The woman who brought synchronised swimming to Scotland

When Mary Black started synchronised swimming almost 90 years ago it was a world away the sport of today.

There were no acrobatics, no sequined costumes and no music. It wasn't even a recognised sport.

"We would swim one length breaststroke, one length backcrawl and one length side stroke all in time with each other and in a V-formation," the 95-year-old told the BBC.

But as it grew in popularity across the world and more technical and complex movements were introduced, Mary brought "Scotland's first synchro team" to Clydebank and became a trailblazer for the sport, as we know it today.

Mary was born in Clydebank in 1930, during a time of financial hardship and unemployment in the shipbuilding town.

"In Clydebank people worked in factories and tenements and did not have baths so most people would go to the swimming pool to wash," she said.

"The town had two swimming pools. One was a short 20-yard pool and the other was a 25-yard competition pool, which we called the 'new baths'."

Mary said that most swimming pools in Scotland at that time had a general swim team and a "ladies section", which taught so-called display or formation swimming.

"We would have a display at every annual swimming gala, which the baths manager would organise," Mary said.

"He would choose eight ladies who were all similar in size and capable of the same type of strokes, then he would train us."

There was no music when Mary first joined the group but it was soon decided that the team needed a background track for their movements.

"The first time I remember swimming to music, there was a man sitting at the side of the pool playing his piano-accordion and we swam along to the tunes he chose," she said.

"After a while we used a tape recorder, which was put in front of the pool's Tannoy system so the spectators in the balcony could enjoy the music and we could hear it in the pool."

Mary and her team would attend opening ceremonies for new pools built after World War Two in places such as Gourock and Helensburgh.

"I've got memories of these wonderful outings and going on the train to all these different places," she said,

"I was very fortunate to grow up with a swimming pool and have these opportunities in such a hard time."

At the same time, synchronised swimming had been growing in popularity across the United States and Canada.

Katherine Curtis is widely recognised as the true originator, when her "water ballet" club at the University of Chicago began doing stunts and floating formations.

But it was American competitive swimmer and Holyrood actress Esther Williams who popularised the sport when she played Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman in Million Dollar Mermaid in 1952.

"Having swum from shallow end to deep end in time with each other and to the music, we thought we had been doing 'synchronised swimming' but this was an entirely different thing," Mary said.

"It grew like Topsy and I feel very privileged that I was able to be a part of it."

In the early 1960s, Mary had started coaching and attended courses at Crystal Palace in London led by Dawn Zajak, who had established the first synchro club in the UK after becoming interested in the sport during a visit to California.

Mary brought the latest techniques and developments she had learned back to Clydebank and tried them out with her team - soon named the Marlins.

And so 'Scotland's first synchro team' was born.

"Other clubs started to form when people saw what the Seymour club in London was doing and groups opened everywhere where there was a decent swimming pool," Mary said.

"As people moved around, there were new ideas and applications of ideas, it didn't ever seem to rest and there was always something new happening."

The Marlins performed at local and national swim meets around Scotland, including a demonstration at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

They also took part in events overseas as Mary recalled Marlins putting on a show in Valetta harbour during Malta's first ever international water polo competition in 1972.

In 1968, Mary attended a seminar at the Olympics in Mexico City in an attempt to bring the newly-recognised aquatic sport into the Games.

"We were just a group of like-minded people who wanted to develop the sport," she said.

By 1974 she was chair of the International Synchronised Swimming Coaching panel.

But it wasn't until 1984 in Los Angeles that synchronised swimming became an official Olympic sport, where Mary was selected as a judge - a career highlight.

She went on to be an event referee at another three consecutive Olympic Games - 1988, 1992 and 1996 - as well as a judge at events, including the Commonwealth and Pan American Games.

Mary, along with husband Bill - who was also heavily involved in aquatics - also developed the Judges' Evaluation criteria document - the rules and conditions for the sport.

This evolved into the Synchronised Swimming Operating Manual used at all international competitions to help score routines, which now often involve gymnastics and diving skills as well as the more traditional technical elements.

She was also the first woman to become president of the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association and the first person, male or female, to serve two terms in 1976 and 1977.

Outside of synchro, Mary did youth work and taught physical education at the local college in Clydebank.

"It was great to be involved in everything," Mary said.

"I have been there through the ages of the development of synchronised swimming both globally and in Scotland.

"I'm most proud that I was the first ever Clydebank swimmer to be on an Olympic committee but I will definitely not be the last."

Now Mary has been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, joining the likes of Esther Williams, Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe - all of whom she described as her "heroes".

Other notable names include 28-time Olympic medallist Michael Phelps, president of the International Olympic Committee Kirsty Coventry, and Scottish swimmer David Wilkie.

"I was all surprised and I couldn't quite take it in," Mary said.

But she said looked forward to travelling to the US with her son and seeing her name on the board for the first time next to the greats.