Sevenoaks Swimming Club were once again proud to host the John Carrie Memorial Shield Gala in early March at the Sevenoaks Leisure Centre. The evening was a fine and fitting tribute to such a stalwart of Sevenoaks Swimming. The icing on the cake was a resounding win for Sevenoaks against strong swimmers from other locally invited clubs.
The gala is an annual event held in memory of John Carrie who held numerous high ranking roles within the sport, both locally and regionally. He was a staunch supporter of Sevenoaks becoming first a Committee member, then Treasurer, and later Chairman of the Club (with his wife, Pat, as Club Secretary) until 1989 when both of them were made Life Vice Presidents of Sevenoaks on their retirement from the Committee.
The evening is as much fun as it is competitive, and the swimmers are usually a mixture of ages and ability with the emphasis on allowing some of the less regular competitive swimmers an opportunity to perform.
Of the 51 events in total, Sevenoaks managed a fantastic 29 1st places with nine time faults.
The final positions were:
| Sevenoaks | – | 224pts |
| Chislehurst Millennium | – | 185pts |
| Edenbridge Piranhas | – | 180pts |
| Sutton Atlantis | – | 177pts |
| TASS | – | 84pts |
The team lists were:
Girls: Isabelle Stoddart, Freya Ballard, Iris Whitlock, Evie Collings, Mia Bakunowicz, Iris Jarrett, Rosie Lauerman, Layla Ballard, Ruby Jarrett, Emma Noble, Imogen Stoddart, Beth Coveney and Aoife Lauerman.
Boys: Vincent Bakunowicz, Jacob Crombie, Tommaso Cuomo, Maxwell Haslam, Ptolemy Mangat, Martin Argirov, Thomas Johston, Joseph Strebel, Thomas Creasey, Joshua Crombie, William Jarrett, Ben Strebel, Torsten Mangat, Eddie Hammond and Jamie Benn.
