Norwich Swan Swimming Club

The Early Years

Norwich Swan is probably the only club to have taken its name from a laundry. This explains the absence of the plural as used in other club names.

The Swan Laundry was situated on the River Wensum and in 1879 the laundry added an indoor, heated swimming pool to its premises. In 1880 a group of young men formed themselves into the Swan Amateur Swimming Club.

A founder member of the Club, aged 10 years, was a boy named Charles R. Oury. It is reported that Charles became the first man in England to receive the Gold Medal and Diploma of the Royal Life Saving Society.

Life Saving and Water Polo seem to have been the main activities in those days. Water Polo in particular was organised on a large scale. Before the First World War Swan had teams in two local leagues and supplied most of the players for the Norfolk County team.

In 1905, the Club hosted the first Men's Championship of Norwich. The trophy, the Burton Cup, is named after a long-serving Club Doctor.