On the 31st of August 1992 the Shapland Swim School at 50 Goodfellows Road Kallangur opened for business. With a very young family and a large financial commitment, John and Sally, in what was an act of faith that Hilton and myself could duplicate the Clontarf model at Kallangur, committed to opening the first ever Shapland franchise. So it was all hands to the pumps with John taking on at least six hours a day in the pool and running the plant and Sally concentrating on raising four small children, running the office and also teaching. The rest; so they say is History.
During 1992 the embryonic computer program was designed and developed by Sally so she could run the business more easily and efficiently.
Today is a day to recognize not only the service to the community John and Sally have supplied but also their longevity in a competitive marketplace where they supply a truly great swim school. John has spent thousands of hours teaching swimming in those twenty years and is now teaching the children of some of his first pupils. In the early days Sally was also a front line teacher and taught through three pregnancies.
John and Sally were the first to experience giving birth to a Shapland franchise. The site selection. The application to council. Building approval and then building the swim school and watching the cash go flowing out the door and very little if any coming in and no doubt wondering “have we done the right thing”? Is this going to work?! So on the 31st of August twenty years ago they opened for business, the leap of faith was justified and they are still going as strong as ever and in opening the first Shapland franchise set the precedent for our current franchise group.
Countless though the numbers of children who have learnt to swim at Kallangur are; there are some well-known Australian swimming names amongst that number. The Schipper family for one and the irony of the situation; Brendan Hall, who lost a leg to chicken pox while he was a pupil of John’s, is currently competing for Gold in London at the Paralympic Games. On the 10th of September 2001, Brendan wrote John and Sally a great letter part of which reads “Thanks to my first coach. Maybe one day I will swim for Australia”. What a great story.
John without doubt has racked up more hours in the pool than any other franchisee. We all know that the longer you teach the better you get. John has the most amazing ability to remember his teaching list verbatim and knows how to get results across all age groups, from babies to advanced stroke work and with the better swimmers he really gives them a very sound grounding in the basic kicking drills and arm drills. John turns out great little swimmers.
The powerful tool we have in the form our current integrated computer program and client interface was born in 1992 and Sally has driven it for twenty years and over those two decades has been an innovative operator with the ability to think outside the square and adjust and adapt to our ever changing society especially the changing needs and behavior patterns of our current population of young parents. Just about every administrative system we use in our company owned swim school was developed by Sally and is testimony to her administrative and computer skills and her freely giving of her time and expertise to all who ask for or need help.
So John and Sally, on behalf of the group we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for doing such a great job, true dedication to making the swim school at Kallangur the best in the area, bringing innovative and practical ideas and programs to the group, preserving the Shapland name and helping save young lives.
Thank you for the last twenty years; we really appreciate your support and friendship over those years and congratulations on two decades of owning and operating a very successful Shapland Franchise and we wish you well as you venture into you third successful decade.
Chris and Hilton.
31st of August 2012