BRITISH Swimming have welcomed proposals which could lead to the merger of Bournemouth Dolphins and Ferndown Otters.

Tim Jones, the Great Britain national age group coach, said the issue was one that British Swimming had been looking at "for some time".

"It makes perfect sense for the two clubs to enter into discussions which would bring great opportunities for local athletes at all levels," he said.

Jones, himself a former Olympic swimmer, said eastern Dorset was "possibly unique" in having two locally-based coaches with the knowledge and international experience of Tony Watson (Otters) and Graham Bassi (Dolphins).

"Their combined expertise provides the area with a huge asset," he said.

"While there is no 50-metre pool on the agenda, there are a number of quality 25-metre pools.

"You have two clubs which already enjoy moderate success. It seems to me that if they came together with the combined talents of the coaches, they could be a serious player on the national stage.

"It makes perfect sense for the clubs to enter into discussions which will see great opportunities for athletes at all levels."

Jones confirmed there was an option to apply for Sport England funding to support a joint venture in its early stages.

Both Bassi and Watson both see the financial inducement as largely irrelevant.

"Eighty-thousand pounds is a fantastic amount of money which would be used to set up the programme under a performance coach," said Bassi, who led his last club, Lincoln Vulcans, from obscurity to the pinnacle of British youth and age group swimming before moving to Bournemouth.

"But we have to be self-supporting and make sure we can sustain it in the decades to come.

"Tony and I would run the programme together and be very clear on our roles.

"It's also important that we don't lose the history of the two clubs but at the same time create history.

"If athletes want to come into the programme from other clubs, we would be in a position to go back and support those clubs and advance the knowledge of their coaches.

"The programme would benefit swimmers at all levels and identify and develop talent for the future.

"The process will be open to all. Anything we speak about will be filtered back to parents and athletes of both clubs.

"Our goal would be to allow all members to reach their individual potential."

SEAGULLS SUCCESS

SIXTEEN wins and 15 second places helped Seagulls to victory in the second round of the Rother League at Godalming, Surrey.

They took the lead after the second race and never lost it.

The format consisted mainly of two- and four-person relays with just two individual events.

Chris Chamberlain was involved in six of the wins, including the 4x25m individual medley (1:17.39).

He also shared team victories with Taylor Priest (2x25m back), Anand Vaithillingham (2x25m breast), Kieran Burgess (2x25m free) and Priest, Vaithillingham and Burgess (4x25m free and medley). Priest and Burgess won the 2x25m fly.

The under-12 boys also scored heavily with wins from Sam Webber and Peter Griffiths (2x25m free), Webber and Peter Lawson (2x25m fly) and Webber, Lawson, Griffiths and debutant Jack Case (4x25m medley and freestyle).

In the girls' under-16s, Stacey Angliss and Emma Duffell won the 2x50m fly, Duffell and Lucy Burgess the breaststroke and Angliss and Burgess the freestyle.

Seagulls also won a thrilling 8x25m squadron relay.

Result: Seagulls 187, Godalming 164, Sutton 158, Andover 150, Alton 96.

NATIONAL FINALISTS

Ferndown Middle School's years five and six girls' team reached the B final of the England schools mixed relay championship at Sheffield's Ponds Forge pool.

The Ferndown Otters-coached quartet of Ellie Beckwith (backstroke), Harriet Cornwell (breaststoke), Lucy Kirkham (butterfly) and captain Deborah Cure (freestyle) faced strong competition in heat 11, including eventual winners Guildford High School.

They improved their entry time by 2.3sec to stop the clock on 1:14.3.

This result took them into the B final, where they finished 16th overall.