We are a not-for-profit swimming club, running from our local leisure centre for children who have reached stage 7+ and can swim in all four strokes. We run sessions for fun, exercise and for competitive swimmers. We also run a Masters session. We are on a journey to encourage competitive swimmers to remain with the club; they had previously transferred to larger clubs in bigger towns but we feel that Okehampton should also be able to produce and support swimmers with potential as well as those who wish to swim for pleasure and to feel part of a club with good coaches and a supportive team of volunteers.
Whilst improving general fitness, swimming can also improve mental health; you release ‘feel good’ hormones which help reduce negative feelings and improve your mood. We would like to encourage as many people as possible, new and old, to join our club. Being part of a team of swimmers can help you to feel part of the community. We hope to be able to run more fun events to encourage our swim community to come together, talk, and make new friendships. We also want to support our competing youth and masters swimmers to achieve County, Regional and National times, and to feel that they have the swim time and support to compete against some of the larger clubs.
We swim from Parklands Leisure Centre (25m pool) for most of our swims Monday, Tuesday, Tuesday and Friday; and from Mount Kelly Swim Centre on a Wednesday and Sunday.
Our swimmers are grouped into squads who swim different numbers of hours each week based on their training needs and swimming goals. Our various squads swim between 1 hour Skills development and 12 hours Performance squad a week. We hold sessions at Parklands on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and at Mount Kelly Swim Centre (50m pool) on Wednesday (Performance squad only) and Sunday (Competitive and Performance squads only).
If you have time that you could offer to fundraise, timekeep, support at competitions or would like another role in the club we would like to hear from you. We run with the help of a pool of volunteers, some doing multiple roles so please do get in touch - your club 'needs you' however much time you have we are grateful, thank you.
For queries please contact otterscomms@hotmail.com your email will be filtered to the relevant committee member. For the welfare officer and finance please email directly.
Your current Committee is:
For queries please contact [email protected] your email will be filtered to the relevant committee member, for the welfare officer and finance please email directly.
- Chair - Craig Boxall
- Treasurer - Jo Burrow o[email protected]
- Secretary & SwimMark - Jude Boxall
- Head Coach - Matthew Henry
- Social Media/communications - Gemma Henderson
- Disability & Discrimination Officer – Jenni Henry
- Systems Officer - Kat Barlow
- Junior Parenting Link & Fundraising - Natalia Martens
Co-opted Members:
- Junior Recruitment & Fundraising - Michelle Holdsworth
- Fundraising -
- Kit & Facilities - Luis Martens
(Co-opted members have voting rights but do not attend all meetings & do not sit on the committee)
Guest (non-voting):
- Welfare Officer - Allyson Bales [email protected]
Members supporting the club as part of a sub-committee (these members attend meetings by invite & are non-voting):
- Competition Secretary - Tom Biddick
- Gala Support- Claire Graves

