VETERAN swimming coach Dennis Frith retired with a splash on his last night of teaching at Devizes Swimming Club after more than 45 years of volunteering.

The great-grandfather had expected to just turn up at Devizes Leisure Centre coach and then quietly go home without any fuss but club members had a different idea.

He said: "It was a complete surprise. I couldn't really take it all in. I wasn't expecting anything at all."

He was presented with a giant card signed by club members past and present, an engraved cut glass tumbler and a bottle of Jura whisky.

A few days later he was celebrating again when he held a party in Seend to mark his 80th birthday.

The former chairman and president of Devizes Swimming Club said: "I decided last year that it was time I started to think about retiring and my 80th birthday seemed like a good time to do it."

Over the years Mr Frith, who was also county president for four years, believes he has coached hundreds if not thousands of children and helped them to improve their strokes.

He said: "I know I have coached the children of children I originally worked with back at the outdoor pool and there might even be grandchildren. I don't teach children to swim. I coach them on their strokes."

Mr Frith, a retired agricultural buyer of Seend Cleeve, would never have dreamed he would still be involved with the club when he first took his children Anthony and Janine to the old Devizes outdoor pool in 1969.

He volunteered to help and has hardly missed a Tuesday evening session since. He said: "Volunteers are the backbone of amateur swimming clubs up and down the country. No-one gets paid you just do it because you want to be involved and do your bit to help."

Mr Frith was rewarded for his service with a civic award in 2006 and also got to meet the Queen when she officially opened Devizes Leisure Centre in 1990. He said: "I dressed rather more smartly that day than usual. I was coaching a class and she stopped to speak to me."

Swimming club committee member Janet Johnson praised Mr Frith for his dedication. She said: "He is an incredible man. Over the years he has helped so many children."

His daughter Janine is following in his footsteps and teaches school classes to swim at Devizes Leisure Centre,