Member's Information
Sunbeam Swimming Club Home Gala
At our AMM in February, we announced that we are thinking about hosting Sunbeam’s very first gala. If we did host it, the date would be Saturday 5th July from 12:30pm until 14:30pm with a celebration and award ceremony in the hall immediately afterwards, until 15:30pm.
It can only be possible to host a gala if enough swimmers want to take part, and if enough volunteers are willing to help on the day. So we want to ask you to give us an idea of how popular a gala could be, so that we can decide whether to host it.
You might have lots of questions, and we hope to have answered most of them below, but please talk to a committee member if you have more questions.
Please tell us below which events you would be interested in swimming and if family, friends and carers could volunteer. Please complete this form before 16th March so that we can decide if we should go ahead. If we do go ahead, we will ask you to confirm the races you would like to enter and pay at that time.
To host this gala, the committee have agreed to subside the cost – which means we will pay for some of the costs out of our savings. To reduce the amount we need to take from our savings, we are also offering a chance for this event to be sponsored by a business, so if you know a business who might be interested, please email the committee info@sunbeamswimming.co.uk
Swimmer Interest
Please complete this before 16th March to help us decide if there are enough swimmers interested
Volunteer Interest
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What date would the gala be on?
A: If there is enough interest in a gala, we are aiming for Saturday 5th July 2025.
Q: Will other clubs be there too?
A: We think it would be good to have a Sunbeam Swimming Club Members-only gala this time. That means no other clubs will be invited and we will only be swimming with Sunbeam Club Members. If this is successful, we might think about hosting a para swimming gala and invite other local clubs for people with additional needs, but not this time.
Q: Do I have to enter any races?
A: No, if you don’t want to race, you can spectate and have fun cheering on your friends from Sunbeam. If you have never swum at a gala, this might be a nice one to try as it would be at the Pavilions with all the usual friendly faces from our club, in a place that you feel familiar with.
Note that our usual Sunbeam swimming session will not take place on this date if the gala goes ahead.
Q: Will it be very competitive?
A: No, this is a fun gala and everyone is encouraged to take part. It is not what is called a licenced meet, where swimmers are competing for qualifying times. This means there is no pressure or very technical rules about how we swim and race. We might have some helpers coming on the day who are used to running galas. They will be there to help our Sunbeam volunteers to get things right and might be wearing a uniform on the day.
Q: Can I have any special requests?
A: We will do our best to include all swimmers, so let us know what requests we can help with. For example, if you need a noodle/float, carer in the water, side lane by the wall, steps to get in/out, hoist….. anything else…. we want you to be able to join in and have fun!
Q: What day of the week or time of day will it be?
A: At the moment, we are looking into doing this on a Saturday, around 12:30pm – we can’t confirm anything until everyone has completed the survey, so please remember to do that for us.
Q: Will it cost anything to enter?
A: We want to keep costs to a minimum, so we might ask for a £5 entry fee in advance. All the money will be put toward the costs of hosting the gala, for example, hire of the pool, hire of equipment, hire of a room for an awards ceremony afterwards, medals, etc.
Q: How many races will there be?
A: We are thinking of 25m and 50m races in Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle. Maybe a 75m individual medley race and (depending on interest) a 25m butterfly. That would be 8 races in total although it is unlikely that you would want to do all of them. You might only want to do 1 race, especially if this is your first gala. If we have time, we might have a fun race for carers to get wet!
Q: Will there be awards or medals?
A: YES! We want to celebrate everyone taking part so there will be a ceremony afterwards to congratulate you.
Q: I have family and friends who want to volunteer for the gala, what can they do to help?
A: That’s great! Here’s some jobs that we need covered, please complete the form above to volunteer!
In advance:
- ordering medals
- organising entries/applications
- attending other club galas to learn how to use the computer equipment
- liaising with Pavilions
On the day:
- 8-10 timekeepers
- 1 computer systems assistant
- 6 competitor marshals
- 1 volunteer marshal
- 1 raffle organiser
- 1 family/carer liaison
- 1 announcer
- 1 referee
- 1 starter
- 1 runner
- 2-3 people to set up the awards ceremony