Each of our Regional Award winners was nominated for the Swim England National Awards, with the prestigious ceremony held in Birmingham. Several of our West Midlands Award recipients secured National titles at the event, showcasing the passion and expertise that define our region.
We want to wish all of the National Award winners a huge congratulations we are immensely proud.
You can read more about all of our Regional Award winners here.
National Award Winners 2024:
Bernard Simkins
Harold Fern Award
An ‘honoured’ Bernard Simkins has been awarded the prestigious Harold Fern Award for 2024 after a lifetime of commitment to aquatics.
His dedication throughout the years has seen him serve on regional and numerous national boards and is one of Swim England’s founding directors.
He’s been a member of Stourbridge Swimming Club for almost 30 years after re-joining the club he swam at as a youngster to support his two daughters.
Now, he’s privileged to become the fourth member from the club to receive the illustrious award.
Read more about Bernard here.
Andy Worsey
Volunteer of the Year
Andy is a volunteer from Newcastle Staffs Swimming Club, giving up his time to be the Membership Secretary on the committee. His dedication and passion for the club, and all its people, made Andy stand out for this award.
“Andy has met all new trialists and their families personally, ensuring a great first impression, which almost always converted to a new member. Andy develops a strong relationship quickly with new families by making himself available at training sessions to check they’ve settled in.”
Andy has gone above and beyond his role to provide swimmers with the opportunity to take part in the sport. Read more here.
Allison Pratt
Technical Official of the Year
Allison Pratt
Technical Official of the Year
Allison has been a hugely influential figure in Artistic Swimming, travelling the world to share her skills and support the sport and the athletes who take part.
“She is a true advocate for the sport that is often so overlooked, and British Artistic Swimming would not be making the leaps and bounds that it has been achieving in recent years without her.”
“Ali is dedicated to artistic swimming by always doing her best to help improve the national ranking in the sport. She shows passion by always helping other clubs without any benefits for herself which purely demonstrated her love for this sport.”
Read more about Allison here.
Tegan Smith
Artistic Swimming Development Coach of the Year
Tegan is a dedicated and passionate coach who is making a huge impact on the Artistic Swimming community. Her ability to nurture and support her swimmers to achieve their goals is part of what makes her a worthy winner of this award.
Tegan is deserving of this award for she created a thriving, hard working environment at Midlands training, where many young swimmers were inspired- evidenced by the swimmers’ significant improvements made in competition results.
Read more about Tegan here.
Nicola Bainbridge
Educator of the Year
Nicola is known for going above and beyond for her learners, demonstrating her passion for education and providing a nurturing environment for them to succeed.
Nigel Mills
Diving Performance Pathway Coach of the Year
Nigel has taken the lead on the Sandwell Aquatics Club Diving programme since its opening last year, and has not only left a lasting impact on the divers, but created a legacy.
“The culture of any institution is created from top management. As an head coach of Sandwell diving club, Nigel is a great leader who has taken the club from strength to strength. He has trained divers who have made elite, national age group, and skills grade since launching last year.
Nigel is very detail oriented which can be seen in his coaching. Every session is well planned and executed. Away from coaching, he is constantly looking to improve the facilities at the club which shows he got long term vision for the club rather than just looking at short term success.”
Read more about Nigel here.
A special mention to Lenka Tanner, who is from the East Midland Region, but sits on our Midlands Artistic Swimming Leadership Group. Well done Lenka!
