboyne there is also a request for UDASC to provide homebakes for the follow up tea and coffee, so please do so if you can. Thank you.

Fundraising with Spree Books - raise cash for UDASC. For more details click here

This is an important date in our club calendar and I would encourage parents of swimmers to come along and hear about the status of the club. There are also some direct requests for participation with the club, looking to fill the following key posts: Vice Chairperson and ordinary committee members, plus support positions in fundraising. Without these posts being filled the future of the club and its overall direction can not be shaped, so please put your hand up if you are able to help. People interested in getting involved with the committee don't need swimming knowledge, just a willingness to help. You can contact me before the night on gordongang@tiscali.co.uk if you want to discuss what these roles may entail for you.

Due to industrial action at Aboyne Community Centre there will be no swim training on Wednesday 20th August as the pool will be closed.

Training will recommence on Thursday 21st August, when hopefully there will be no more disruptions.

This event will take place at the Victory Hall, Aboyne on Saturday 21st June starting at 7.00pm. Bring your own picnic, drink, glasses, cups, plates etc and join in the fun. After the awards ceremony, Andy Linklater and his band will play for the ceilidh.

There is no charge for this evening, but to cover costs there will be some fundraising activities during the evening, so don't forget to bring some cash!

If you intend to come, but have not yet informed your club rep, please do so as soon as possible, so that we can ensure there are enough tables for everyone.

Well done to the UDASC squad who put in a fantastic performance at the 3rd match in the series on Saturday. A huge number of PBs were achieved, and despite being closely beaten by Banchory Beavers on this occasion (by only 18 points), UDASC are still in the lead in the series, so the next match is going to be REALLY exciting. Congratulations also to Emily Hazley, Merryn Thomson, Alasdair Bruce and Rachel Masson who all created new club records.

The next club 'Taster Session' will be held on Friday 13th June at 6.30pm. Anyone interested should call Linden Tapper on 86467/email linick4@btinternet.com).

A squad of ten swimmers from UDASC brought home a fine haul of medals from the annual Bridge of Don April Showers meet, held at Northfield Pool on Sunday.

Emily Hazley (8) triumphed in three events, taking speeding tickets for exceeding the gold medal cut-off time in both 25m freestyle and 25m butterfly, along with gold in the 25m breaststroke. Rory Bruce (8) was awarded a speeding ticket in the 25m freestyle, as well as silver in the 25m backstroke. Bronwyn Matthews (11) took a well-earned gold in the 50m freestyle, with a new PB of 34.94 seconds. Other medal winners were Thomas Mitchell (10), Luke Erni (11), and Merryn Thomson (8), who took silver in the 50m butterfly, bronze in the 50m freestyle, and bronze in the 25m butterfly respectively.

The squad’s “A” 4 x 50m freestyle relay team (Bronwyn Matthews, Luke Erni, Stuart Masson, Emily Hazley) swam superbly to finish fourth out of the 24 participating teams, while the “B” team (Thomas Mitchell, Merryn Thomson, Madeleine Green and Rory Bruce) pulled out all the stops to outpace three other “A” teams and finish third in their heat, taking 12 seconds off their previous time.

The squad was completed by Callum Thomson (10) and Lydia Newman (9) who both took excellent PBs in their breaststroke swims.

Please note that as yet we have had no further offers of Corporate Sponsorship for the Challenge Meet on the 26^th of November. For the event to be a true financial success we must attract sponsorship. To allow the programme to

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Training Time Changes