Congratulations to Natasha Sinha and Holly Wylie who have been selected to swim for the London Swimming Region at an International Swimming Meet in Geneva, Switzerland in early January 2011. This is a fantastic achievement for both swimmers and they should be very proud.

This is from a press release for the London Youth Games, for more visit the website

Young Greenwich swimmer Natasha Sinha enjoyed an inspirational visit to the London 2012 Aquatic Centre on Tuesday in the company of Olympic medallist Stephen Parry. The 13-year-old James Allen Girls School pupil will represent her home borough at this year’s London Youth Games at the swimming finals at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on Saturday 3rd July.

Sinha won silver in the 100m butterfly at the 2009 British age-group Championships and gold at the 2010 London age group Championships.

Stephen Parry, who won 200m butterfly bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympic behind legendary American Michael Phelps, was inspired by what he saw. He said: “In the last few years, I have not missed swimming, but coming to see the London 2012 Aquatics Centre has made me excited and almost makes me want to put my trunks back on!"

“We want our kids to be inspired by 2012 – that is what the bid was won on. By coming down here today and seeing the Aquatics Centre, the London Youth Games swimmers will go away motivated about their sport and inspired about what is going to take place here in two years time."

“Events like the London Youth Games are the bedrock of sport in this country. We want our kids to be experiencing competitive sport at grassroots. When I was their age I was doing the Liverpool Youth Games, which is a similar multi-sport competition, but obviously not as prestigious. These kids are just starting out on exactly the same pathway that I have been through, which – for me - resulted in an Olympic medal.”

“Events like the London Youth Games are the bedrock of sport in this country. We want our kids to be experiencing competitive sport at grassroots. When I was their age I was doing the Liverpool Youth Games, which is a similar multi-sport competition, but obviously not as prestigious. These kids are just starting out on exactly the same pathway that I have been through, which – for me - resulted in an Olympic medal.”

Former participants at the London Youth Games include 2008 Beijing Olympic Gold medallists Christine Ohuruogu (athletics), Bradley Wiggins (cycling) and Mark Hunter (rowing). Christine Ohuruogu is the 2010 patron of the Games, she represented her borough of Newham in netball and athletics as a youngster.

The 2010 season launched with the girls indoor cricket qualifiers on 6/7 February and runs for 25 competition days throughout the year, climaxing at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on 3-4 July.

The awarding of medals and trophies from the 2009 Borough of Greenwich Championships and our own GBM Club Championships was made at the Club’s Annual Presentation Evening. Thank you to all the parents, friends and family who came to support and recognise the swimmers’ achievements.

Once again, we were fortunate to have Kay Grimshaw who has been exceedingly supportive of our swimmers over the year, to present the awards.

The Coaches special recognition awards and their selection for the Club Captains are:

Additionally, a presentation was made to Kevin Mitchell for volunteering to help in coordinate the Club’s Open/gala schedule and deal with all the entries and related administration. Also an award was made to Jane de Rome who as the Club Secretary for many years has provided a steady and constant backbone to the Club’s decisions and activities.

Thank you to those people who ensure the Club Championships and the Presentation Evening happen - all the committee with particular thanks to Angela Coe Sinha who has the unenviable task of coordinating all the trophies, glass blocks and medals; Maggie Dunbar for booking the disco and organising the balloons; Nigel Duxbury, Dave Ling and Pete Hennessy for helping to unload the trophies and setting up the hall and lastly Alan Coe for manning the door on the night.

Formalities over, everyone took to the dance floor in force and a lively evening ensued. Special mention to the mum who was voted the best dancer by the DJ – Norma Nyaulingo! Our final thanks to all of the swimmers and parents for helping to make the night so successful and special.

Following their performances at the ASA National Age Group Championships in July 2009, Emma Mitchell (13) and Natasha Sinha (13) have been selected to participate in England Talent Development Program.

Natasha competed at the Nationals in the 100m Butterfly, coming 2nd in her age group and Emma competed in the 100m Freestyle, coming 4th in her age group.

This is a remarkable opportunity for young swimmers and both Emma and Natasha should feel justifiably proud of their achievement.

Many congratulations to them both and the Club hopes this will be the start of many future successes.

Michael Gregory and Natasha Sinha were awarded special awards by the Mayor of Greenwich, for their achievements at this year’s London Youth Games. Michael for swimming and Natasha for the Aquathon (a swim plus run)

Congratulations to Luke Brewster, Michael Gregory, Emma Mitchell, Natasha Sinha, Joan Tello Alvarez and Holly Wylie who have all been selected to swim for Kent County at the National Inter County Swimming Championships in Sheffield on the 18th October 2009.

Many thanks to all who attended the Club’s Annual Presentation Evening where swimmers were awarded with the trophies and medals they had won in the 2008 Borough Championships and the 2008 GBM Club Championships.

