The Geordie Wotherspoon gala is a major inter-club gala held annually at the
Fife Institute for Sports and Recreation in Glenrothes.
The following notes are taken from the programme.
Geordie Wotherspoon was well known in the Cardenden area, especially because
of his lifelong love of teaching the very young to swim. Long before the
Bowhill pool existed he was known regularly to take children by bus to Alloa and
Dunfermline for lessons, and it was in this time that his "in the water"
approach to teaching became famous. When the Bowhill pool was opened and
Cardenden ASC was formed, Geordie carried on his teaching in the new local pool,
giving hundreds of youngsters their grounding in swimming skills. In 1987
Cardenden ASC made Geordie an honorary life member of the club, and shortly
after that he retired from his "official" teaching position with the club.
However, he continued teaching youngsters outwith the club right up until the
week before his death, notably continuing the Wotherspoon/Cardenden ASC
tradition by teaching his great grandson to swim.
Cardenden ASC have donated the Geordie Wotherspoon Memorial trophy to the
Fife Region of SASA to commemorate Geordie's lifelong dedication to giving young
children the knowledge and skills to survive in the water.
