4 minute read
Making memories 50 years on
Dartford FC’s Co-Chairman Steve Irving had the chance to make a splash in his primary school swimming pool, exactly 50 years after leaving the school in July 1971.
As a young Brent Primary School pupil, Steve’s family spent four years fundraising for the Primary School swimming pool that Steve never had the opportunity to learn to swim in. Paying sixpence (2.5p in decimal currency) each week, the swimming pool fundraising took a number of years, and the swimming pool build was completed in 1973.
Headteacher, Sarah Rye, provided Steve with the opportunity for an early morning swim in the heated pool, before some pupils attended for additional swimming lessons at the start of the school summer holiday. The Brent Primary School uses the pool each summer term to teach pupils in Years 1 to 6 to swim, in the hope that pupils are able to swim 25m by the time they move onto secondary school.
National Sporting Heritage Day is held each year to celebrate sporting heritage and use the stories it holds to educate and inspire. The Dartford FC Community programme is providing the opportunity for our local community to discover, share and record sporting memories, stories and experiences from primary and/or secondary school. Steve’s dip in the pool and memories of Sports Day (see the image of Steve’s certificate) is just the start of Dartford FC’s Sporting Heritage Day 2021 project, and we need your support too.
Think back to your days at primary or secondary school, and playing school sport. Do you have memories of school sport experiences such as representing your school in a competition or festival taking your first swimming lesson or finding that one sport you absolutely love? The memories can be positive or negative, but we are hoping to receive lots of positive ones!
NATIONAL SPORTING HERITAGE DAY 2021
Held on 30 September each year, National Sporting Heritage Day is an annual event to celebrate sporting heritage and use the stories it holds to educate and inspire. The day is for everyone involved in sport and heritage from grassroots teams, community sports organisations, museums and archives, universities, schools and national governing bodies across all sports.
This year’s theme is ‘Inspire, Share and Celebrate’ and will focus on inter-generational activities and learning; using sporting heritage collections and stories to encourage conversations across generations and support young people to learn about and be inspired by the sporting pioneers that came before them.
The Dartford FC Community Programme is providing the opportunity for our local community to discover, share and record sporting memories, stories and experiences from primary and/or secondary school. We need your help!
Memories of school sport will be included in an assembly presentation for all local schools to share with children and young people on National Sporting Heritage Day on 30 September 2021.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Think back to your days at primary or secondary school, and playing school sport. Do you have memories of school sport experiences such as representing your school in a competition or festival; taking your first swimming lesson; or finding that one sport you absolutely love? The memories can be positive or negative, but we are hoping to receive lots of positive ones!
Please email projects@bubbleandscruff.com with as much of the following as possible:
• written memory about sport in primary school, plus any accompanying digital images • Primary School name and location, and the years that you attended • written memory about sport in secondary school, plus any accompanying digital images • Secondary School name and location, and the years that you attended • any available digital images of you participating in school sport • written memory about watching your first Dartford FC match • your name and contact details for any follow-up
Sporting memories should be received by Friday 3 September 2021 at the latest. Share your involvement on social media @DFCCommunity #DartsSportingMemories #NSHD2021
If you have any technical limitations or would like to discuss the project further, please contact Jon Rye, DFC Education Manager on 07792 985006.
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