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Here’s the latest news, events, and opportunities from across the region
Please share this update with all your club members.
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 2026 SENW Regional Awards - What a Night 
This year’s Swim England North West Regional Awards Ceremony took place at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday 3rd October 2026, bringing together clubs, volunteers, athletes and supporters from across the region for another truly memorable evening. The event continues to grow in stature each year, and it’s clear that our Regional Awards are becoming a standout date in the North West aquatics calendar.
It was a pleasure to welcome Olympic athletes and multiple Olympic medallists Anna Hopkin and Luke Greenbank back to their North West roots to present awards to our 2026 winners.
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Swim England North West Lifetime Achievement Award
Our final award for 2026 was the ‘Swim England North West Lifetime Achievement Award’ – this award recognises an individual who has demonstrated exceptional, long‑term service to aquatics within the North West Region. The recipient will have made a significant and sustained contribution that has strengthened the sport, supported its people, and positively influenced the regional aquatics community over many years.
This year’s winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award is Mr Brian Boyle. Unfortunately Brian was unable to attend the Awards Evening on Saturday, but Janice Whittle visited Brian on Monday and presented him with his award. He was extremely grateful to have been presented the award and passed on his sincere thanks to the North West Regional Board of Directors who selected him as this year’s worthy winner.
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 What a Weekend for North West Aquatics!
Swim England North East & North West Para Championships 2026
North West athletes represented their region at the Swim England North East and Swim England North West Para Championships in Harrogate on Sunday.
The championships provided an important opportunity for para swimmers from across the two regions to get classified and compete with their peers.
Swim England National County Team Championships 2026
Sunday saw the Swim England National County Team Championships take place at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield.
More than 30 county teams came together for an afternoon racing, with swimmers battling for every point in individual and relay events. The North West was strongly represented, with Lancashire and Cheshire competing in Division 1, while Cumbria competed in Division 2. There was plenty of North West club representation within those county teams, with swimmers coming together from clubs across the region to race for county pride.
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 Important Information for ALL Clubs
The Online Membership System (OMS), Open Engage (OE) and Governance & Compliance Portal (Club Affiliation) will be unavailable from 1pm on Friday 9th October 2026 for approximately 10 days whilst Swim England migrate information onto their new Sport:80 Membership Management System.
Swimming Rankings will remain operational, including competition entries based on the information held when the systems are switched off. Swimming results can also continue to be uploaded.
Any essential membership, affiliation or account activity should be completed before 1pm on 9th October. Any questions, please email Swim England directly at support@swimming.org
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| Club Forum - Membership System launch demo - Wednesday 21st October 18:30-20:00
This month, the Club Forum will focus on the launch of the new membership management platform. You'll have the opportunity to see it action, learn about its functionality and ask questions about how it'll affect you.
Topics include:
1. Introduction to the platform
2. Demo of the website
3. Key Membership functions
4. Next steps and future updates
5. An opportunity to ask question
We encourage all club admin roles to attend, as this is a big change to the way we currently operate and will be hugely beneficial as we roll out more functionality over the coming months
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 Vacancy - Water Polo Coach & Assistant Coach 
SENW are recruiting for a Water Polo Coach & Assistance Coach, this is a paid position for a new programme starting November 2026
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 Help Shape the Future of Coaching in the North West
The North West is seeking feedback from as many coaches as possible to help shape our future approach to coach development. A survey link was sent to all Head Coaches this week, and we encourage every coach to have their say. We want to hear directly about your experiences, what helps you thrive, the challenges you face, and the support that would make the biggest difference to your coaching journey.
If you a coach of any discipline who would like to contribute, please speak to your Head Coach for access to the survey, or email clubdevelopment@swimnorthwest.org with your name and Swim England membership number.
Your feedback will help identify key priorities and inform future support, education, and development opportunities for coaches across the North West.
The survey will remain open until 31 October 2026. Together, we can help shape the future of coaching in the North West.
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Disability Swimming Development sessions
Swim England North West is excited to launch our newly designed Disability Development Sessions, delivered in partnership with the University of Greater Manchester.
This programme will consist of three face to face sessions, taking place at Bolton One / UoGM Bolton Campus across the dates on the poster.
Pool based delivery will be led by Philip Balcombe, former development coach to Paralympian and World Record Holder Poppy Maskill. The dry land sessions will be delivered by staff and students from the University of Greater Manchester, covering a wide range of topics including Strength & Conditioning, aligned with the Swim England S&C pathway.
In addition to the practical elements, the programme will include information sessions exploring key areas such as physical and mental health to support performance in both sport and education, as well as an overview of the Classification Process.
If you are an athlete with a physical or intellectual disability, whether you are already classified, awaiting classification, or believe you may be eligible, we would encourage you to register. Coaches who currently work with athletes with disabilities, or who are simply keen to develop their knowledge and skills in this area, are also warmly encouraged to register their interest.
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| Swim England North West Winter Championships 2026
SENW Regional Winter Championships will take place on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th November 2026 at the Manchester Aquatics Centre (25m).
Entries now open and will close Tuesday 20th October 2026 (11:59pm)
 Volunteers needed for all sessions! If you're able to help out, we'd love to hear from you. Please email swimnorthwest@swimming.org to get involved. Thank you for supporting the event!
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 Swim England North West – Life Membership 
Life Membership recognises exceptional achievements for the benefit of Swim England North West Limited.
Nominations are now open and will close at 9am 31st October 2026
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| SENW Coaches and Team Managers we want you
Calling all Coaches and Team Managers from all disciplines - We are seeking enthusiastic and committed coaches and team managers to support development programmes, training camps, competitions and representative teams across the region.
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 Artistic Swimming Grade Day Certificates for Sale 
Following the recent change in the way Grade Days are being ran, the Region have a limited number of certificates/badges available to purchase.
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Vacancies
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Volunteer Training Courses
(In order to complete the Refresher course all candidates must be 18 years or over and have completed the 3 hour (face to face / online) Swim England Safeguarding course within the last 3 years).
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Coaching courses launching soon
Bookings for the first courses under our new Coach Education curriculum are expected to open from October, marking an important milestone in the evolution of coach learning and development.
Shaped by feedback from the aquatics community, the new curriculum is designed to better reflect the realities of modern coaching. Courses will begin to roll out from January 2027 and clubs are encouraged to remind coaches that they can still register their interest before bookings open.
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 Water Polo courses
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Last chance to register bookings close 9am Friday 9th October
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Artistic Swimming courses
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Governance Workshops
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 Judge Official Courses
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| Swim England North West Limited
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