Free BBQ and a Night of Fun

Hi Everyone, 

This week we are hosting a night of fun and a free BBQ. Its our Club Captains night, which means that the Club Captains have organised some fun activities for the night. Think noodle races and silly dives. There will be a longer free swim as well as some prizes on offer and all ages will be catered for. We will also be hosting a free BBQ and the bar will be open as usual, so if you are looking to have a relaxing Friday night with the children, then please come along. The Club Captains would love to have some parents who would be willing to swim in the Kids vs Adults race. It has been everyone’s favourite race in the years gone past. 

Swim club is providing the salads this week, but we are still looking for 1 x BBQ volunteer and 2 x canteen volunteers. Please let me know if you can help out. 

Thanks to everyone who has attended over the last 10 weeks, it has been a pleasure watching the children improve their swimming abilities. I was really impressed how many children turned up last week, even after competing at the school swim carnival. 

And finally, for those of you that are leaving the school, good luck at your new school, but we hope you return in the new year to finish the season out with us. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 

Heidi

Club Captain Night and Canteen Volunteers Needed

Hi Everyone, 

It was a lovely evening last Friday night. The pool was a great place to hang out in the heat and the kids really enjoyed the warmer water. Many also hung around for free swim at the end of the night, which was really lovely as well. 

This week we are short 3 canteen volunteers. It's just that time of the year where people have commitments that have just come up. If you can help out, please reply to this email and let me know. 

This week is our last regular swim meet for this term. Next week is our Club Captains night. It’s a relaxing night with some fun races and competitions as well as a longer free swim. We will hold our traditional parents versus children race. So, if you fancy having a crack at beating the kids, bring you swimmers along! We will also hold a free BBQ for those of you that would love to join us. 

Next term we will be back to our regular programme of events from 1st of February which is the 1st week of Term 1. During Term 1 we will host the Oxley Road Cup. The ORC is a friendly yet competitive swim meet between the Sherwood Sharks, Oxley Otters and us. There are only 2 swimmers per club per event, so it’s an honour to be selected. It is a great way to introduce the kids to a fun competition where they can experience the terrific Graceville Lightning team spirit - there is a lot of cheering on of our team mates and a lot of nerves and excitement from all the competitors and parents alike. Once we have more information we will let you know. If anyone is keen to support us by helping to organise the cup, then we’d love to hear from you. 

Enjoy swimming this week. 

Regards 
Heidi

Update 28th November

Hi Everyone, 

We are always open to suggestions of how to improve our club nights, so if anyone has suggestions, you are welcome to email me (president@gracevillelightning.org.au). There are a number of things I need to bring to everyone’s attention this week so everyone can enjoy the club nights. We have been having a fabulous turnout every week, the BBQ and canteen have been super busy and lots of kids have improved their swimming times. 

For those of you that have volunteered to provide a salad, work in the canteen or on the BBQ, thanks so much. It seems we have not quite gotten our process right and it’s a bit tricky to remember which week you have volunteered for. To help everyone, we will put up a list on the website which you can go and check. Its not ready at the moment, so if you know you have volunteered and are not sure when, please get in contact with me. If you cannot make it, then we would really appreciate you letting us know as soon as possible so we can find a volunteer. This week we are short one canteen volunteer so if you can help, please get in contact with me. 

For those of you that were present last week, I bought to everyone’s attention some behaviours that occurred the previous week that our committee considers inappropriate. For those of you that weren’t present, 2 of our parents had to clean an unacceptable mess in the boy’s bathrooms. This included 60-80 wads of paper stuck to the ceiling and walls, some of which were soaked in urine. I announced the consequence of this happening again was that free swim would be cancelled the following week. I am pleased that we had beautifully clean bathrooms this week, but unfortunately some children decided to urinate on the chairs where the Marshalling occurs. It wasn’t just a once off, it occurred several times during the evening in different length races. As you can imagine, its very unpleasant for the next child who came along and the Marshall who had to clean the chairs. I am not going to make a general announcement about this. I am going to leave it here and hope that everyone takes this on board. 

We have also had several complaints from parents about children using the showers for lengthy periods to keep warm between races (20-30 minutes). Please bring along extra towels and clothes for your children if the night is going to be cooler. 

Finally, please be aware of where your children are at all times. It enables us to make the night run more smoothly by getting them to their races and ensures that some of the unacceptable behaviour we have been witnessing does not occur. For those of you that are not aware, children and adults cannot hang around outside the pool area during swim club as the school has only given us permission to use the pool grounds. 

Thanks for listening, your help in making sure everyone can enjoy club nights without encountering unpleasant situations is very much appreciated. 

Enjoy swimming and watch out for next week’s newsletter about our free BBQ and club captain fun night. 

