About us

The original Parkside Pool opened in 1963 and Granta Swimming Club became the first club

in Cambridge to offer structured diving lessons. Prior to that time is was fun diving from planks into the river or into very shallow water at Jesus Green pool.  Parkside became very popular with its 1m and 3m springboards and a 5m platform.  Diving was still quite tricky as the boards located at the end of the swimming pool. However, Cambridge divers proved their ability at all levels. The space available restricted the membership to about 20 divers with a total diving water time of 4 hours a week. Barbara Palmer, a former national diver, was instrumental in kick-starting diving in Cambridge. During the 34-year life of the pool, the club produced numerous County, Regional and Midland District champions. Cambridge divers also excelled at national level with several medallists.

In 1985 the Granta Swimming Club and the Cambridge Amateur Swimming Club amalgamated to form the City of Cambridge Swimming Club with the diving section retained as part of the club.

The old Parkside Pool closed for rebuilding in July 1997 and at that time the diving section had achieved significant competitive successes with a coach and one diver on the national squad. The pool closure left Cambridge with no diving facilities and training was confined to weekly bus trip to Bedford Pool and a weekly session in a ‘dry gym at Impington Village College. A grant from Cambridge City Council facilitated this transition period, enabling a nucleus of divers to remain active

The new Parkside Pools opened in May 1999 with 10 club divers still participating. The priority became to rebuild the diving section. The enhanced diving facilities quickly attracted many new members. At the end of the first year the membership had swelled to 30, although the majority were novice level. This number had risen to 45 by the end of year 2 That year the club had a record entry of 10 divers in the ASA national novice championships.  11 divers competed in the National Intermediate Age Group Championships held in Cambridge, winning 8 medals.

In 2001 the Cambridge Diving Development Centre was founded by Sharyn Bord carrying on with her duties as Head coach but with ambitious plans for the future.  Learn to Dive lessons for children were introduced proving to be very popular. The club also met the demands for adult diving, with weekly sessions held for beginners and a masters’ section incorporated into the competitive side of the club.

Until 2003 all staff were volunteers – most with full time jobs and families. To take advantage of the fine new facilities a fund-raising programme was initiated to provide the finances to facilitate a professional diving programme. This ambition came to fruition in 2003 when the clubs first professional full-time coach, James Etherington was appointed.

With the assistance of the volunteer coaches the club quickly expanded.

In 2004 Sharyn Bord founded the Cambridge Dive Team affiliated to the ASA ( Swim England), the governing body, to encompass the competitive arm of the Centre allowing divers to compete under the name of their diving club rather than as part of a swimming club. The centre continued to grow with the appointment of more professional coaches and a development programme for divers to become junior coaches. The Dive Team is proud of its notable successes at County, Regional, National, International and Olympic events.