swimming
The Balmoral Beach Club encourages swimmers of all abilities to enjoy the health, social and competitive benefits of swimming.
Informal social swimming and organised racing occurs all year round. Informal swimming is undertaken every weekday morning from sunrise. Organised swim races are held at 7am on Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. The distance varies from 250m to 2400m, depending on your age, ocean conditions and water temperature. See race calendars and results here.
Swimming at the club provides a very friendly environment where new friends can be made who share a common interest.
Junior Swimmers
Junior races started in 1928 and after a short break recommenced in 2008/09. A quick scroll of the junior trophy winners over the past 40 or 50 years sees a number of familiar names whom have kept up their membership and swimming today. A great tradition to keep!
Athletics
The Club endeavors to provide a cross section of activities for all Members.
Our Athletics program may be the “little brother“ of our swimming agenda but it is alive and well and open to all. There is both a Summer and Winter series.
The Summer series runs from October to April consisting of seven events of which five are straight run/walks and two are Biathlons or swim/runs.The program consists of scratch (i.e non handicap) races. A point score is held to determine the Club Athletic Champion.. Distances range from 3 km to 9.5 km and are held on either bitumen or on the sand. The courses are as car free as possible and younger participants are encouraged to attend.
The Winter program is held from April to September once a month and it is a handicap series with all races contested over the same 3 km car free child friendly course.
All races are held before the 8.00 am swim and the start times are on the Sports programs.
Do not think you are too old, too young or too slow – it is all about participation, involvement and healthy exercise.
Storytellers
The Storyteller meetings are a forum for Club members to share their stories, writings, poems and experiences with other like-minded members. Meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, February – November inclusive. Meetings commence at 7:30pm and finish at 9:00pm. The current practice is to start the evening with a BYO BBQ from 6pm until about 7:20pm.
The Storyteller meeting agenda is ideally socialised about a week prior to the meeting in order to promote the Storytellers and to manage the time allowance for presenters. Depending on the number of topics and anticipated attendance a presenter will be allocated an amount of time. Experience has shown that presentations going longer than 30 minutes can start to ‘lose’ the audience. Presentations that require a CD, DVD , PowerPoint , memory stick etc. are welcome but need to be communicated to the Convenor in advance so the necessary arrangements can be made. It would be appreciated if a few lines / notes / highlights of the presentation can be provided to the Convenor for inclusion in the meeting Minutes. Volunteer Storytellers are always welcome and appreciated. Contact Clive / Convenor at email me if you have any suggestions for a topic for presentation.
Bridge
Bridge at the Club
Bridge at the Club has become increasingly popular, with many people joining the Club and seeing the bridge club as a major activity.
We have two sessions of bridge at the Club each week, Tuesday afternoon which is very popular and offers a weekly half hour lesson followed by supervised play under the watchful eye of an outside director. Participation in this group requires an elementary knowledge of bridge gained through beginners’ classes at a bridge club or similar.
Wednesday evening is very friendly but competitive session. In keeping with Club tradition, this group competes for summer and winter Trophies. The summer Trophy is a one night affair whilst the winter Trophy is held over the 3 months June to August, keeping everybody keen to attend on those cold winter nights!
Wednesday bridge will be using the services of a professional director supplied by the local bridge club. We will use pre dealt boards and will be given hand records including possible contracts for each board at the conclusion of the evening. If you have some bridge experience, please do come and join us at 6.45pm for a 7pm sharp start on any Wednesday evening. You can view results here.
Some members of course need a twice a week bridge fix and play at both sessions. The bridge club also offers very pleasant quarterly Sunday lunches and bridge, the Club caterer always cooks up a delicious meal and we then have three hours of friendly bridge.
We are blessed to have the facility we have and all members agree that there is no better venue to enjoy bridge than the top room at the Club. If you have any queries regarding play please email email me. If you are a member of the Club and would like to be kept informed of any news on bridge then join the Bridge Forum. See this link for information on how to join the bridge forum.
Book Club
The Book Club meets at 1.30pm in the Top Room on the first Monday of the month.
Books are proposed and selected by the group. Which sometimes means that you may read a book that you would not have considered.
The book title is advised for all in the weekly BBC Update email bulletin.
All are welcome, even if you have not read the book to listen to the review discussion.
Enquiries: email me.
A Cappella at the Club
A group of members meet in the top room of the Club generally on the second and forth Thursday at 6pm till 7:15pm. Normal visitor rules apply. Dates for a capella are noted in the Clubs calendar. Join the A Cappella forum to get updates on A Cappella.
The focus is on having fun and discovering our hidden singing talents. You don’t have to have had experience just be able to keep a tune and be keen. Email email me if you want to know more.
Yoga / stretch / Pilates by the Sea
Each week during school term, the club provides members with a wonderful opportunity to get fit by joining any of the available yoga classes. Each class is held by a qualified Yoga instructor in the top room at the club where the view and the sounds of the sea provide what must be the most beautiful yoga venue in Sydney. Classes are for members only.
Class times:
- Monday 6.30 – 7.30am please contact email me
- Wednesday 7.30 – 9.00am and 9.40 – 11.00am please contact Cynthia Playfair email me
- Thursday 6:30 – 7:30 am please contact Tanya email me
Pilates Class times
- Monday 8:15-9:15am contact email me
Art Group
The Teapot by Isobel Gaven
Following in the footsteps of the original Artists Camp in Balmoral founded in the 1800’s, a group of artistic members get together on a monthly basis to swap ideas and creative flare at the Club. For anyone interested we meet on the second Monday of each month at 11am in the undercover central area of the Club. If weather permits we work en plain air using the beach and surrounds as our inspiration!
This invitation is open to all members working in any medium. Bring all your own art materials and refreshments including a mug and tea bag if you so wish. Each month we try and work on a different theme and are open to all suggestions.
For more information email email me
New Special Interest Groups
Members are able to organise new Special Interest groups. Any proposal needs to be reviewed and authorised by the Use of Club committee before proceeding. Email email me
For further information see the BBC Guidelines for Special Interest Groups.