Heidi

External Swim Meet

Hi Everyone,

As per the announcement last week at swim club there is an external swim meet coming up at Nudgee College for children ages 7-11 (age as at December 8th 2018 ). This swim meet is a combination of both relays and individual races. The meet will be held on December 8th at 10am.

The race lengths start at 50m and will include all strokes as well as Freestyle and Medley Relays. If you are interested in your child attending or if you would like more information then please come over to the Merchandise table this coming Friday night.

Have a great week swimming

Heidi

Race Nominations and Volunteer Drinks Coordinator

Hi Everyone,

We’ve been having a few issues with people receiving our nominations email and children being nominated for races.  Could you please do the following to assist us in getting it correct:

• If you have received this email and not the nominations email from our race secretary this week, please reply to this email and let me know.  Please also check the Swimming Australia site Club Lane to ensure that your email address is correct
• If you have received this email and are no longer a member of the club and wish to be removed from the distribution list, please reply to this email and let me know

We are currently seeking someone to coordinate our drink orders each fortnight.  This would involve ordering and collecting alcohol and soft drink supplies and stocking our fridges with any deliveries. If you can help, please email president@gracevillelightning.org.au.  Please don’t let our fridges run dry!!!!

We are one of the largest active swim clubs in Queensland with approximately 150 registered swimmers plus parents/guardians.  As you can imagine, it’s quite a feat to coordinate a Friday night event where everyone gets food, drinks and participates in the correct races. Each week we need:

• 16 people to run our timing system
• 2 people to marshall racers
• 3 people to run the BBQ
• 3 people to bring a salad
• 3 people to run the canteen
• We have volunteers that coordinate food supplies, coordinate the canteen and volunteers, volunteers to collect bread and beers and salad each week
• Plus we have a committee that setups, packs up and keeps the whole swim club running

If you are able to help, then please do.  With that in mind, if you are volunteering, it would really be appreciated if you could please note the following things

• If you can’t complete your volunteering duties due to unforeseen circumstances, then please let one of our volunteer coordinators know as soon as possible so they can find someone else to help.
• If you are due to bring a salad, please note the school has a no nut policy.  Please also keep in mind that we are feeding upwards of 150 people every week, so please make sure your salad is of a size to accommodate that.
• If you are due to help with the BBQ, then please arrive by 5.30 as the sausages need to be ready when the canteen opens at 6.00
• If you are a canteen volunteer, then please arrive by 5.45 so we can brief you on our responsible service of alcohol rules and let you know how everything runs
• If you can help with timekeeping, then its appreciated.  Please note you don't have to stay for the whole night, especially if you have smaller children

Have a great week swimming

Heidi

Pool Safety and Club Captains

It looks like the weather is going to be hot, hot, hot on Friday! We are looking forward to a good night of swimming with the arrival of the warmer weather.  This week I wanted to touch on:

•      important safety messages
•      announce who has been nominated for club captains and how voting will occur
•      how to finish a race to make sure your best time is recorded. 

Safety

Safety is a high priority and unsafe behaviours will NOT be tolerated. If you do observe anything you consider unsafe, please contact the lifeguards or one of the Committee immediately. 

• There is to be NO glass in the pool area
• Parents are responsible for supervising their children AT ALL TIMES when at the pool. This includes supervision during free swim
• There is to be NO running in the pool area
•  There is no diving at the shallow end.

We do have lifeguards on duty during club nights, however, with well over 100 swimmers in the pool we ask parents to follow these guidelines:

• Children aged 0-5 years actively supervised at all times, parent/ guardian within arms-reach in the pool
• Children aged 6-10 years under constant active supervision, with parent/guardian prepared to get wet
• Children aged 11-14 years must be checked on by physically going to the point where they are in or around the water

Club Captains

We have a great group of people who have nominated to become club captain or vice captain.  Voting for Captains will occur on Friday night and children in Grade 4 and above can vote for the Captains via a ballot.   

The following people have nominated for Club Captains:

Girls

• Amy Butner
• Hannah McFarlane
• Sarah Ramsay 
• Miranda Shoesmith

Boys

• Alec Bale
• Ethan Chand
• Giles Buchanan
• Harvey Shoesmith
• Matteo Boccolacci
• Thomas Peake

 Race Finish Rules

We follow the Swimming Australia rules regarding race finishes as it gives our children a standard set of rules to follow if they go to external meets. Touching at the end of a race indicates to our timekeeper when to stop the timer.  Timekeepers cannot stop their timers until your child has touched the wall according to the Swimming Australia rules.  This differs for each stroke:

• Freestyle – some part of the swimmer must touch the wall
• Butterfly – the swimmer must touch both hands to the wall simultaneously
• Breaststroke – the swimmer must touch both hand to the wall simultaneously
• Backstroke – the swimmer must touch the wall whilst they are still on their back

Look forward to seeing you on Friday

Heidi

Club Captains and Reminders

Hi Everyone,

For those who attended our first week in the rain, thanks for coming along and making the night a success. A big thank you to our timekeepers and lifeguards who got wetter than most of the kids in the pool.  Despite the weather everyone seemed to have a good night.

