By Claire Baker, Head of Junior School History and Head of Junior School Swimming
In June of 1930, Arthur Sutherland gifted the school £20,000 to build a swimming pool at Eskdale Terrace, which would be worth around £1.8 million in today’s money. The pool was known as the Sutherland Baths.
The opening of the swimming pool has almost completely dwarfed every other topic of interest this term.
003394:City Hall Northumberland Road/College Street Newcastle upon Tyne Unknown 1930. Lantern Slide: A view of the City Hall Northumberland Road/College Street Newcastle upon Tyne taken in 1930. The City Baths adjoin the City Hall to the left. Courtesy of Newcastle Libraries Flickr.
Photograph of the Sutherland Baths, c.1931. RGS Archives [ref: SUR/125]
Prior to this, the boys had to swim at City Baths in Newcastle City Centre but complained that it often wasn’t available until after 5pm. It was extremely rare to have a pool outside of a boarding school, so we were very lucky to have one at RGS. The pool was 70ft by 30ft, which was described as a ‘remarkable size’ and had water that was filtered, aeriated, warmed and sterilised, although some of the boys might disagree, as it was often referred to as unheated!
Swimming did not seem to get off to the start we had hoped. The Novocastrian magazine from July 1932 stated that ‘the swimming team has had the most unfortunate season’. Stowell were held particularly responsible, and it was claimed that ‘half the members of the house do not seem to realise that swimming…should be taken as seriously as the other sports’. (The Novocastrian, Vol XLVII, No 2, July 1932)
The boys competed within their houses at first, which later developed to include other local schools, such as Durham and Coatham Schools. The records show that the pool has been used for much more than just swimming, with water polo, diving, synchronised swimming and lifesaving all featuring at some point.
Score sheet for RGS inter house Junior swimming sports, 1948. RGS Archives [ref: 823]
Entrance to the Sutherland Baths, 1990s. RGS Archives [ref: 336]
Photograph from the RGS NEWTS Night, 1961, Photographer: B Hedley. RGS Archives [ref: 155]
Luckily, things have improved over the years and RGS have had some fantastic achievements in swimming! In the past 95 years since our pool opened, students and Old Novos have competed in local, regional, national and international galas, with huge success.In 2015, our Junior School won the English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) National Primary Championships for the first time. The team of Kate, Katie, Jemima and Alice were phenomenal, and were very proud to bring home the shield for the girls.
This success was then repeated in 2017, when Laura, Jessica, Naomi, Celia and Ellen won again, just a month after winning the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) Finals in Croydon, and breaking records on their way – their HMC record for the medley relay still stands today.
Photograph of the Sutherland Baths, c.1980s. RGS Archives.
Three Old Novocastrians are currently represented on our Sports Hall of Fame:
Eleni Papadopoulos (RGS 2008-10): GB Paratriathlon; Tri3 British Champion; Tri3 World Championships 2013, Silver medallist; European Record Holder, 200m Butterfly; S 10 GB Class Squad
Lola Davidson (RGS 2014-21): British Summer Championships 2018, British Champions 400m and 800m Freestyle.
Leo Vinogradov (RGS 2015-22): U13 British Champion and multiple record holder for Monofin
Booklet for the NEW-T's Swimming Club, c.1930s. Walton Telfer Papers. RGS Archives [ref: RGS/ONS/3]
RGS NEWTS Swimming Club Blazer Pocket Badge, 1933-36. Owned by ON Philip de Lacey Markham (ON 1926-37). RGS Archives [ref: RGS/ONS/44/7]
Wooden board listing captains of the water polo team from 1948. RGS Archives [ref: Acc 0129]
Junior School House Swimming Cap, Stowell red (c.2000s) [RGS Archives ref: RGS/OBJ/1/4/10]
Challoner Swimming Medal 1932, awarded to AD Millican (ON 1927-33). RGS Archives [ref: RGS/OBJ/2/3/03]
Swimming tours started in 1930 with the joint tour to Cambridge with the 1st XI Cricket team. These paused during the war years, however, by 1951 it was felt that the standard of swimming has increased enough to reinstate the Race-Week Tour. In 1951, the boys travelled by train, visiting Cranwell army cadets, Cambridge and the City of London School. The boys not only competed in swimming, but also in diving and water polo, with one exception; there was no water polo at the City of London School, as it was feared it would endanger the large glass windows that lined the pool!
CAMBRIDGE CRICKET AND SWIMMING | Yorkshire Film Archive
Film of the RGS Cambridge Tour of 1933. This was for the first XI Cricket Team and the NEWTS Swimming Team matches. The film was recorded by Mr H.E. Cannings and was shown as part of a ‘Cinematograph Exhibition’ on RGS Speech Day, 27th Oct 1933, in the Senior Lecture Room.
Digitised by the Yorkshire & North East Film Archive.
Photograph of the RGS Swimming Team, 1930. RGS Archives [ref: Sports 8 Album]
By 1980, it is thought that around 2,000 swimmers a week were using the pool. There was a gala to honour the 50th anniversary of the Sutherland Baths, held on Friday 13th June, and swimmers from Central and Church High Schools, Newcastle Prep School and Newcastle University were invited to take part, alongside the boys and Old Novos from the RGS.
The pool had an extensive renovation in 1990. After 85 years using the Sutherland Baths, it was replaced by a brand-new pool in the new Sports Centre, opened in 2015. The 2019 Library building now stands on the site of the original baths.
Today, our pool continues to be well used, both by current staff and students, as well as by children from our partnership schools.
Photograph of the swimming pool, 2019. ©RGS Newcastle
Photograph of an RGS swimmer, c.2019. ©RGS Newcastle
Our pool facilities have had an import role not just for RGS students, but for the wider community. The Swim Confidence Club is a recent project where RGS Junior School students are joined by selected students from partner schools for weekly swimming lessons run by RGS staff and trainee PE teachers. Many of the students lack confidence in swimming and some have a fear of water, so the club has a huge impact on the those attending.
In the 2023-24 academic year, we reached around 120 children, from 6 schools, and 30 North East Partnership SCITT trainees gained valuable training experience.
