My friend Mark Thompson, who has died aged 69 after a fall while travelling in Sri Lanka, was a key figure at Bristol’s characterful Henleaze Swimming club, based at Henleaze lake, a flooded limestone quarry to the north of the city.
Mark joined the club in 1988 and became a committee member in 1990, at a time when it was in the doldrums, dealing with a drastically depleted membership, recurrent vandalism and worrying environmental issues.
Taking on the challenge of improving the lake with a focus on water quality and biodiversity, he also promoted the controversial idea of creating a lakeside sauna, which opened in 2013, and the following year helped to initiate a successful winter swimming programme, enabling members to enjoy the deep, cold water all year round.
In addition he was instrumental in creating greater community access to the club’s facilities from 2018 onwards, so that more people could enjoy its peace and beauty. His term of office and subsequent trusteeship coincided with a dramatic improvement in the club’s fortunes. It now thrives ,with more than 4,000 members.
Mark was born in Kesgrave, Suffolk, to Robert, a tool setter, and Hazel (nee Shulver). After attending Headlands school in Swindon, Wiltshire, he left home at 17 to join the merchant navy, studying marine engineering to HND level with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary before completing a degree in the same subject at Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University) .
In 1982 he trained at Garnett College in London to become a further education lecturer in maths, but soon afterwards decided to change direction, becoming an IT programmer with Lloyds Bank in 1983, first in London and then, from 1988, in Bristol. He left Lloyds in 1990, remaining in Bristol to work for the Sunlife insurance company and then the Bovis construction firm, for whom he operated remotely as an IT consultant until his retirement in 2005.
Outside work, the Henleaze Swimming club took up much of his attention. Aside from his wider commitment to the lake’s environment, he gathered together all the elements of the club’s archive materials, which were scattered across various parts of Bristol and often in poor condition. Together we digitised the collection and delivered the materials to the Bristol Archives.
Using that material, Mark initiated the production of a club centenary book, The Lake (2019), and helped to organise the centenary celebrations, which included mass synchronised swimming and a 1920s tea party.
Retiring in 2024 from the committee and board of trustees, he was awarded an honorary life membership, which he enjoyed for all too short a time.
As well as swimming, Mark had a keen interest in cycling and worked part-time for a number of years with Sustrans as a cycle route surveyor, covering Swindon and south Wales.
A gentle, reflective man, he was a natural communicator whose unassuming manner belied his strength of character.
He is survived by his wife, Carol Freeman, whom he met in 1982 and married in 2016, and his three sisters, Christine, Jenny and Stephanie.
