Torquay Swim School to close its doors

THE owners of Torquay Swim School say “it’s time” to shut its doors after 27 years of providing swimming lessons for young children in the community.

Co-owners Tracey Holding and Jennie and Peter Bennett have been running the pool in Baines Crescent since opening in October 1995 and said closing the pool after close to three decades of business was certainly a sad moment.

“As a collective we are really sad about it being the end of the journey after such a successful 27 years, there is certainly plenty of fond memories that flood back over all the years,” Ms Holding said.

“While Jen and Pete aren’t here today because they hate fuss, they are remarkably proud and truly thank everyone for their involvement over the years.

“We’ve given the community a great option for swimming for close to three decades and it’s a long time, it just feels like the right time to all move on and step away as the bigger pool opens in the future.

“We can’t thank all the marvellous teachers including Carmel Ford, Julian Cooper and Jan Shultz who have been here since the very beginning and of course the thousands of children and their families for learning to swim with us.”

She said the idea to build a pool came from an 18-month wait for lessons at Geelong’s Leisurelink.

Ms Holding, her mother Marjorie (an ex-Olympic swimmer and Commonwealth Games champion), and the Bennetts then set out to create an opportunity for children to learn to swim much closer to home.

“I remember telling Mum about the 18-month waiting list for children to have lessons and she just confidently said that if I can find a block of land and house for her to live in then it was all systems go and she’d move down,” Holding said.

“One week later, she sold the pool she owned in Armadale, and it was all happening; the four of us opened three to four months later.”

Two years into the journey, Marjorie passed away from cancer, and Ms Holding and her fellow co-owners vowed to honour her legacy through running the facility.

“Mum was such an amazing lady who was a real trailblazer in promoting swimming and water safety down here in Torquay when we opened,” Ms Holding said.

“When she unfortunately passed, the three of us were very motivated to continue and honour the legacy that she left behind.

“We made a plaque at the front of the swim school, she wanted her motto and the writing to be ‘teaching children to swim is a gift of life’, we think that’s a pretty special message”.

 

Over the course of their 27-year history with the town of Torquay, the pool has welcomed thousands of children.

Those who learnt to swim there in the ’90s have continued the generational push and brought their own children years later and then their grandchildren.

The pool has had many purposes in its existence including school swimming for prep and Grade 1 students at St Therese Catholic Primary School and water aerobics and hydrotherapy sessions.

“The pool is way past the end of its life and Pete has been really limping it along for the past five years,” Ms Holding said.

“It means for our clients there will be a bit of a gap now in their swimming lessons, however we will have clients head to The Sands and also a new pool behind Bunnings which one of our teachers is setting up.”

“It’s been a fantastic 27 years and we are so thankful for everyone’s continued efforts; it’s time.”

The co-owners said while it was the end of a chapter in Torquay, they were pleased that the doctors who established the Surf Coast Medical Centre (and whose children learnt to swim at the school) would relocate to the site and build a new medical centre that would continue the site’s life in serving the community.