At all of the galas we compete at you will see many people dressed in white. These people are the officials, without them the galas cannot go ahead and like in other sports in most cases they have to be qualified to do the jobs that they do.In our club we have a few people who are qualified officials but we always need more and better qualified officials. So it is really good news that Bettina Bunte and Nicky O'Connor have both passed their time keeper theory and practical exams at the recent Kent championships. This is the first level of qualification a swimming official can get. It is also good news when others better their qualifications. Tim Davies has just completed and passed the practical exams to allow him to be a Judge and Steve Little has also just improved on his judges qualification and passed his starters practical exam. Congratulations to all of them.

Congratulations also go to Karen Little for passing the level 2 teaching course and also to swimmers Katy Little, Sharnie Clements and Amy O'Connor for passing their level 1 teaching course. They are all putting their new qualifications to good use. We also wish Darren Drew well as he is awaiting the result of his level 1 teacher course.

As well as being a good news article this is also intended to be an advert. This is particularly aimed at parents of “Feeder Squad” swimmers. With the Club Championships coming up we are always in need of poolside help to run the galas. If we do not have enough people officiating then the referee will not run the gala! So to stop that from happening and if you can stop and start a stopwatch we would be very pleased to have your assistance. If you can help then please email Karen Thorpe via committee section of the website.

We also want to develop support from all of the swimmers parents as we cannot continue to rely on the goodwill of those parents that you see all the time. Parental assistance at our training sessions is extremely important as we cannot survive without our volunteers. Rather than just drop your swimmer off or sit on the balcony watching why not give a little of your time to help on poolside. You may well find it rewarding and if you wanted to get qualified then we will do all we can to help. If there are any costs we will try to cover some of them or we will try to arrange a bursary. We also always need help at the events we run. To find out more please speak to or contact any of the committee.

If with Herne Bay we can get enough interested people then we will run an officials training course, if you are interested in doing a bit more at galas than just sitting on the balcony then officiating is a really good thing to get involved in. To find out more there is a lot of information on the Kent ASA website, just follow the link from our site and go to the “Officials” section or better still contact Steve Little via the committee section of the website.

Please do not be shy about putting yourself forward. That is how everyone who you see helping or officiating got involved. Without parental support the club cannot function, we cannot run galas and without these our children cannot properly enjoy their sport.