History
CARDIFF CHAMELEONS SWIMMING CLUB
Back in 1958 our Founder Member, the late Mrs. Joyce Robinson, answered an advertisement in the local press for the post of voluntary secretary to the Society for Mentally Handicapped Children [now Cardiff MENCAP]. Through her new associations with Society and its parents, she could see a sad lack of social awareness with some of the mentally handicapped people who she came into contact with. It was still the ‘dark ages’ for the mentally handicapped ; still a time of denial, of doubt, of guilt and uncertainty for the parents. Because they had so little chance to try, parents did not know what their children could accomplish. It is very true to say that because the hopes and expectations of the experts were so low, parents were left with very little hope themselves for their mentally handicapped children.
Joyce found herself in a prime position to help some of these children and also the parents. She asked herself if it would be possible to teach them to swim. Joyce arranged to meet some of the parents and put her ideas forward. However, she met with very much a negative response at the first meeting. Weeks went by and Joyce decided to try once again - this time there was a little interest. She booked an hour at a local swimming pool - no one arrived. On her second attempt three children arrived with their parents. Joyce was delighted. Successive weekly sessions were arranged with still only a handful of parents coming along.
These months ahead were disheartening for Joyce since there were many times when only one mentally handicapped would turn up at the pool, which she was financing herself at the time. However, months turned into a year and new members were beginning to creep in. The general attitude from parents was still very disappointing - some parents even felt that swimming was injurious to the health of their child. Not only did parents feel strongly opposed to the general idea of exercise, but many experts in the field of mental handicap said ‘since mentally handicapped people cannot ‘communicate’ sufficiently to understand, the lack of concentration would prevent any learning of the basic principles’. Joyce although daunted by this continued negative reaction, was determined to carry on with the task she had set herself and, after a further year of persistent coaching and encouraging, tasted success with her first swimmer !
During these crucial years of teaching her pupils to swim, Joyce had not only gained the confidence of the parents, but she had also shown the experts as well that the mentally handicapped can be taught skills unknown to them before ; the ‘lines of communication’ are there after all and it is just a matter of ‘tapping in to those lines’ in the right place.
Since Joyce had borne the cost herself during the early years, she felt that now the time had arrived to apply for some form of financial help to support the weekly sessions. She was successful in gaining support from the local council. The council offered her regular weekly swimming time free at the local pool, together with the extra help of a further instructor. The membership was increasing gradually and Joyce was delighted to have this generous support from the council.
The time had now arrived to put the swimming club very firmly ‘on the map, and Joyce felt the time had come to give a name to the club. Joyce had noticed that her pupils had adapted quite well to the water, despite the many sceptics - they were like the chameleon who changes its colour to suits its surroundings - so had her swimmers adapted themselves suitably to their new environment in the pool. The Cardiff Chameleons Swimming Club was founded in 1959 - the first swimming club in the country specifically for mentally handicapped.
Joyce’s talents were many and she promptly designed her own swimming badge. The badge reads ‘CHAMS’ for short. Strange as it may seem she found that reading this backwards gave her a version of the Society for Mentally Handicapped Children. Joyce used the ‘A’ in her design as a ladder - a ladder to success - topping it with a star. Even today, the Cardiff Chameleons Swimming Club are very well known in the swimming circles in this country and abroad.
By 1962 membership had increased to 30 pupils. The club organised its first Club Gala in 1963 and to this day the Club Gala is held annually. While Joyce continued with the training, she also recognised the need for swimming awards for incentive. Cups were awarded at galas as a means of a ‘challenge’, but merit awards were also given on a regular basis.
The success of the swimming club had reached many ears; the local mentally handicapped hospital [Ely Hospital] showed very keen interest and were soon to become regular users of the pool. The weekly swimming sessions had proved of great therapeutic value to those attending from the hospital. Joyce seized every opportunity to show the different disciplines that could be attained if one was prepared to put time and effort into it. She encouraged the nursing profession to attend the swimming sessions and take an active part with their patients; thus she built up strong associations with the hospital over the years.