This week it’s time to get the process of selecting our Club Captains underway.  This week, we will be accepting nominations, next week the voting will take place and the following week, the Captains will be announced.  To be eligible to be a Club Captain, you need to currently be in Grade 5 and eligible to have been part of the Club Championships last year.  You also need to commit to attending swim club in term 1 of 2019 and be familiar with the duties of Club Captain (found in our Club Handbook).  If you would like to nominate yourself, the please either download the form or collect a form from myself on Friday night.  Please note, the form requires a parent/guardian signature.  If you are unsure whether your child qualifies as a candidate, then please contact Annie Chand (secretary@gracevillelightning.org.au) or myself (president@gracevillelightning.org.au).

For new and existing members there are a few things to be aware of to help make our Friday nights run more smoothly:

• Each week you will receive an email from our race secretary stating which events your child has been nominated for that week.  If you are unable to attend a club night, or there are changes to the strokes your child is participating in that week, it would be appreciated if you could let us know by replying to the race nomination email by 5pm on Friday. It just helps the night run more smoothly and quickly as we are not looking for swimmers who are not in attendance. 

• Free swim will commence at around 6.00pm. Due to several close calls and the number of children in the pool, there will be no diving or jumping from the blocks or the sides. Our lifeguards may supervise one lane as a dedicated diving lane.  Please also note you must supervise your children at all times during free swim.  Check out our Club Nights page on our website to see how closely you need to supervise your child. 

• Each week we swim 3 strokes. We always swim freestyle as this is our most popular race and we alternate weekly with our other strokes.  We begin the night with an assisted swim for those children that are looking to build their swimming confidence.  Our Grade 5 and 6 swimmers assist your child if needed or are just there to make sure they get safely in and out of the pool. 

• Make sure you listen for the announcements asking your child to marshall for their races.  We call the races in distance order, starting with 15m first.  Freestyle is always our first stroke of the night.  If you are unsure which races your child has been nominated for, check your weekly nomination email. To progress to a longer distance swim, your child must meet the qualifying times for that stroke.  Please refer to our club handbook to see what time criteria they must meet.

Please don’ t forget to tell your friends about our club and what it offers on a Friday night. If you know someone who is interested, then please give them my contact details (president@gracevillelightning.org.au) or ask them to look out for an email from their class rep with some more information. We always love to welcome new members along.

First Week’s Swimming

Welcome to 2018/2019 season of Graceville Lightning Swim Club.  Thank you for joining us.  We are looking forward to the season being social and watching our children improve their swimming over the term.  Our first night of swimming will commence at 6.00pm on Friday 12^th of October. If you are new to our club, then please note that our canteen and bar is cash only.

If you registered as a swim club member by Monday 8^th of October, you would have already received an email from our race secretary with details of the races your children have been entered in.  Please read this carefully and respond if there are any changes including:

·         The races your child/children will be participating in

·         If you are unable to attend

If were not a financial member by Monday 8^th of October, then your child is not eligible to swim this week, however, you are welcome to join us for a BBQ and drinks at our wonderful canteen. After our first week, your child will be eligible to swim at any Friday evening, so long as your membership is up to date. 

Given our unpredictable weather this week, I just wanted to let you know what we do in the event of unfavourable weather.  If just rain is forecast, we will continue with swim club, unless the safety of our swimmer and volunteers is at risk.  With regards to storm activity, we will monitor the weather closely on the day and make a call regarding swimmer safety and volunteer safety closer to commencement of swimming. At any time during a swim meet, if swimmer safety is at risk, we will cancel the event. Please note, any announcements with regards to cancellation of a night will be put on our website.

If you are new to the club, make sure you find our Junior Dolphin representative Carleen who will be able to point you in the right direction at your first club night. Or alternatively if you have any questions, you can email Carleen on jnr_dolphin@gracevillelightning.org.au.

This year we are also offering exclusive Graceville Lightning Swim wear to our members. The range has been updated, the quality is good and the price is great.  Girls one piece swimmers are available in all sizes for $24.00 and the boys swimmers are available in all sizes for $20.00. Please check out our merchandise stall near the canteen.

