Hailing from the West Country, this was where she fell in love with swimming, initially as a sprint swimmer but then as an open water long distance swimmer and then she had a wonderful time in Masters Swimming.

She first experienced regular sea swimming in the war year (yes, even during the Plymouth Blitz!!), building her ability to cope with cold temperatures.  In 1951 she won the Plymouth Breakwater Race and repeated that achievement in 1952 and 1953 resulting in the award of a commemorative Silver Rosebowl.  In October 1953 she became the first (and now maybe still the only) woman to swim from Saltash Bridge on the River Tamar to the Laira Bridge which spans the River Plym.

When Marguerite joined the BLDSA she firstly completed the Torbay swim in 1961 & again in 1980 and 1982 (her fastest crossing).  She also swam Windermere 3 times, Lulworth – Weymouth, Coniston, Bala and numerous other courses during 2 decades.

A hard working and forthright lady, Marguerite joined the BLDSA Executive in 1972 and plunged into taking on the role of Membership Secretary.  She developed this role on from lists of names and addresses to a card system which allowed her to keep track of achievements by the member and lead to her taking on the additional role of Insignia /Trophies’ Steward in 1979 as the Association began to develop their range of trophies for actual events and to recognise aspects of annual achievement.

She was frequently an official at events or out on the water escorting a swimmer.  In the still quiet of the early morning on a 2-way Windermere or Loch Lomond swim, her voice (she would acknowledge she could talk a lot) would echo across the water so other crews knew where her swimmer was in the race!  Always firm in her views, she could ‘fall out’ with colleagues but did not hold grudges.  On one famous (infamous?) occasion, travelling with Keith Seymour, George Owen and Margaret Meredith to the Torbay Swim, together with Keith’s boat, her constant chatter in the car lead to the threatening of a plaster to gain peace and quiet.  After a short period of quiet, she started to chatter again and the car swooped into a lay-by and a plaster was gently applied to giggles and growing gales of laughter – a feisty lady who took it in great part. Finally, ‘Merely to say’ thank you to Marguerite for her years of robust and committed service & friendship. She will be missed.

The Association sends their deepest condolences to Avril’s children, David, Alan and Marilyn and all Avril’s family on her passing.  We know they and we will miss her.

Alan’s interest in open water swimming led to Avril becoming involved with a youth group (Inn’s of Court Boys) who were encouraged to develop their talents in swimming outdoors and to Avril taking Alan and 8 of them to the Warrington Dolphin’s Race in 1968.  Alan won the 2 mile race, beating the favourite and earning massive support from the gang from North London.  It also resulted in a life time of friendship between Alan and Sunny Lowry who nicknamed him ‘Oliver’ for asking for more food.  That year, 1968 was when Avril joined the BLDSA, supporting Alan at Coniston, Ullswater and Windermere.  In 1972 Alan succeeded in swimming the Channel, filmed by the BBC for the ‘All in a Day’ series.

From 1985 – 1987 Avril swam Pickmere, Holmepierpoint, Southsea – Ryde, Coniston Veterans, St Germans to Kings Lynn (a total of 9 BLDSA swims) and organised and swam in the first all English Ladies Channel Team.

She served on the BLDSA Executive for many years, serving as Fundraising Secretary and ran the 200 Club for 8 years, up to 2001, Lynn Regis Swim Secretary for 10 years , also up to 2001 and was Secretary to the Dinner committee for a time.  She also represented the Association on the CCPR Water Recreation Committee.  Avril’s services to the Association were marked by the presentation of the James Brennan Trophy in 1999.

Having ‘retired’ to Kings Lynn (where she worked even harder for swimming and open water swimming) and later retired to warmer climes in Spain, coming back regularly to attend dinners and events.  She was a great worker, a genuine friend (embroidering gifts was a special & memorable talent), a proud Mum and loyal to her interest of all things swimming!

BLDSA Membership

To be a member of the BLDSA there is an annual charge of £30.00.  This membership fee goes towards subsidising our group to cover the costs of the rescue boats, insurance, administration and help required to run the organisation that allows the BLDSA to run many popular swims around the country.

The membership of £30.00 allows us to keep the entry cost to our calendar of swims as low as possible.  We are an organisation to promote long distance swimming and we are purely run by volunteers.

