- 1898/9 Newport Swimming Club
- 1938 Maindee Swimming Club
- 1958 Newport Olympic Swimming Club
- 1967 Maindee Olympic Swimming and Water Polo Club
- 1984 Newport and Maindee Olympic Swimming and Water Club
- 2004 City of Newport Swimming and Water Polo Club
The Newport Swimming Club was formed between 1888/9 in anticipation of the opening of Stow Hill Baths in 1890. Membership was mostly adult business men of the town who previously used to swim in the canal at Allt-yr-yn. The Welsh Amateur Swimming Association (now known as Swim Wales) was not formed until 1897 so we are probably the oldest club in Wales.
The Usk river swim was important in pre-war swimming but not possible after 1946 due to the high pollution in the river.
Following the opening of the Maindee Pool in 1938 Maindee Baths Swimming Club (later called Maindee Swimming Club) was formed. A second swimming club using Maindee Baths was formed during the late 1950’s and given the name Newport Olympic Swimming Club. The late Mr Ted Temme, who at the time was Baths Manager, was a founder member.
In December 1967 the two Maindee based clubs were amalgamated to form Maindee Olympic Swimming and Water Polo Club. In January 1984, with the impending closure of Stow Hill Baths, the Maindee Olympic and Newport Swimming Clubs joined forces to form the emergence of Newport and Maindee Olympic Swimming and Water Polo Club.
In 2004 with the move to the new International Pool at Spytty, the name was changed to City of Newport Swimming and Water Polo Club.
The Club has been honoured with many Presidents of the Welsh Amateur Swimming Association as far back as 1897 and 1898 with W. J.Orders. Some of the other Presidents were W. J.Gillard, Supt. W Griffiths, R. E. Brabyn, Mrs Bernice Hooper, W. Hooper, Mrs Rosina Crosswate, A Crosswaite, Wm, Osborne and Bob Davies. (Mrs Bernice Hooper is at present President of the City of Newport Swimming Club. Jennifer Smith (our Vice President) was awarded Life Membership of the Welsh Swimming Association and the Torch Trust award for outstanding Services to Sport (Swimming) in Wales. Bob Davies was also elected Chairman of Great Britain Water Polo.
Representing Maindee Swimming Club in the Commonwealth and Empire Games -John Brockway in 1954, Michael Richards in 1970 and Pat Beavan in 1974 all won gold medals. These were the only three gold medalists until David Davies (Cardiff) won gold in 2006.
The Newport and Maindee Olympic Water Polo team was well known in all corners of Great Britain where they were British Water Polo Champions in 1982,83 and 1984 and British Knockout Champions in 1985. As the majority of the NMO team made up the British team the name of Newport and Maindee Olympic was known not only in Britain. The “Newport and Maindee Olympic” water polo trophy has adorned many trophy cabinets across Europe from Israel to Scotland! Sadly, the polo team disbanded when the depth of the Maindee Pool made it impossible to use Maindee pool as a venue. It is good to see that water polo is continuing to grow with success in the new Spytty pool.
In recent years the City of Newport has become one of the most successful swimming clubs in Wales. Our Head Coach is supported by a team of dedicated volunteer coaches who provide all the support necessary to ensure our swimmers develop and progress to be “As good as they can be”.
