New swimming club to open years after damning report

A new swimming academy will be established in place of an elite club which was forced to close after damning reports into safeguarding failures.

Ellesmere College Titans, in Shropshire, was disbanded in 2022 following serious allegations including bullying and unsafe coaching practices.

Ellesmere College Swimming Academy has now been given permission to affiliate to Swim England following a review by barrister Katherine Apps KC, who said the culture had changed and children felt safe.

Her 226-page review contains previously unpublished information about Titans including an independent safeguarding officer’s view swimmers were so at risk that a death was a possibility at the former club.

The comments made in Keith Oddy’s report went on to say Titans’ culture represented the “highest broad risk of harm to children” he had ever seen.

Ms Apps said her decision had been a “close balance” but new head coach Guy Worrow and the acting head teacher at the college, Vicky Pritt-Roberts, had shown evidence of tackling safeguarding issues and putting children’s welfare first.

Coach Danny Proffitt, who was among two suspended following the Titans investigation and continues to be employed at the college, had undergone a “very considerable change” thanks to a mentor and Mr Worrow’s support.

He told Ms Apps in interview he wished to apologise to past members but feared “that would not be welcomed”.

“Instead, he told me that he daily tries to channel that apology into a change in his coaching approach,” she said.

A swimming academy has operated at the boarding school since Titans closed but swimmers have been competing with Leicester Sharks, a club based more than 100 miles away which agreed to help the children continue racing.

While the report’s conclusion is good news for the club, college and parents who have fought to bring Ellesmere’s name back to competitive swimming, it lays bare the serious allegations that led to Titans’ demise.

Excerpts from a report in 2021 show club management failed to tell Swim England about “a number of children’s attempted suicides, self-harming, drug use, physical assaults, sexual offences involving children and fat/body shaming often linked with a concerning weighing regime with associated eating disorders”.

It went on to say other allegations included “racist and homophobic comments, personal remarks, humiliation, lack of treatment/empathy, sexual comments, direct messaging of children and coaches getting other swimmers to ‘spy’ and report on children”.

Ms Apps’ report, published this week, states Ellesmere College’s previous headmaster, the late Brendan Wignall, had sought to minimise the serious allegations as “procedural” which led to misinformation “flowing in public”.

She also revealed the college had threatened to sue Swim England for defamation following Titans’ closure, but that the legal claim contained a number of factual inaccuracies.

Ms Apps heard from coaches, swimmers, parents, former members and their parents, proposed committee members, welfare officers and college leaders in her wide-reaching review.

Mr Worrow was said to have “clearly demonstrated” the coaching approach at Ellesmere was now “significantly different” and gave “powerful evidence” of his willingness and ability to tackle safeguarding issues and put children’s welfare first.

Former head coach Alan Bircher, who was also suspended, did not form part of the plans for the new academy, the report stated.

Current swimmers responding to a recent survey said they felt safe at the academy and felt safeguarding policies were appropriate.

However, Ms Apps said she had received personal attacks by some swimmers’ parents who sought to claim her review was biased and was open to manipulation by “individuals who wanted to cause harm to the club… and are unscrupulous”.

She said there were also “shades of victim-blaming” by some parents and urged caution towards those claiming any issues were “historic”.

“Vigorously stating that issues are only ‘historic’ and everything is positive… is unlikely to be most helpful to a child who, unbeknown to that adult, may be experiencing a concern and weighing up whether to raise it,” she said.

The college’s deputy head, Ranjit Chatterjee, had been Titans’ welfare officer and was barred from being involved in swimming activities following the initial investigation.

He told Ms Apps he accepted the club did not have adequate safeguarding procedures.

“I acted on all concerns that came to my attention to the best of my ability and judgement as an experienced safeguarder,” he added.

“I deeply regret that some children at the club felt bullied, shamed, ridiculed or inadequate.”

The school said it would not be making an apology as “the Titans were separate to the school”.

A spokesperson for Ellesmere College told the BBC they welcomed the approval of the affiliation application by the Swim England Board.

Affiliation means children will be able to compete under the college name again, be fully insured and have access to all Swim England processes.

Ms Apps said the new club had agreed to a number of conditions including the appointment of two new welfare officers and carrying out welfare surveys with members every six to 12 months.