At four years old the water baby has just received his 400m swimming award.

Craig, a pupil at Cleadon Village Kindergarten, started swimming at the age of 14 months, when mum Jacquelin, took him to Aqua Tots classes at the Temple Park Centre in South Shields.

After discovering how much her son loved the water Mrs Halliday enrolled him into swimming lessons.

He then went on to achieve his 5m and 10m badges in front crawl and his 100m certificate.

When he completed his 200m award last October, Craig even caught the attention of Commonwealth gold medallist Chris Cook – who was more than impressed with his achievements.

He said: "Achieving a 200m badge is a huge achievement.

"I remember learning to swim myself and passing my badges, I was so excited."

Craig's coach, Beverley Richardson, believes the tot is so talented she's nominated him in the Pride of South Tyneside Award's sporting excellence category.

She said: "Craig started to swim at the age of two. By the time he was three he could swim front and back crawl and a little breast stroke.

"He's just turned four and has already started to learn butterfly.

"Not only that, he can undertake a number of skills, including swimming underwater, rolls, push and glides, and he's also a good little diver."

Mrs Halliday, from Cleadon Lea, Cleadon Village, doesn't believe her son is any different to other children.

She said: "To me he's just Craig and he likes swimming, and I don't see any difference. But obviously other people think he is special and talented, and that's lovely.

"He's a little bit too young to understand he's been nominated for an award though, it hasn't quite sunk in yet."

n The Pride of South Tyneside Awards are organised by the Gazette, South Tyneside Council and the Customs House.

Ten awards are up for grabs – Carer of the Year, Community Group of the Year, Greener South Tyneside, Sporting Excellence, Child of Courage, Role Model of the Year, Safer Neighbourhoods, Achieving Excellence, Young Performer(s) and Community Group of the Year.

The closing date has now passed for nominations. The awards ceremony will take place at the Customs House on July 22.