By January 1964, the swimming club became financially self-supporting. The next target - a pool of our own! Through her close links with Ely Hospital, Joyce put her proposals to the health authority who finally agreed to help her in her quest. They provided a site on which a pool 50 x 20 feet could be erected. The mammoth task of fund-raising was about to start. After a period of some 10 years the swimming club had raised a considerable sum [£14,000] towards the cost of the pool [£21,000?] and Joyce was delighted to hear that the hospital were prepared to meet the remainder of the costs. The opening of the Chameleons Swimming Pool in 1973 represented another milestone in Joyce’s determined efforts to help her cause.
A quotation Joyce has used springs to mind -
‘You can eat an elephant if you take one bit at a time ! ‘
This pool was a useful ‘stepping stone’ for members of the club learning to swim and the warm water was particularly beneficial for the less able. The club held three sessions weekly at Ely Pool until it was closed in May 1996, due to its age and hospital re-organisation. Joyce also started up the Bowls group in the early nineties, firstly outdoor bowls at Howard Gardens and latterly we meet at Cardiff Indoor Bowls Club, Sophia Gardens.
The Chameleons has gone from strength to strength. At present we have over 60 young people and adults on roll and there are two opportunities each week to participate in swim sessions – Pentwyn Leisure Centre on Mondays [8.00 - 8.45 p.m.] and Eastern Leisure Centre [8.30 – 9.15 p.m.] on Tuesdays. Although primarily a swimming club, the club has extended its activities to include athletics, cycling, green bowls, etc. We hold a green bowls session weekly – at Cardiff Bowling Club, Sophia Gardens from 4.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m. The club is affiliated to Special Olympics U.K., Federation of Gateway Clubs, Welsh Sports Association for People with Learning Disability and this enables club members to participate in a great variety of sporting events, regionally, nationally and internationally.
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Chameleons Involvement with Special Olympics
Special Olympics was founded by Eunice Shriver Kennedy [the sister of President John F. Kennedy] in America in 1968 who believed that the Olympic ideals of sport could give confidence and new hope to people with learning disabilities as well as to those who cared for them. Special Olympics now reaches over 1.5 million athletes in 154 countries world wide. and was brought into the U.K. in 1978 through Mencap and was introduced into Wales via the Gateway Social Clubs.
Indeed, the first group in Britain to register with SPECIAL OLYMPICS was the CARDIFF CHAMELEONS in 1979. The Chameleons was run at that time by Mrs. JOYCE ROBINSON, a forward thinking lady who had the insight to see where Special Olympics could lead, as she went from strength to strength to bring the Special Olympics into Wales in other sports [e.g. green bowls] as well as swimming for people with a Learning disability. Joyce was awarded an M.B.E. in 1989 for her services to people with a learning disability.
In 1988 Special Olympics was formally recognized by the International Olympic Committee. It is the only sports organization authorized by the IOC to use the word Olympics in its title.
Special Olympics and Paralympics are two separate organizations. Special Olympic provides year round sports and training opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities of all ability levels. Paralympics provides elite-only level sports competition for multi-disabled groups including physical, blind and deaf.
The first National summer Games held in Knowsley Merseyside in 1982 was attended by 800 athletes, and in July 2001, the sixth National Summer Games in Cardiff was attended by 2000 athletes who came together and pledged the Special Olympics Oath:
LET ME WIN, BUT IF I CANNOT WIN, LET ME BE BRAVE IN THE ATTEMPT
We were fortunate to have 10 bowlers, 9 swimmers and 1 tennis player together with 8 escorts from the Chameleons selected to join the Special Olympic Wales team to take part in the S.O. National Games in Sheffield in August, 2017. They came home with a clutch of medals, Gold, Silver and Bronze.
We are extremely grateful to all those who support the Chameleons and help subsidise competitors to take part in Special Olympic and other sporting events around the country.
Mrs. Elaine Daw
November 2017.
