Carmel Tiley is a baby swimming teacher who founded the North London franchise of swimming school Water Babies.
‘I never planned to become a swimming teacher – my background is sales. But when the markets crashed in 2009, I was made redundant. My sister’s six-month-old son was doing swimming lessons with Water Babies. She invited me to watch. I saw him do the “Ready, go!” command, which is how we prepare babies to swim underwater. Babies have a gag reflex – they instinctively hold their breath and avoid inhaling water. He shut his eyes tight and went under. I was amazed.
‘Since 2010 we have grown from teaching 44 babies in the first term to having about 1,200 on our books. With eight other teachers we deliver about 170 weekly classes. I teach for 15 hours and spend two days in the office a week. Much of my role is dealing with finances – bills, invoices, wages, recruitment and appraisals.
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