Lindy Salter (Class of 1961) - What a swim!

While Lindy Salter (nee Edwards) made some lovely life-long friendships during her school days, her memories of her time as a student at Somerville House were not always fond. Now retired, Lindy recalls sport was not really encouraged except by the Physical Education teachers. 

"This was in the early 1960s. A lot of our teachers were quite old. Three of them had taught my mother at school! There was one teacher who would stand on duty at the entrance to the school building and she would send you back to the locker room if you had wet hair." 

Given this was before hair dryers were readily available, Lindy remembers it was not a good start to the day being late to assembly most days. 

"I'm afraid my main interest at school was sport, so I was not popular with the teachers and I rebelled a bit. I guess my best moment was when, in Year 11 as Captain of Swimming, I was presented with the Overall Trophy for winning the GPS Swimming Competition at The Valley Pool."

After leaving school, Lindy became a teacher. She married and started a family with her 2 daughters also attending Somerville House. Over the years, Lindy did more study and worked as a Librarian and an Editor. She also wrote several small local history books.

Lindy continued to swim for the University of Queensland for a while after leaving school but this was mainly for fun. Then, moving around and with a young family to care for, left little time for Lindy to continue swimming. It was only at the age of 70, with all the kids off her hands that Lindy decided it was time to wet her toes again – after more than a 50 year gap!  

According to Lindy, "A lot of people wouldn’t know about Masters Swimming, or they might think it’s something done in Nursing Homes. It’s not! You can join a club from the age of 18! The World Championships for Masters Swimmers is held every two years, so swimming can become a great excuse to travel."

Over the past eight years Lindy has swum in events all around the world. But as Lindy points out, "You don’t have to go to this extreme. You can enjoy Masters Swimming for fitness or friendship alone. It’s far more enjoyable when you train in a group, with a coach helping you along. There are over thirty Masters Swimming Clubs in Queensland. At the recent State Championships in Cairns, I was lucky enough to be in a team which broke the World Record for the 4x100 metres Medley Relay in the 320 years' age group, short course. And then just last weekend, we broke another World Record at Chandler in the 4x100 metres Medley Relay, long course!" 

The members of both winning teams in the photo above from left to right are Margie Watts, Carole Simpson, Lindy Salter and Denise Robertson. 

"It was such fun! But the outstanding thing for me was to hear the local Councillor, who opened the event in Cairns, reminding us of the good we are doing for our country! How? By keeping ourselves fit for longer and saving the usual costs of Aged Care!" 

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