Founded in 1933, Heath Town Swimming Club has been part of Wolverhampton’s swimming community for more than 90 years. Our story began at the historic Heath Town Baths, and the club has been teaching, training and racing ever since.
Our story
- 1927 Heath Town becomes part of Wolverhampton, on the promise of new public baths and a library.
- 1932 Heath Town Baths open on 16 December, with two swimming pools, a wash house and a library.
- 1933 The founding year given in club records.
- 1936 Gladys Morcom swims for Great Britain at the Berlin Olympics. She later becomes chief coach at Heath Town Baths and teaches generations of local swimmers.
- Late 1940s Just after the Second World War, returning servicemen including Bill Edwards and councillor Arthur Robbins build up the club’s swimming and water polo teams, with Bill as water polo captain.
- 1948 A Heath Town team competes in an international competition in Tilburg, Holland. Bill Edwards wins gold in the 200m breaststroke and Freda Holt wins silver.
- 1950s A golden era of champions, including Hazel Peace (backstroke), Jill Cooke (freestyle) and diver Phil Cooke, who later became one of the country’s leading Olympic referees. The club also wins the prestigious Canning Shield.
- 1962 Club President Harry Patten launches a major coaching campaign at the baths.
- 1972 A touring dolphin show comes to Heath Town Baths. Around 800 people a day come to watch, and the dolphins stay two extra days to meet demand.
- 2000 Heath Town Baths becomes a Grade II listed building.
- 2002 Heath Town Baths close. The club moves to Bushbury Baths, a 1960s pool on Bushbury Hill with a 10m diving platform.
- 2006 Bushbury Baths close and are replaced by the new pool at Wolverhampton Swimming and Fitness Centre, Bentley Bridge, where the club still trains today.
- 2004 Long-serving teacher Wally Dimmack wins the BBC Unsung Hero award for the Midlands.
- 2009 Ray Green is awarded an MBE for services to swimming and education.
- 2023 Plans are approved to restore the historic baths building for community use.
- Today Generations on, the club continues to train swimmers of all ages and abilities.
About Heath Town Baths
Heath Town Baths on Tudor Road was designed by Wolverhampton’s Borough Engineer’s Department, with Wallace Wood as chief architect, and combined a public baths and library in one building, a design the librarian of the day believed was unique. Its plain, symmetrical “municipal modernist” front hid a striking main pool hall, roofed with tiered concrete arches and lit from above. Historian Duncan Nimmo argues it may have been one of the first pools in Britain built this way. The building was Grade II listed in 2000.
Did you know? In 1972 Heath Town Baths hosted a touring dolphin show. A local newspaper reported that around 800 people were watching every day, and the dolphins were kept for two extra days to cope with demand. Members of the pop group The Fourmost, who were performing in Wolverhampton at the time, came along to meet them. See photos of the dolphins at Heath Town on The Dolphinaria Archive.
Bushbury Baths
When Heath Town Baths closed in 2002, the club moved to Bushbury Baths. Built in the 1960s into the slope of Bushbury Hill, the pool was known for its 10m diving platform. It closed in 2006, when the new pool at Bentley Bridge opened, and the building was demolished in 2008.
Heath Town legends
Gladys Morcom
A member of the 1936 British Olympic team in Berlin, Gladys became chief coach at Heath Town Baths and taught many local people to swim. She died in 2010, aged 91.
Bill Edwards
A founder of the post-war club and captain of the water polo team, Bill won gold in the 200m breaststroke in Holland in 1948. A wartime frogman, he once swam four lengths of Heath Town Baths underwater, a record that still stands.
Club honours
MBE for Ray Green
On 13 June 2009, Ray Green was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to swimming and education. At the time, Ray was club President and had served on the committee for around 30 years.
Our unsung hero
In 2004, Wally Dimmack, who taught in the small pool for around 50 years, won the BBC Unsung Hero award for the Midlands for his voluntary service to swimming. He went on to the national BBC Sports Personality of the Year event in London.
Club kit then and now
In the 1970s, Heath Town swimmers wore bright red hoodies, with “HTSC” running down the front and “Heath Town Swimming Club” in bold white letters across the back. Supporters wore badges with the slogan “Forget the rest, support the best: H.T.S.C.”
Today our kit is royal blue, with the club crest on the chest and “Heath Town Swimming Club” across the back. The crest features the HT initials, the Staffordshire knot and the date the club was established, 1933. You can see the current range on our Club & Training Kit page.
From the archive
Photos of the old Heath Town Baths and some of the club’s early teams. Click a photo to see it full size.
Do you have memories or old photos of the club? We’d love to hear from former swimmers, coaches and families. Please get in touch.
Find out more
- Heath Town Swimming Club: Bill Edwards remembers (Wolverhampton History & Heritage website), the source of many of our archive photos and stories
- Heath Town Public Baths and Library, by Duncan Nimmo (Wolverhampton History & Heritage website)
- UK touring dolphin shows, including Heath Town Baths in 1972 (The Dolphinaria Archive)
- Plans approved for historic Heath Town Baths (City of Wolverhampton Council, 2023)
