Niamh moves to Mount Kelly School

Well, Saturday morning's A Squad training session proved to be an emotional affair, as Pioneer 79 Girls Club Captain, 16 year old  Niamh Robinson swam her final session before venturing off to continue her swimming career and begin her 'A' Level studies at Mount Kelly School, Tavistock, Devon.

For those of you who don't know Niamh, she has been a competitive member of the Club since a very young age, achieving County, Regional and National honours every year since the age of 11.  In 2014 Niamh was invited to represent Lancashire at the Inter-County Championships, an honour she repeated last year and has recently been informed that she has been successfully selected again this year. In 2014 at the age of 14, Niamh was selected to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow for Team IOM, where she achieved 2 semi-final placings, then in 2015 she was selected to compete in Italy for the England Talent Squad, before travelling to Samoa where she competed again for Team IOM, this time in the Commonwealth Youth Games.  These results have been achieved by a number of factors, the fabulous coaching staff at Pioneer, especially Michael, Niamh's hard work, her determination, her many strong friendships within the club, this coupled with the continuous support by the committee, families and friends, through the good times and the bad.  Niamh has also received sponsorship from:  TP Properties Ltd, Grace Cole Ltd and Kozii UK with which she is extremely grateful. We all hope the success you have achieved so far continues as you move on.

Your successes whilst at Pioneer will hopefully spur our younger swimmers on, by showing them what can be achieved through persevere and determination.

On Saturday evening, Niamh had a final farewell party/birthday bash, where she was overwhelmed by the number of people who turned up to see her off, she was delighted to receive a particular present by two members of A Squad a present that was provided with donations from all her fellow Pioneer 79 friends, an IPad, this will come in useful for her to maintain contact with everyone, along with many other lovely presents too....

I am sure Niamh will be solely missed by all her friends at Pioneer, this has been shown by the many moving and emotional comments in her memories book, I'm sure she will miss everyone here too.  However, all is not lost! Niamh will continue to be a member of Pioneer, training during school holidays and odd weekends when she is home, so on that note, in my position not as her mum, but as Pioneer 79's Press Officer, may we wish you all the very best as you move into sunnier climates, and we look forward to seeing you again when you return to not so sunny Accrington! From EVERYONE at Pioneer..... GOOD LUCK !