We were very fortunate to have GBM Swimmer Dervis Konuralp, a three time Paralympic competitor and medallist to give a small talk to swimmers and parents and to present the Club Championship and Borough trophies and medals. He gave way to Kay Grimshaw, President of the ASA to present the coaches’ special awards to swimmers. Many thanks both to Dervis and Kay for their support.

The Coaches special recognition awards and their selection for the Club Captains and Junior Captains are:

The Club also presented a special salver to Dervis Konuralp for his achievement in reaching a third Paralympics last year.

As ever there are a number of people to thank for their hard work in ensuring the Club Championships and the Presentation Evening went off without a hitch – all the committee with particular thanks to Angela Coe Sinha who has the unenviable task of coordinating all the trophies, salvers and medals; Maggie Dunbar for booking the disco and organising the balloons; Iain and Ewan Cameron for supplying the “puff” to blow up even more balloons; Jane de Rome, Nigel Duxbury, Karen Hennessy and Pete Hennessy for their hard work setting up the hall and lastly, Sue Arshan and Iain Cameron who “babysat” the trophies in the hall before the evening got underway.

Once the Presentation was over, swimmers and parents took to the dance floor in force and a fantastic evening ensued. Our final thanks to all of the swimmers and parents for helping to make the night so successful and special.

Congratulations to Michael Gregory, Dylan Pratt McCullagh and Fearn Cook who have all been selected to swim for Kent County at the National Inter County Swimming Championships in Sheffield on the 19th October 2008.

GBM wishes all 3 swimmers the best of luck at this event.

Congratualtions to Dervis Konuralp for competing at the Beijing Paralympics 2008.

Click here for report.

Congratulations to Dervis Konuralp who has been selected to represent Great Britain at the Beijing Paralympics which starts on the 6th September. The club wishes Dervis all the best in his preparations.

Click here for the full list of swimmers representing Great Britain at the Beijing Paralympics.

Congratulations to Dervis Konuralp who broke his own British record for 100m Butterfly in the S13 category on 27 April with a time of 1.02.15. Dervis was swimming in the DSE British International Disability Swimming Championships and came first in the S13 category and second overall in the S11 – S15 categories.

Report from British Swimming Website (British Swimming Website)

The men’s 100m Butterfly saw Greenwich Borough’s Dervis Konuralp secure the British record after a strong performance. Konuralp swam an excellent first 50m and turned in the lead, his final 50m inished off an impressive race and he touched in a time of 1:02.15 to lower the British record.

The 28-year-old took the silver medal after claiming 923 points in the S13 category.

“It is great to get that record,” Konuralp said. “It is a real testament to all of the hard work I have put in. I just hope that I have done justice to the amount of support I have received from my coach and my family have given me.”

“Gaining the qualification time has definitely given me a confidence boost and I am now going to enter a solid block of training which I hope will give me a good foundation as I work towards future competitions.”

Following Kevin Arundell’s decision to “retire” to spend more time with his family, the Club has appointed Gil Levy to take over as Head Coach. Gil will be starting with GBM on Monday 5th May.

Many congratulations to Dervis Konuralp who swam in the British Swimming Championships (4th-6th April) and qualified for the Beijing Paralympics 2008 in the S13 class for 100m Butterfly.

Dervis also set a new British Record for this event with a time of 1.02.48

Many thanks to all who attended the Club’s Annual Presentation Evening where swimmers were awarded with the trophies and medals they had won in the 2007 Borough Championships and the 2007 GBM Club Championships.

The trophies and medals were presented by Kay Grimshaw and the Club would once again like to extend our thanks to Kay for her support and also to offer our congratulations on her appointment as the President of the ASA for 2008/2009.

In addition, the Coaches announced both those swimmers they felt deserved special recognition and their selection for the Club Captains and Junior Captains for 2008.

Our heartfelt thanks to Lesley Palfrey without whom, this evening would not have been possible. It is hard to comprehend how mammoth the task of organising and co-ordinating the three Club Championship galas, the engraving of trophies, obtaining medals and the presentation of them at this evening is; and yet Lesley has again performed this with the minimum of fuss and with her usual brand of care and dedication. This year was Lesley’s swansong and she leaves an extremely tough act to follow.

The Evening finished on a high with swimmers and parents taking to the dance floor to dance the night away. Our final thanks to all of the swimmers and parents for helping to make the night so successful and special.

Michael Gregory and Katherine de Rome of Top Squad received "Sprit of the Games" individual trophies from the Mayor of Greenwich on 1st November at Woolwich Town Hall. These were for their swimming efforts at the London Youth Games held at Crystal Palace in June 2007 when they represented the London Borough of Greenwich

The Youth Games started in 1977 as part of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations and they have bee held annually ever since across a range of competitive sports. In 2007, Greenwich achieved an overall placing of 9th out of 33 boroughs - a huge improvement from 18th place in 2006. For GBM's swimmers to receive both awards was a fine achievement.