A Swim gala - That's a bit like a competition?

Well if it was, then the competitive atmosphere was pretty casual at Fusion Leisure pool in Tunbridge Wells.

Arguably the Ticehurst water babies could have cruised their way to victory by aggressively putting our best swimmers in each event. However, in the spirit of fair play leader Paul played it very cool and ensured that everyone that turned up to swim was able too. this meant that some personal bests were recorded by our beavers, cubs and scouts.

Once more the gala showed that the adults get more excited about losing than the swimmers.

Over 170 young people took part in the gala aged between 6 and 18 years old.

Beavers made mincemeat of the beaver island challenge scavenging floats to return to their bases.

Cubs similarly showed that they could easily transport the loot across the pool.

The underwater obstacle course challenged all of the scouts and explorers.

A traditional highlight was the endurance underwater swim. Francesca stepped up to the mark and even though only 11, saw off all comers

Then there was a leaders race where a certain leader was in and out of the pool before the others had made half way.

Principally organised and backed by 1st Ticehurst for Ashdown District, our District commissioner Brain Sadd and ADC Graham Sherlock deserve praise for the event.

Thanks went to the judges and scorers who made the evening run easily. Thanks also goes to the Fellowship that turned up to run a raffle and balance the books!

Avery and Tullis explorers played an important part in marshalling and providing safety swimmers in the water for the younger age groups.

The event was such a success that we have already agreed to host it again next year. Although changes will be made to the format to keep the running order on time and squeeze more events into the programme. So get practicing as this was just a warm up!