Thelma Bishop Young - Southampton Forward

Case Study: Thelma Bishop Young

Thelma is a Local Scout Leader and one of our Local Connectors. Thelma was instrumental during City Reflections as she helped to organise the 29th Scout Hall in Portswood to be one of our Community Locations.

Thelma was also nominated for City Reflection Legend and was on the panel to help narrow down the featured legends from the 100’s we received down to just 40.

Thelma has also worked on Pub Cultures with fellow friend and Connector Peter Hull, accessing the accessibility of the pubs, read about their journey here via the SO:Cultured article: Helping change people’s perception of disability – Southampton Forward

Thelma’s role as a District Lead Volunteer has been imperative for us to engage young people and Thelma has connected us with young Scouts and pushed out initiatives across the Scouting community. Thelma’s role within the Scouts is to increase the visibility and being involved in City Reflections has achieved this;

‘It’s been fun – I look forward to any further projects. It was so grand to me on the wall at Westquay and the director of the Scouts was so pleased that we were able to increase the scout’s visibility so much by using the venue as one of the locations, as well as having the Scouts featured in the Video. Thank you.’

Biography

Born in Southampton.
Learnt to swim at Eastleigh Swimming Club aged 6.
Advised to swim daily to help health.
Joined Shirley Swimming Club and later City of Southampton Swimming Club.
Worked my way up competitive ladder swimming for Club and County. Joined National Squad in 1986. See below for swimming career. Retired 1991.

Sporting Achievements:

Part of City of Southampton Swim Club Squad in the 1980s and 1990s. Completed almost every weekend in either Club, County or National age group events. Including biathlons and triathlons.
Joined the Les Autres GB squad in 1986 after competing in the National Championships.
National Women’s L6 Champion between 1986 and 1991 in 100m Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Butterfly.
At the 1987 European Championships in Paris, France; won two gold, two silver and two bronze medals in the L6 class. Also carried the County Banner at the opening ceremony.
At the 1988 Seoul Games; won two gold medals in the Women’s 4 × 100 m medley relay A-L and 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay A-L (World Records) and two bronze medals in the Women’s 100 m Breaststroke L6 and Women’s 100 m Backstroke L6 events. Plus four 4^th places in Women’s 100 m Butterfly L6, Women’s 100 m Freestyle L6, Women’s 400 m Freestyle L6 and Women’s 200 m Medley L6.
At the 1989 World Youth Games in Miami, USA; won four gold medals in L6 class.
At the 1990 World Championships and Games for the Disabled in Assen, the Netherlands; won gold 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay S6-10
A total of 15 international medals – 9 gold.
Had to retire in 1991 due to ill health.
Southampton Female Sports personality of the Year in 1988
City of Southampton medal of the City 1988

Other Information:

Since retiring, 1990-2002 achievements Leisure Management and Sports and Exercise Science in the academic field
Officiated the opening of a bank in Cosham in 1988
Chairperson of the Southampton Branch of BackCare Association since 2015
Local Ambassador for Southampton City of Culture bid 2022-2023
Local Connector for Southampton Forward since 2024
Involved with Southampton City Scout District since 1996

City Reflections 2

Thelma was also chosen as a Community Curator for City Reflections 2: Illuminating Southampton Stories and spent over 10 hours in Southampton City Archives and engaged people at Shirley Library, scout groups, and the Toy Library to explore what culture means to the city. She found many were unaware of Southampton’s migration history and highlighted the importance of celebrating volunteers and community members.

“I really enjoyed hearing the memories of people in my communities – some I have known for over 10 years.” – Thelma

Thelma was struck by the lack of archive material from the last 30 years, realising the need to encourage communities to deposit their stories to preserve Southampton’s contemporary heritage. Thelma has learnt how to deposit into the archives and has since deposited many current images of our culture in Southampton.