{"id":691607,"date":"2026-01-12T18:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/691607\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T18:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T18:29:13","slug":"swim-england-issues-apology-over-2022-closure-of-ellesmere-titans-swimming-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/691607\/","title":{"rendered":"Swim England Issues Apology Over 2022 Closure Of Ellesmere Titans Swimming Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swim England<\/a><\/strong> has issued an apology over the closure of the Ellesmere Titans Swimming Club in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Swim England<\/a> issued the apology after admitting to errors in the handling of complaints that ultimately led to the body disaffiliating itself from the club and its subsequent closure.<\/p>\n

Complaints were made against the club, accusing it of emotional abuse against swimmers, but Swim England<\/a> admitted that the accusations turned out to be false.<\/p>\n

After the disaffiliation, the club was taken over by the Ellesmere College Swimming Academy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis fell short of the expected standards,\u201d Swim England<\/a> said in its statement. \u201cHad we met those standards, there was a real chance that the club would not have been disaffiliated in 2022, given the willingness of the club committee to work with Swim England<\/a> to address the safeguarding concerns that did exist, and the fact that some of the more serious concerns that were alleged turned out to be false.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement went on to read that Swim England<\/a> failed to \u201cadequately engage with some of those involved to obtain full and accurate information, leading to our acting on anonymous information,\u201d and that there also was \u201cdisjointed and unstructured decision-making, and inadequate executive oversight and leadership once concerns were raised over the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group of 73 swimmers from Ellesmere signed a letter of support then Ellesmere Director of Swimming Alan Bircher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Swim England<\/a> added that at the time there wasn\u2019t a complaints policy to \u201callow these issues to be adequately raised and investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ellesmere had several swimmers who trained there and then later went on to become British Olympians. Examples include:<\/p>\n