The Darlington woman who devoted her life to swimming, becoming a world champion and an inspirational coach. PETER BARRON looks back on the life of Dorothy Bolton
IT was a swimming career that began in the council baths in Darlington, and not only led to world titles, but a friendship with Tarzan.
For as long as she could remember, Dorothy Bolton excelled in the water, and she used her talent to touch the lives of countless others in her hometown and beyond.
Next week, when she is laid to rest after passing away at the age of 93, she will be remembered for her own remarkable achievements, and for teaching thousands of children to swim.
“There’s no doubt she made a deep impact in the town where she grew up, and nationally too,” says her son, Glyn. "She was an incredible woman."
Becoming a star of the pool took her to places, and introduced her to people, she would never have thought possible while growing up.
Who’d have thought, for instance, that a girl from humble beginnings, in Darlington, would become friends with Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic champion who found Hollywood fame as Tarzan?
“The international swimming world brought her into contact with so many people over the years, and got her on telly a number of times, but becoming good friends with Johnny Weissmuller is a bit surreal!” admits Glyn, who gave up his career and life in Cambridgeshire to care for his mum in her final years.
Dorothy Oliver, as she was then, grew up as the youngest of four siblings in Great Smeaton, before moving to Darlington as a seven-year-old, and living in the town’s Masonic Hall, where her parents were caretakers.
A pupil at Reid Street Primary School, she started swimming at Gladstone Street Baths, round the corner from where she lived. She also excelled at athletics, but swimming was always her main sport.
Dorothy joined Darlington Swimming Club in 1947, when she was 15, and decided to stay in the town when her parents moved to Scarborough to open a guesthouse.
The accolades quickly followed throughout the 1950s:
- Darlington Swimming Club's first Lady Captain
- First Vice-Captain
- First Lady Life Member
- First and only person to be given the Freedom of the Gladstone Street Baths
- First Darlington swimming international.
During that time, she broke Northumberland and Durham records 25 times, and made history in 1952 when she made a winning appearance in the first televised swimming gala.
In the same year, Dorothy was a leading contender to be selected for the Helsinki Olympics but missed the opportunity in bizarre circumstances.
All swimmers needed a jab, but she didn't want it in her arm in case it left a scar. Instead, she had it in her leg, which led to an allergic reaction, and she was unable to compete.
However, in later years, she became world freestyle champion, as well as winning Empire and European games.
Between 1950 and 1959, she won every event open to her in Northumberland and Durham.
She married accountant, Colin Bolton, in 1959, and they set up home in Leyburn Road, Darlington, where Dorothy lived for nearly 70 years.
Her competitive swimming ended in 1965 when she gave birth to Glyn, but she returned to winning ways to compete in masters events, becoming multiple world champion in a range of strokes.
She also became a highly-respected swimming teacher and coach, guiding teams from Hurworth House and Raventhorpe independent schools to numerous national titles.
She also coached children from local comprehensive schools that were lucky enough to have their own pools, including Hummersknott, Eastbourne, and Branksome.
In 1990, Dorothy took a junior team from Darlington Dolphins to the KP Hula Hoops National Championships, hosted by Olympic medallist Andy Jameson, and televised on ITV's Top Banana.
She was so thrilled when the 16 competitors, aged between eight and 11, emerged as winners.
"She was quiet and unassuming but she made you work hard," says Glyn, glancing round at his mum's trophies, which adorn the family home in Leyburn Road.
"She had a calming influence on young people that gave them the confidence to achieve the best they could.
"I was lucky to have her as my mam, but she was my best friend too, and I am so proud of her."
Such was her dedication to the sport, and the well-being of young people, that Dorothy was still teaching when she was approaching her 80s.
She was given three months to live three years ago but battled on, showing the same strength and steely determination she always displayed in the pool.
Her funeral takes place at midday next Tuesday (May 26) at Darlington Crematorium, followed by a reception at Darlington Rolling Mills Club.
The service will feature her favourite song, Autumn Leaves, by Nat King Cole, and Glyn has also chosen Mother of Mine, a song from his childhood, by Jimmy Osmond.
Among the mourners will be friends from the swimming world, both champions and pupils, now grown-up.
The future world champion, who first took the plunge in the municipal baths, will be given the send-off she deserves for the great lengths she went to for others.
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