Mexborough and Swinton Times October 19, 1928
Men of Note In Local Sport.
Swimming Pioneer.
Trainer of Wath Champions
Since 1914 Mr. Horace Maiden, manager and instructor at the Wath Baths, has quietly furthered the sport of swimming in the district.
He is a native of Wath and has always been enthusiastic about swimming since the opening of the baths in 1911. Since 1914 he has trained 2,528 children and 200 of them have qualified under the life-saving tests. Twentv of them have been recognised by the Royal Humane Society for actual rescues.
An important item of Mr. Maiden’s work was the reorganisation of the swimming club. For the last four years the men’s club has been extremely successful. They joined the Wakefield Polo League competition in 1924, and this year are probable runners-up. In the first season the junior and senior squadrons went through without defeat; in the next season the senior team were runners up and the junior team tied for the championship. Last year the junior team lost only one swim and beat Pontefract for the championship; and the senior team were third in the table. This year the junior squadron has won every swim and the senior have lost only one.
Among the outstanding individual swimmers who have been trained by Mr. Maiden is Miss Annie Willis, who won the Wath school championship when only 13 years old, The following year she retained the championship and won the Ladies’ Championship of the club’ at the age of 14. She has retained that honour for five years. In 1926 she was entered for the Yorkshire Championship. She won the No. 2 District championship and swam second in the final race at Scarboro’. Last year Miss Willis won the district 150 yards back stroke championship and the 220 yards free style, but was tinplated in the final race. This year she swam second in the final race at Scarboro’ in one of the fastest championship swims for several years. She was only 1/5th second behind the winner.
Another promising swimmer is Nell Willis, the present school champion. She competed against her sister this year for the Ladies’ Championship and was a good second. She has a much better style than her sister and is likely to be a finer swimmer.
Among the male pupils two stand out: George Tavender, the present Wath champion, and Jack Ellis. Last year Tavernier won the No. 2 district 100 yards free style championship, and Ellis the district 100 yards free style junior championship and the final race at Scarboro’. Both sections of the club are now flourishing.