THESE three Newport swimmers were just teenagers when during the 1930s they braved the tidal waters of the River Usk to compete in races watched from its banks by thousands of people.

Agnes Coughlan (left) was 16 years old when in 1934 she won the Usk Half-Mile Swim for women, while Joan Thomas (centre) was only 13 when she swam to victory the following year - and Margaret Fitzgerald (right) took the runners-up spot aged 17, in what was the final such event in 1938.

A recent Argus feature told the story of the Usk Swims - run by Newport Swimming Club, of which the aforementioned trio were members - which were staged in the river at the northern end of the then town of Newport from 1912 until the end of the 1930s.

The Usk Swim was originally a men's race, which covered one mile and began just south of the railway bridge over the Usk at St Julians, finishing some 100 metres below the entrance to Crindau Pill.

The women's half-mile race, starting halfway between the men's start and the finishing line, was added some years later.

In the Argus report of the 1934 swims Miss Coughlan, whose photograph was kindly supplied by her son Charlie Cook, was introduced to a race official by Ivor Betts - four-times winner of the men's event - as "a probable winner".

She went on to prove Mr Betts right in his prediction by completing the course in 14 minutes, the quickest of those swimmers who raced without a time handicap, and the second quickest overall.

And when those who swam with handicaps had those added to their finishing times, Miss Coughlan emerged as the overall winner.

Miss Coughlan had, reported the Argus, "forged steadily ahead" and though tiring after halfway could not be caught, either in the water or on weighted time.

"Agnes Coughlan is a likely Welsh champion. She was once champion girl of Holy Cross School, Newport, but swam unattached, as she was not prior to the swim a member of Newport Swimming Cub," reported the Argus.

The runner-up in the women's race on that afternoon in September 1934 was Joan Thomas, also swimming at 'go', or without a time handicap.

Then just 12 years old - the minimum age for entry - Miss Thomas finished 40 seconds behind Miss Coughlan.

Twelve months later, both were back for another go.

Again, both received time from, among others, Shelagh Browning, also of Newport, a multiple long distance swimming champion in the 1930s and adjudged through the handicap system to be the best swimmer in the race. Miss Coughlan received 1min 30secs, and Miss Thomas 3mins 30secs.

This time it was Miss Thomas who triumphed, becoming the youngest winner of the women's race in the time - after handicap adjustment - of 16mins 55secs.

"The winner, Miss Joan Thomas, has already been pointed out as a future Welsh champion," reported 'Neptune', the Argus swimming correspondent.

"She is 13, I believe, and... competed for the women's long distance championship of Wales this year.

Both Miss Coughlan, who finished fourth in defence of her title in 1935, and Miss Thomas returned to the river for the 1936 and 1937 swims but were handicapped more heavily due to previous achievements and finished down the field.

In 1935 Margaret Fitzgerald, on her first attempt, finished fifth behind Miss Thomas. When she next competed, in September 1938, Miss Fitzgerald finished second in the half-mile race, just 25 seconds behind the winner Miss E M Pickett.

By then however, the shadows of war were looming, and that was the last time the Usk Swims were held. After the war, the river was deemed too polluted to resume the event.

Miss Coughlan subsequently got married, to Charlie Cook, also of Newport, who died while on active service with the Royal Marines in the Second World War. She died in the early 1950s.

Their son, also Charlie, lives in the same Caroline Street house in which he was brought up, and remembers regularly swimming in the Usk as a youngster, with or without permission.

"There used to be railway lines at the bottom of the street, and as boys we would cross them, strip off and get into the water," he said.

"We were allowed to if mum was on the bank, but if we went in when she wasn't there, she would go nuts.

"Many a time she chased us, in our swimming costumes, back across the railway lines, and up the street."

Miss Thomas, who was brought up in the Barrack Hill area of Newport, was among a contingent of swimmers from Wales put forward for consideration for a place in the British team for the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, though she was not subsequently selected.

On leaving school she became a swimming instructor at Newport's Stow Hill Baths.

"She was quite an exceptional talent, she swam with Bernice Hooper (a stalwart of swimming in Wales, in and out of the water, who was also an Usk Swims regular in the 1930s, under her maiden name of Wilmott), and she passed on the love of swimming to her children," said Mis Thomas's daughter Ann Berry, of Newport.

"That continued onto my children, all three of whom swam for Torfaen."

Miss Fitzgerald lived in Newport all her life, in Kingsway, where the Newport Centre is now.

"She worked in the wharf on Kingsway, unloading the ships - the same job as the men! - and did so right up until the day before she gave birth to her third child,," grand-daughter Eve Rooney told the Argus.

"No-one at work even knew she was having a child due to the dungarees she wore! She also worked at Burton's Biscuits (then called Weston’s Biscuits).

"She taught her children to swim and even all the grandchildren, including teaching them all to dive.

"Three of her children, Leonard, Margaret and Raymond, followed their mother with the swimming and were all strong swimmers.

"Raymond swam for Duffryn School swimming club and at various swimming galas, and still enjoys swimming now, and Teresa remembers her swimming, with her being on her back when she was very young!"