Finally, please note our swim club is licensed and we support the responsible service of alcohol. We have certain conditions that we must adhere to retain our liquor licence each year. Failure to do this will results in cancellation of our licence.  Please be respectful of our volunteers and support the responsible service of alcohol.

We look forward to seeing you on Friday night.

Heidi

Welcome to the 2018/2019 of Graceville Lightning

Welcome to the 2018 / 2019 season of swimming. If you are new to swim club, then welcome to Graceville Amateur Swim Club (also known as Graceville Lightning).  If you are one of our familiar faces, then welcome back! Our first night of swimming for the 2018/2019 season will be Friday October 12^th. Swim Club will run for every Friday night of Term 4 2018 and each Friday night of Term 1 2019 until 22^nd of March. Swimming will get underway at 6.00pm.

My name is Heidi and I am this years President. My children are Ella and Jake, and they asked me to be President, as they love coming along to swim club each Friday night. They love trying to do their best each week and catching up with their friends outside of school.  I enjoy my night off from cooking by enjoying some of the delicious food on offer from our canteen and BBQ. A great way to relax on a Friday night!

Our swim club is all about participation. It doesn’t matter if your child is not the fastest swimmer, what matters is that try their best each week. Each week your child will swim against swimmers of similar ability to try and improve their personal bests. There is a great range of information on our site including how our club runs each week, the calendar of events and how to qualify for club championships. Have a look around our website and become familiar with our club. We always welcome new members, If you are interested in joining Graceville Lightning, then please check our Registration page on our website. 

One of the best things about our swim club is the community spirit and how we have a great group of people who are willing to volunteer their time to make swim club run smoothly. However, as the old saying goes, many hands make light work. Running a successful swim club means there are each week we look for volunteers to make sure the kids swim times are successfully recorded, make a salad or help with running the BBQ and canteen. Whether that’s taking on a weekly role like opening the canteen or coordinating the timekeeping or helping a few times a term by cooking up a storm on the BBQ or providing a salad, every bit of help is appreciated. 

Cheers

Heidi

Registrations 2018/2019

Online registrations for Graceville Lightning are now open.

Membership renewal

All Graceville Lightning member families from last season will receive a Subscription Payment email from Swimming Australia by September 6^th. This is an invitation to renew your membership with us. The email will include details on how to complete member payments online. 

Please contact our Secretary Annie Chand if:

• you need to add or remove members before payment – we will make necessary changes and reissue your invoice
• the payment invoice shows an incorrect amount
• you did not receive your invoice

New members

New members can click here for the registration link or alternatively go to Graceville Lightning Swim Club website and use the Online Registration page.  To start registration you will need to enter

• your region as Brisbane Swimming Association 
• your club as Graceville Amateur Swim Club.

If you need any help with this registration process, please contact Annie Chand or Heidi Marshall via email. We look forward to you joining us!

Members Transferring from Another Club

Members new to Graceville Lightning transferring from another club will need to contact us to assist with your transfer. Please send an email to Annie Chand or Heidi Marshall providing the following details: 

• which club you are currently associated with
• your MyLane ID number
• If you are a current financial member of Swimming Australia

You will also need to contact your current club to ask to release you to Graceville Lightning.  We will assist you with your transfer and advise you of any fees.

No Longer A Graceville Lightning Club Member

If you are not returning to Graceville Lightning this season, please email Club Secretary Annie Chand your details.  This will ensure you no longer receive emails or invoices from us.

Fees

Fees for this year have been set as follows:

•          9 years-plus – $100*
•          8 years  – $65*
•          7 years and under – $20*

*Swimming Queensland provides a subsidised fee for all 8 year olds, while children aged 7 and under receive free membership to Swimming Queensland. A small fee is payable to the club to help with the costs of running club nights. 

Regards,

Graceville Lightning Committee

Swim Club cancelled 23 Feb 2018

The weather is not in our favour again.  I have consulted the committee and we have come to a decision to cancel tonight.  I know a lot of kids might be disappointed and I do apologise to them, but I feel that we will have struggled to have enough numbers to fill the volunteer roles and the kids may have been rather cold as well. (Pete Geraghty mentioned that his swim coaches are currently wearing wet suits, although the kids in the classes are ok)

Lets hope that next week we have better luck with the weather.

Cheers,

Tina and the GLSC committee.

Swim Club tonight is still on - projected start time of 6:45pm.

Hi all,
Sorry for the delay in posting to the website. I was unable to post on my mobile phone and had to wait for a better device. I did send an email but it seems that not everyone received it.

Well it looks like the storm has passed.  We are still planning on running club tonight but we will need to wait for safety reasons until at least 6:45pm.

We do understand that you may have made other plans already now.
The bom website is showing that the storm is almost gone and it doesn't look like there are any others following.

Cheers,
Tina.