Hyde Seals Swimming Club Team 1903

Hyde Seals Swimming Club Team

 Hyde Seals Swimming Club Team, The Champions of England in 1903. The team won the Cheshire County League and the Manchester and District League that year.

London Olympics 1948

HYDE'S LAST OLYMPIAN

In the early 1900s we had Hyde swimmers representing Great Britain in the Olympic Games but many people will remember the town's last Olympian, Lillian Preece.
Born on April 1st, 1928, Lillian learnt to swim when she was 11.  Her progress was so rapid that in the same year she won three titles at the Hyde Seal annual gala. The war stopped all competitions but by the time she was 19 she was setting ASA records and winning Cheshire County and Northern Counties championships. In 1947 she was selected to represent Britain in the European championships in Monte Carlo. Money was scarce after the war so because the ASA was unable to provide the swimmers with lightweight costumes an appeal was made to the newspapers, and Lillian had to compete in Monte Carlo wearing a man's waterpolo swim suit. She took part in the 4 x 100m relay team which was placed third.

 Lillian at Monte Carlo in a waterpolo swimsuit.

 The following year she was selected to represent Great Britain at the Olympics in London. She stayed at the Eccleston Square Domestic Science College along with swimmers from Belgium, France, Switzerland Australia, Ireland and New Zealand. There were no proper training facilities at the Empire Pool where everyone was trying to train at the same time and arrangements had to be made at other pools in the area.

 

Olympic Games opening ceremony, 1948

 

 

 

 After the Olympics there was a reception at Buckingham Palace.

More success and more championships followed and in 1952 Lillian was chosen to captain the women's Olympic team in Helsinki where she reached the semi-final of the 100 metres and was the fastest British competitor.
During her swimming career she went to New Zealand, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Paris, Nice, Monaco, Turin, Curacao, Dutch West Indies and Panama and captained International teams on three occasions.
In 1953 Lillian was awarded the ASA Yeadon Trophy as Swimmer of the Year.
Unfortunately, in 1958 nine of her medals were stolen, including commemorative medals from the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, and one for the 1950 Empire games, all bearing her name.


She left Hyde to live in Wallasey with her husband, himself a former backstroke champion and captain of the Cheshire Waterpolo team, but never lost contact with Hyde Seal and was an inspiration to many younger swimmers.
Many people will remember this picture of Lillian which hung in Hyde Baths for many years.

 

Lillian Preece

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 Lillian eventually emigrated to Zimbabwe where she died in 2004.
 Preece Close in Newton is named after her.


Many thanks to Marjorie Robinson for this fabulous account and all the photographs of a very talented lady, all of which are new to me !





                                

Olympic Swimming Trials 1912

Olympic trials being held in May 1912 at the Queen Adelaide reservoir, Gee Cross. Hyde swimmers Wilkinson, Dean and Wildgoose took part.

The coal strike in 1912 meant that the baths were closed four days a week at the beginning of the season. This affected Wilkinson, Dean, and Wildgoose who had been selected for Olympic trials. They did their training in the Queen Adelaide reservoir, Gee Cross, where the Olympic trials were to be held on June 1st. On the day of the trials the water in the reservoir was only 50 degrees. Both Dean and Forsyth succumbed to the cold and so were not selected. George Wilkinson was selected as Left Forward and Captain. Aged 33 he had already represented England 16 times and was the only player Continentals feared. Henry, aged 27, was selected for 400 and 1500 metres and William Foster for the 400 metres. When the Olympic team left for Stockholm on June 29th, Hyde Seal sent more representatives than any other club in the country.

After preparing for water of 50 degrees in Stockholm, the swimmers were surprised to find water of 70 degrees. It proved too hot for Henry Taylor who had to retire in the 1500 metres. Foster swam well and qualified for the final of his event. In the Water Polo final George Wilkinson led the Great Britain team to a 7-5 victory over Belgium.

Picture and information from Marjorie Davis author of the book HYDE SEAL SWIMMING CLUB 

The team that beat the World   

Hyde Seal Swimming Club

The  Team  That  Beat  The  World

Since Nancy and myself started this venture we have been ever so lucky to get books offered us... one such book came all the way from Canada.. today's book didn't come that far but I wanted to show it to you.  We did a post about a group of Belgium swimmers and Marjorie Davies (the books author) got in touch and told us we'd find her book useful for future posts on 'The Seals'. The book is in the library, but Marjorie kindly donated this to us ... for which we are very grateful and assure her it will be put to good use.

These books are now hard to come by, but Marjorie still as a few copies left to sell, so if you'd like your very own copy contact us here by email and I will gladly pass your request on. 

French Swimming Team

Another picture from Fred Booth to tempt us today... the cars are all parked on Market Street, outside the Cheshire Cheese Pub.. and Dawson's shop which we featured the other day. I have struggled with the date on this but think it says May 1908... any more information would be great. It must have something to do with Hyde Seal Swimming Club. 

Hyde Seal Swimming and Polo Club.

Here is a photograph showing Hyde Seal Swimming Club circa 1970.

I recognise a few faces on here but the only name I can come up with is Ruth Grantham who is on the front row, 5th left.

If anyone knows any more names please let us know so we can add them.

HISTORY OF THE CLUB

Hyde Seal Swimming Club was established in 1895.
They were World Water Polo Champions in 1904,1905 and 1906 and English Water Polo Champions 1903/04/05/08/11/12/13/20/24.

The club used to be based at Hyde Baths but since their demolition it now uses Denton baths and Copley Recreation Centre.



The following article can be found on Hyde Seals website... hydeseal


"A stunning statue of a seal was revealed at Hyde Town Hall on Friday 25th May 2007 to commemorate one of Britain's least known but most impressive sporting achievements.


The statue recognises Hyde Seal's treble in the world water polo championships between 1904 and 1906.


Hyde Seal's men's team travelled to Paris in 1904 as English champions. They took part in a competition organised by the French newspaper L'Auto and defeated the defending champions, Brussels, 14-2 in a match which was played in the River Marne.


The team included George Wilkinson who went on to captain Great Britain to the Olympic water polo gold at the 1908 games in London and at Stockholm in 1912.  Hyde Seal returned to Paris in 1905 and 1906 to retain their title but the club's achievements did not end then.

In the ensuing years it has produced swimmers such as Lillian Preece and Sylvia Platt-Rogers.


Counciller Jackie Lane said: "Hyde's Seal's achievement cannot be understated. Hyde Seal has continued to do the people of Hyde, and indeed Tameside, proud in the 100 years since those victories in Paris. It is only right that the borough should regognise that through our ongoing and innovative street art project."


The unveiling took place at Hyde Town Hall Olive Bowker who won Leadbitter Knott Challenge Cup as schoolgirl champion of Hyde in 1932 and 1933 was there.


The group's championship trophy, the Spirit of the Whirlpool designed by Max Blondat, was at the unveiling as well as a ball from one of the finals and several medals". 

George Wilkinson

George Wilkinson, like many sportsmen of his day, went on to be a publican and was the landlord at the Wheatsheaf pub.