1st Aug 2006

When a small group of young swimming enthusiasts got together at the end of 1893 to start a little swimming club, little did they know that they were laying the foundations for a premier Club of the twenty-first Century. “Swimming” at that time was taken to mean open water swimming, not at all the swimming in all-weather swimming pools we take for granted today. Indeed the Club had its first swimming pool – a luxury for Singaporeans and Malayans – only in 1931. That’s some thirty-eight years after the Club was formally inaugurated!

The Club started operating out of a dilapidated hut by a sandbar in the 1894. That hut was later abandoned when a more suitable clubhouse was found – a bungalow with a beach front. The site on which that bungalow stood was to become the site on which our present Club stands today.

Over the years, the Club has had to overcome the social and political pressures prevalent at the various points in its history. Internally, there was the fight for equality, first for European women, later for Asians. Politically, changes in the Club’s constitution had to be made as Singapore became transformed from a British colony to a self-governing state.

The physical environment has had to undergo sweeping changes. In its early days, the Club was situated in an idyllic beachfront. By the 1930s, the Tanjong Rhu area was turning into an industrial area and the shipyards were polluting the sea. Even with the construction of the Club’s first swimming pool, some Members were unhappy and there was a big debate as to whether to move the Club to another location. As fate would have it, the majority of Members decided to stay put.

In the 70s and 80s, the government decided to turn the area into a residential area. The shipyards, sawmills and flour mills moved out progressively. Then with land reclamation, the Club lost its seafront but gained 96,436 square feet of reclaimed land to expand the Club. In the years that followed, the ECP and other transport infrastructure was built. After nearly a century of ground shifting, the Club finds itself settled on 3 hectares of freehold land nestled between luxury condominium blocks in an exclusive residential district, just 6km from the city centre and a 15-minute drive from Changi International Airport.

Today Singapore Swimming Club stands as a premier Club, owned and run by Members. The membership profile today is cosmopolitan, reflecting where we’re at in the country’s social and political and economic history.

Over the years, the Club has nurtured the qualities of care, concern and has positioned itself as a “family club”. These have been incorporated into its wide milieu of sporting and social activities. Today, the Club continues to strive to live up to its ideal of “The Premier Club where the People make the Difference”