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Swimming lessons

arnos_grovearnos_grove
in Not Football

It’s a quiet day on the Gasroom and I’m interested to know just how many of us were taught the life-saving skill of swimming by Mr Tony Butler - either at Handy Cross or the open air swimming pool on The Rye?

Once I have the results of this scientific study, I will be able to definitively calculate the percentage of the Wycombe district he taught and then probably the number of lives saved.

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    Comments

    • drcongodrcongo

      I'm amazed you still have the ability to remember his name. I can't even remember whether I ever had actual lessons.

    • arnos_grovearnos_grove

      @drcongo looked like Wolf from Gladiators. A Wycombe legend up there with Pop Poppleton and his custom mobility scooter.

    • HolmerBlueHolmerBlue

      No idea of his name, but I was definitely taught to swim in the open air pool on the rye

    • TheAndyGrahamFanClubTheAndyGrahamFanClub

      40 plus years ago I recall him breaking (very thin) ice on the top of the pool, dipping his thermometer in, declaring it good to go.
      Kids today don’t know they’ve been born

    • ReadingMarginalistaReadingMarginalista

      In the very early 90s I was taught by a Tony (I think?) Sorrell in the shallow nursery pool at Handy Cross before joining the big kids in the district swimming club in the 50m pool.

    • eric_planteric_plant

      Wasn't Tony Sorrell the nutter we got in on loan that had to be let go after his first game because he was a total psycho?

    • ReadingMarginalistaReadingMarginalista
      edited April 2021

      That could be a very impressive coincidence! Having checked wikipedia, the footballer's birthday would have made him 25 when I was being taught to swim, so either they are one the same and he had an extremely hard life and looked very old for someone in their mid-twenties, or there are more than one Tony Sorrells doing the rounds.

    • NoelAshfordNoelAshford

      @ReadingMarginalista said:
      That could be a very impressive coincidence! Having checked wikipedia, the footballer's birthday would have made him 25 when I was being taught to swim, so either they are one the same and he had an extremely hard life and looked very old for someone in their mid-twenties, or there are more than one Tony Sorrells doing the rounds.

      I think that guy was called Peter Sorrell but I am currently awaiting confirmation from my mum who runs a 24 hour+ turnaround on replying to messages.

    • floydfloyd

      Peter Sorrell taught me to swim. No way he played football at any level!

    • bluntphilbluntphil

      I was taught by Mr Butler in the big pool at Handy Cross and before that, Mrs Watts (I think) in the little pool.

      Mr Butler was absolutely terrifying.

    • PBoPBo

      I definitely remember Mr Butler. Think it must have been swimming afternoon trips from Hamilton School to Handy Cross. The Wolf from Gladiators comparison is a fair one.

    • arnos_grovearnos_grove

      Who is this Peter Sorrell character? This has rocked me to the core.

      I was ‘taught’ French at Wellesbourne by a Mrs Sorrell. La femme de Peter?

    • arnos_grovearnos_grove

      VoteButler

    • eric_planteric_plant

      It was Tony Sorrell that played for us on loan.

      The story goes that he had a load of scars on his back and when someone quizzed him about it (Keith Ryan?) he went absolutely mad.

      92/93 season I think

    • arnos_grovearnos_grove

      @eric_plant i was told it was Simon Stapleton. Tony Sorrell also featured in a documentary about Barnet, where the team and Barry Fry were filmed going to confront Stan Flashman at home about unpaid wages (or similar). Sorrell mentions ‘putting his windows in’!

    • ReadingMarginalistaReadingMarginalista

      @NoelAshford said:

      @ReadingMarginalista said:
      That could be a very impressive coincidence! Having checked wikipedia, the footballer's birthday would have made him 25 when I was being taught to swim, so either they are one the same and he had an extremely hard life and looked very old for someone in their mid-twenties, or there are more than one Tony Sorrells doing the rounds.

      I think that guy was called Peter Sorrell but I am currently awaiting confirmation from my mum who runs a 24 hour+ turnaround on replying to messages.

      Peter rings a bell now, I couldn't remember the name and for some reason he struck me as a Tony from what I could remember of him.

    • NoelAshfordNoelAshford

      @ReadingMarginalista said:

      @NoelAshford said:

      @ReadingMarginalista said:
      That could be a very impressive coincidence! Having checked wikipedia, the footballer's birthday would have made him 25 when I was being taught to swim, so either they are one the same and he had an extremely hard life and looked very old for someone in their mid-twenties, or there are more than one Tony Sorrells doing the rounds.

      I think that guy was called Peter Sorrell but I am currently awaiting confirmation from my mum who runs a 24 hour+ turnaround on replying to messages.

      Peter rings a bell now, I couldn't remember the name and for some reason he struck me as a Tony from what I could remember of him.

      I have vivid memories of him choosing someone to demonstrate different strokes (swimming not Gary Coleman) at the front which generally involved you being out of the pool, lying on the black lino flooring while he slapped your arms into it so the other children (keeping warm in the tropical temperatures of the water) would definitely then know how to do the stroke.

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