Swimming coach Anya still in shock after being awarded MBE as part of Queen’s New Year Honours List

The former Olympic swimming trialist has received the honour for her “services to young people in Durham through Swimming” after she has played a pivotal role in developing Hetton Amateur Swim club.

After being informed of the award in a letter from the Home Office, Anya, 48, said: “I still don’t know who has nominated me for the award and I’m in total shock. There are so many people in the community who do a lot of good work that it feels strange to be singled out.

"When I got the letter, I initially didn’t believe it and thought it must be a joke.”

One of Anya’s roles at the club is to promote healthy lifestyles and teach the children life-saving skills. The dedicated coach also specialises in teaching children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Anya, who lives in Hetton and works as a Civil Servant, added: “Some of the children are autistic and something we take for granted, such as jumping in the water, can be a real challenge for them. There’s one girl I teach who has a prosthetic leg and she’s a real inspiration to see.

"When you see what some of these children have to deal with and how they overcome it, it’s brilliant to see. When you have had a hard day at work and you see the smiles on the kids’ faces, it’s just fantastic.”

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Even at the height of the Covid pandemic, when swimming pools were closed, Anya continued to support children and young people by running fundraising bingo, raffles and quizzes, to ensure the club could pay for and maintain its facilities.

Anya has always been selfless with her time and when some of the club’s younger swimmers wished to enter a competitive league, she offered to manage them. The team started ranked bottom and soon reached fourth out of eighteen teams.

Anya said: “This something I just do for normal life and I’m still struggling to accept what has happened. I’m extremely proud but I’m not the only one who helps the community and so I would like to think I’m accepting it on behalf of everyone else.”

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