Our staff
Tom Congdon, Owner and Divemaster
Tom has been in the baby and toddler swimming business now for 15 years, starting in 2004 with a diving school in Chiswick. The London School of Diving was the only purpose-built diving school in London, but there wasn’t a lot of call for Scuba diving, so Baby Swimming classes were introduced to the shallow end. This was a great success and The Baby Swimming Company was born.
A site was sought in ‘Nappy Valley’ (Wandsworth, which had the highest birth rate in Europe at the time!) and after a year of looking Tom found the perfect site on Trinity Road. The pool was an instant success and there was a huge list of clients trying to get a place, so another site, Martin Way in Merton, was added.
Tom lives on the Isle of Wight with his wife and son, but is still frequently present at both sites.
Helen House, Manager
Helen has been a friend of Tom’s for over two decades, having been introduced by their respective partners. Prior to working for The Baby Swimming Company, Helen had a long career in the Fashion Industry and also for International Cricket.
Helen runs everything in the business, managing over a dozen staff across two sites, setting the calendar, class timetables, communications and essentially coordinating all the day-to-day running of the centres.
When Helen started for the company over twelve years, she was supposed to be ‘helping out’ a couple of days a week! She can’t believe that some of those babies are now well into their teens.
Helen is married and a proud mother to Donald, her aging but adorable Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
Rosemarie Brady, Office Administrator
Rosemarie has worked for The Baby Swimming Company for eight years, after retirinng from her long career working in school business management for Merton Council. She took retirement to spend more time with her family and three young grandchildren - two of whom learnt to swim here!
Based at our Wimbledon centre, Rosemarie’s role is to assist with timetables, scheduling, booking catch-ups and general communications. Rosemarie loves her job and all the lovely people she works with. She particularly enjoys seeing babies as tiny dots going on to be very confident little swimmers.
Rosemarie lives within sight of the Wimbledon branch with her partner. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, going on holiday and spending time with family.
Jo Bendelow, Swimming Instructor
Jo joined The Baby Swimming Company two years ago, bringing with her more than 20 years of experience in the leisure industry. After stepping away from her role as a manager at health fitness clubs to spend time with her two young boys, she returned to her passion for teaching swimming.
Throughout her career, Jo has held a variety of roles including lifeguard, duty manager, and health & safety manager, but teaching has always been her favourite. She has been a qualified swimming teacher for over a decade and has extensive experience working with babies and children of all ages and abilities.
You’ll find Jo at our Wimbledon site on Saturdays, where her energy, warmth, and expertise shines. She loves helping children develop a lifelong skill and enjoys watching their confidence grow as they discover their love for the water. For Jo, working with children is fun, unpredictable, and deeply rewarding.
Jeorga Wrate, Swimming Instructor
Jeorga has worked for The Baby Swimming Company since 2018, where she started as a receptionist and took a real interest in the practice of baby swimming. Always personable and popular with our guests, Jeorga decided to take the plunge (pun intended) and train as a swimming instructor. She now holds an STA Level 2 Award Teaching in Swimming, is Level 2 in Baby and Pre-School Swimming, she holds a Swim Safety Award for Teachers, and also has an NCFE Cache Technical Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Early Years Education.
Jeorga teaches at our Wimbledon Centre, Martin Way, on Monday afternoons. About her role, she says simply: “I love working with children.”
It would seem her family does, too! Many of the Wrates work or have worked for The Baby Swimming Company. Asked whether it ever gets annoying, she says: “I love working with them. We’ve always worked together!”
Claudine, Swimming Instructor
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