Membership to our association is vital to help cover all aspects of health and safety and insurance and ensuring that the swimmer is our number one priority at all times.

Thank you for being a member.

Swims

Full details of ALL 2025 swims are available on https://bldsa.org.uk/swim/championship-events/ but in summary, the following swims will be held during 2025:

January to March – 30 Minute and One Hour Swim Challenges

The objective here is for swimmers to achieve their greatest possible distance within the event they choose.

12 April 2025 – Natural Spring Water Challenge

A challenging cold water swim in April in a geo-thermally heated outdoor Lido.

18 May 2025 – Thrybergh Country Park – various distances

Early season lake swim

21 June 2025 – Champion of Champions – Dover Harbour

One of our flagship events – sea swim – total 9 miles

28 June 2025 – Coniston Swim to the Sunset

Choose how long you wish to swim for

5 July 2025 – Bala Lake, North Wales

A regular on the calendar – various distances

12 July 2025 – Torbay

Challenging sea swim across the Bay and back

19/20 July 2025 – Coniston

A weekend of swimming – choose the full length or a shorter course or both!

9 August 2025 – Ullswater

A full length lake swim

10 August 2025 – Derwentwater

A triangular circuit around Derwentwater

23/24 August 2025 – Loch Lomond

A magnificent overnight swim in Scotland

30 August 2025 – Windermere

A full length lake swim

6 September 2025 – St Mary’s Loch

Lake swim in idyllic location in Scotland

AGM and Social Dinner

The AGM is held for the election of officers and Executive Committee members and for general business.  The proceedings are chaired by the President and all members are invited to attend.

For 2025, this will be held at The Last Post Memorial Bar, Cranworth Street, Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees, TS17 7DR at 1.00 pm.

A Social Dinner will take place at the same venue in the evening which is an opportunity for all to enjoy a meal with friends and have a get-together to eat, socialise and mingle.  It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been to one before, you will be made very welcome!

Tickets are priced at £33 per person for a 3 course meal and can be purchased via the website.

Events

200 Club

Did you know, the BLDSA runs a monthly 200 Club Prize draw which is a great way to continue to support your Association throughout the year.  A “share” costs £6 per year and for that, you receive a share number which is entered into the 200 Club draw every month for 12 months.  There are two prizes of £10 and one prize of £5 per month with one annual draw of two prizes of £20 so plenty of opportunity to win!

Again, all the information on how to enter is on the website.  https://bldsa.org.uk/200-club/

Roles within the BLDSA

Did you know that all roles within the BLDSA are undertaken by volunteers?  The Committee is always keen for new members to join and bring fresh ideas with them or simply to offer support to help keep the Association current and moving forward.  Don’t be shy at joining in!  You can’t make any changes from the outside, if you have ideas that you want to share – get involved!

The number of people on the Committee has halved in recent years and the same people have been working hard to ensure the continuation of the BLDSA.  The same applies to the number of people hosting the swim events.

Michelle Hardy has been Treasurer for almost 10 years and will be looking to hand over the reins in the future.  Is there a member who feels that they may be able to take on this role?  For someone with accounts experience, the job is not too onerous.  It is nothing like the days of the past when her predecessors had to collate hundreds of sheets of paper and cheques were commonplace.  With online entries and modern day banking, the job is much easier.  If this is something that interests you, please contact treasurer@bldsa.org.uk.

Publicity is also something that BLDSA has struggled with over the last few years.  With the advent of Social Media particularly, it is hard to find someone sufficiently proficient in this area to highlight BLDSA.  Are you a whiz on Social Media and do you think you could produce a few Posts per month to try to gain more publicity for BLDSA and hopefully, therefore, more swimmers entering events.  If this is something you feel you could commit to, please contact secretary@bldsa.org.uk.

Creation of our Annual Report – do you have time to create our Annual Report?  A Word Document Template has already been created and used over the past number of years.  This can then be used year on year to insert the up to date reports.  A paragraph or two is requested about each swim, preferably with photographs, the same is requested from our Affiliated Clubs and then a short report from each holder of a role within the committee.  Creativity is also encouraged!  For further details, please contact secretary@bldsa.org.uk.