It was a busy day at Serps on Saturday with many taking part in the Radford mile. The club was also celebrating big birthdays and many swimmers of all ages were training for English Channel swims.
The winner of the Radford one mile race was John Tierney, writes John Tierney. The fantastic trophy and prizes were presented by Tony and Christine Radford with their daughter Victoria and her partner James. More on that later. There were also great birthday celebrations for Cyril Wood and Alan Lacey as they both reach 90 years old in great health. Alan and Cyril were serenaded by our club bagpiper to the tune of happy birthday. And club president Norm Jones gave a great speech which was themed perhaps like the Michael J Fox film 'back to the future', but it definitely was not like the novel 'look back in anger'. It was indeed witty and is best reproduced in full here.
Norm acknowledged that the 'Silver Surfers' are adapting to change but questioned whether this was a new phenomenon and so he encapsulated how much change Cyril and Alan had seen in their 90 years on this planet.
"They were born before television, penicillin and polio jabs, frozen food, fax machines, videos, credit cards, laser beams, and ball point pens. Before dish washers, tumble driers, air conditioning and drip dry clothing. In their day, they married and then lived together, how quaint. They lived in a time when 'fast food' was what you ate during Lent, and a big Mac was a large raincoat. They were born before house husbands, when a partner was your business partner, computer dating, dual careers and when a meaningful relationship meant getting on with their cousins. It was also a time when sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.
They were born before day-care centres, care homes and disposable nappies, they'd never heard of FM radio, CDs or artificial hearts. Time sharing meant togetherness. A chip was a piece of wood, hardware meant nuts and bolts. Computers, face book, mobile phones and software are not even words.
Pre-1945, made in Japan, meant junk and making out referred to how you did in your exams. A stud was something which fastened your collar to your shirt. And going all the way meant staying on a double decker all the way to the bus depot. Pizzas, MacDonalds and instant coffee were unheard of. In their day, cigarette smoking was normal, grass was mown, coke was kept in the coal house, a joint was a piece of meat we ate on Sundays and pot was a cooking utensil. Rock music was a lullaby that Grandma listened to, and a gay person was the life and soul of the party.
Those born before 1945 are a hardy bunch, a rare breed. The way the world has changed, and the adjustments that they have had to make are gargantuan. It is an honour for us to be with you today and we tell you Cyril and Alan we are in awe of you and congratulate for your health and tenacity. Happy Birthday."
And so to the Radford mile. It was a great thrill to win the race and with just over 60 seconds handicap advantage on Gary Duffield, I had expected him to overtake me as he always does in all the other races we have had. In this being my first one-mile race at the club I didn't know what to expect. My increased stamina from recent training for a three person English Channel relay with fellow Serpentinies Mike Cooper and Irene Keel helped me as I was able to maintain the pace over the one mile. Nicola finished second for the second week in a row. A big thank you to the Radford family who travelled up from Crawley to present the trophy and substantial prizes.
Tony Radford joined Serpentine SC in 1963 and was a southern counties champion. His wins at Serps are many, and include two big races in one day when he won the Serpentine bridge to bridge, and later that day he travelled to Brighton where he won the Brighton pier to pier race. Tony also won the Christmas Day race twice in 1967 and 1972 with a time over the distance of less than 60 seconds.
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