Anything involving water and a board and you’ll find this family heading in its direction (except, that is, the ironing cupboard). Prior to having children, Claire Southworth and her husband Steve Partridge spent as much of their summers as possible on the beach. So when the kids came along they were determined they too should know a rip curl from a wipe out as early as possible. Hence Claire was delighted to find Water Babies in Bristol when surfing the net one day – and she must have been impressed as she persuaded the whole of her NCT class to go along too!
However, little did she think at the time that less than two years later she’d be relocating her family to Wiltshire in order to start her own lessons. ‘I’d worked as a special needs manager in housing for the last eleven years,’ Claire says, ‘and I’d absolutely loved my job. But having kids does get you re-evaluating your life and I loved doing swimming with both of them so much that it gradually became the only job I wanted to return to.’
So in April 2006, Water Babies in Wiltshire was born. Things have since gone so swimmingly that Steve has now put his board wax in storage and joined Claire full-time. The lovely Gemma and Stephanie are the ones found answering your calls and emails in the office, whilst in the pool you'll find a veritable bevvy of fab instructors: Heather, Jo, Jane, Beccy, Esme, Kate and Nicky.
