Derwentside ASC was formed in December 1987 to act as the competitive element of the newly created Derwentside Swimming Development Scheme. It replaced the previous Stanley Swimming Club which had trained out of the Burns Pool, Stanley.

The first head coach was Paul Remmonds, who was also the Derwentside Swimming Development Officer. Training took place at both the Burns Pool, Stanley and the Belle Vue Swim Centre, Consett.

The club quickly became a force to be reckoned with in N&D and had a number of junior internationals.

The club's first major success came in 1990 when Alison Duffy represented England in the Commonwealth Games, New Zealand, and made the final in the 200m Butterfly.

Further success came in 1994 when Vicki Horner (England) and Jon Hunter (Scotland) swam in the Commonwealth Games, Canada.

The club's greatest overall success came in 1996 when it won both the Tom Randall and Mark Latimer Trophies at the County Championships to prove themselves top club in N&D. The same year, Vicki Horner (GBI) and Marion Madine (Eire) represented their countries at the Atlanta Olympics.

At the end of 1996, the Burns Pool was suddenly closed on H&S grounds and demolished. Many of the older swimmers were forced to move to new clubs and Paul Remmonds left to become head coach at the new 50m pool in Glasgow. His position was taken by his assistant, David McNulty.

For the next few years the club went through a very slow rebuilding process as water time was more restricted with just a single pool to serve the whole district.

Despite these problems, the club still enjoyed success with Nicola Jackson breaking many British junior and senior records. Nicola swam at European and World Championships and also at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The following year, Nicola was a member of the GB Ladies 4x200m freestyle team which won gold at the World Championships.

After almost eight years, a new pool was finally opened in Stanley – a 25m competitive pool with its own electronic timing built on the side of the existing Louisa Sports Centre with the help of Lottery funding and Sport England. At last, the club could look forward to a bright future in a new home.

At the same time, Nicola's younger sister, Joanne was coming through to continue the club’s fine tradition. In 2004, Joanne represented GB at the Athens Olympics and won gold at the European SC Championships in the 800m freestyle. The following year, she won silver in the 400m freestyle at the European SC Championships – in the 4th fast time ever recorded and a Commonwealth Record. In 2006, Joanne achieved double silver for England at the Commonwealth Games in the 200m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle team.

As well as producing swimmers at the very highest level, the club began to turn itself around at the younger end as well and in 2006 it achieved promotion to Division One of the Durham Junior League