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In 1956 we had a call from the Kingston Bath Manager who had recently transferred to Crewe, Cheshire. "What about a Club like Spartan up here?" - and so Crewe Seahorse SC was formed. It was a similar pattern when the Halliwick girls left school and went home to Yorkshire, etc. Word got about and we went wherever we were asked, to talk to people and help to start an open swimming club for all people with disabilities - Aquarius & Aquadis in Cheshire, Seals in Solihull, Terrapin in Exeter - to name but a few, and with the formation of Cardiff Whales, clubs started springing up in the South Wales Valleys.

The 1950's was a very busy decade. Added to the expansion of Clubs, Mac and John (one of our instructors), organised the first international swimming gala to be shown on television. This was held in April 1953 at Ilford Baths in London. It was sponsored by the Evening News, with profits going to AST (though by the time we had settled all the expenses of the French and Danish competitors, the AST received a very nominal sum.)

In 1957 the Proficiency Badge Tests were introduced - coloured red, yellow and green like the traffic lights - and they have altered very little in the following forty-five years. These were not meant to teach 'Halliwick', but as a check that the Ten Points had been successfully mastered.

We only awarded strips of coloured tape for some while - there was no money available for 'real badges'. AST did not raise money - it looked to raising people! Actually, one of our earlier publications, by its very title, shows that for the first sixteen years the Association of Swimming Therapy ran successfully on:

'LESS THAN 30 SHILLINGS A YEAR'.