If you ever happen to find yourself at Greerton Aquatic and Leisure Centre at 7.30am on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday – look to lane seven in the lap pool.

Be discrete, though. Iris Stockwell wouldn't want any fuss.

The 90-year-old has been swimming here for more than 50 years, since the Greerton pool first opened in 1971.

Iris Stockwell in her element. Photo: Scott Yeoman.

It was all outdoors back then. There was no roof. No gym. No 34 degree Celsius hydrotherapy pool, or learners' pool.

A lot has changed about this facility over the years.

But not Iris. She has always been here. She continues to swim lap after lap, for an hour straight, three mornings a week.

'I've never swum competitively, I've swum just for the sheer joy of it,” says Iris.

'And when I reached 80, I made myself a goal to get to 90 and still be able to dive into the pool. And I did.”

Iris grew up in Tauranga and first learned to swim down at Sixth Avenue, in the sea, where the tide had to be right before you could hop in.

The first pool she swam in was a saltwater one, built out into Tauranga Harbour.

Iris always loved the water but it wasn't until many years later, when she became a mum, that she began to develop her regular swimming routine.

Lessons challenge

She was watching her children learn to swim at Memorial Pool one day when she was asked if she would consider running some lessons herself.

Iris took up the challenge and got involved with the Greerton Swimming Club, which at that time didn't have its own facility and was using Memorial Pool.

An artist's impression of what the completed pool project will look like. Photo: supplied.

Iris taught small children the basics and how to stay safe in the water, how to get themselves out of trouble, and how to enjoy themselves swimming.

When the Greerton pool finally opened, she followed the club to the new facility and continued her coaching.

'I used to walk up and down the pool and the kids would say: ‘I can't, I can't.' And I'd say: ‘No such word as can't, you can try'. So of course, they did try, and then they amazed themselves because they found they could do it.”

Iris has a scrapbook with cards from some of those grateful students.

'Thank you very much for teaching me how to swim,” reads one.

'I think you are a neat swimming teacher. You teach so good you need a medal and some roses,” reads another.

Before the renovation. Photo: supplied.

After the renovation. Photo: supplied.

Iris is clearly proud of this period of her life and the contribution she made to the local community. However, always humble, she is also quick to try and downplay her role at the pool, while singing the praises of countless others.

She lists several names and insists they must be mentioned. Enid Wordsworth and her husband Ian, Barry Steele, Colleen Melville, Mavis Hanna, Allan Guthrie, to name just a few.

'I will always be grateful to the swimming club,” Iris says.

A habit

'Had I not started to coach, I would possibly not have taken up swimming on a regular basis. It was due to going to the pool to coach that I decided while I was there, I may as well do a few lengths myself. This became a habit.”

And that habit well and truly stuck. 'I always call it my hour's breathing exercises,” Iris says.

'And I really feel hard done by if I can't go my three days a week.”

Of course the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted that.

Iris says her first swim back in the pool after the initial lockdown was 'absolute bliss”.

'I was the first one back in. It washed away all the worries. I think that's really what swimming does; it just puts you in the right frame of mind.”

During summer months, Iris also swims in the sea, down at Ōtūmoetai between the railway bridge and road bridge. 'Before the stingrays get there,” she says with a laugh. 'Or the shark.”

It's that sense of humour, her positive outlook and her remarkable staying power that inspires those around her.

Full of awe

As one Greerton lifeguard, Sarah O'Connor, put it recently, 'She just keeps swimming, she's just awesome, and you think ‘when I'm older, I want to be just like Iris'.”

Sarah actually grew up next door to Iris and has known her for years.

'She was such a positive person to be around when you're young. She was always active. She always had time for us.”

Iris used to take Sarah swimming. Now Sarah watches on poolside as Iris does her laps. She is full of awe.

'She's just a beautiful person. Her smile lights up a room.”

As it happens, just about everyone else around the pool also knows Iris. Young squad swimmers call out her name. Fellow early morning regulars offer big smiles and fond hellos.

One staff member will often greet her by saying: 'Your lane's ready”.

'The staff are always absolutely spot on. They treat me like a golden girl,” Iris says with another laugh.

A side view of before the renovation. Photo: supplied.

A side view of after the renovation. Photo: supplied.

Next week Iris will take part in yet another milestone in the history of this much-loved community facility, which now hosts more than 80,000 visits a year.

Centre improvements

On Thursday Iris will cut a ribbon officially opening the brand new front entrance.

Greerton Aquatic and Leisure Centre has undergone a lot of maintenance, renovation, and seismic strengthening work over the past year.

One of the improvements is new changing room facilities, which will also open for the first time next week. This includes three new accessible changing rooms, as well as family rooms close to the learners' pool.

When it comes to celebrating this development and marking the occasion, there really is no better person than Iris to cut the ribbon and welcome everyone in.

She is a pillar of this community and continues to show people, three mornings a week, what is possible when you just keep swimming.

'If I'm still swimming at 100, I'll be blimmin' lucky,” says Iris.

That sounds like a new goal.

'Well … I suppose it could be,” she says. 'Why not?”