He was a diver, acrobat, very noisy and did cycling tricks on the boards. Not James Norton, today's 220 yard race winner, but Sydney W Stovold, for whom today's race along with his wife Gladys, the event was in honour of.
Syd and Gladys E Reeves were married in a registry office in the Summer of 1955.
Mike Olizar, our Club Historian, reckoned that Sydney had been a club member for just five years or so, and he passed away in June 1962, at the age of 51. He was based in Fulham.
In 1938, eight members of the Highgate London diving club were a feature at the Bangor amateur swimming club's final gala. Syd Stovold was one of the eight, referred to in the 22 August 1938 edition of the Belfast Newsletter, which included GB and European representatives. Stovold was described as "a leading springboard diver." It added that "they gave a magnificent display... and also staged a diverting comedy show."
On 30 June, 1939, the Southern Counties Diving Championships were held at Purley way Pool. 'The Croydon Advertiser and East Surrey Reporter' wrote that "The southern men’s high board championship was won by the national title holder, L. G. Marchant (Highgate D.C.), with S. W. Stovold (Highgate DC.' second and D. S. Thom (London D.C.) third of six. On a cool evening the attendance was a poor one."
Syd's wife Gladys continued to visit Serps after his passing, and also to present the lovely prizes. It meant all for her to be at Serps Gladys often said. And in her will, she left the club several thousands of pounds for many future cups of tea.
If anyone knows more, please let us know.
Tory Long (neé Thorpe) kindly presented the prizes and Robin Hunter Presided over the prize giving and speech proceedings. And thanks to Matthew Johnston for kindly stumping up for a pair of rubber shoes for Robin, as his previous pair had been strangely misplaced.
Aftewards, tea and brekky was enjoyed by many.
In order of finishing were: James Norton, John Craske, Rod Newing
Yours swimmingly
John Tierney
| 1962 | J. Markham |
| 1963 | R.M. Ferris |
| 1964 | J. Markham |
| 1965 | S. Youlton |
| 1966 | J. Bayman |
| 1967 | A.R. Wood |
| 1968 | Goffrey Arthur |
| 1969 | S. Youlton |
| 1970 | R. Wakeford |
| 1971 | Goffrey Arthur |
| 1972 | Olizar Mike |
| 1973 | Kelly Sean |
| 1974 | D. Rhodes |
| 1975 | Olizar Mike |
| 1976 | L. Alt |
| 1977 | R. Sutton |
| 1978 | W. Harman |
| 1979 | Kelly Bob |
| 1980 | A. Pandya |
| 1981 | C. J. Wood |
| 1982 | Titmuss Alan |
| 1983 | C. Boyd |
| 1984 | Phipps Bill |
| 1985 | Phipps Bill |
| 1986 | Larrad Peter |
| 1987 | Phipps Bill |
| 1988 | W.J.R. Harman |
| 1989 | Olizar Mike |
| 1990 | Phipps Bill |
| 1991 | Deeley Bill |
| 1992 | Olizar Mike |
| 1993 | A. Woodward |
| 1994 | Deeley Bill |
| 1995 | M. Fraser |
| 1996 | Wood Cyril |
| 1997 | Fahy Justin |
| 1998 | Olizar Mike |
| 1999 | H. Hadavi |
| 2000 | S. Yuriko |
| 2001 | Moffat Laura |
| 2002 | Lacy Alan |
| 2003 | Marczak Marcin |
| 2004 | Titmuss Alan |
| 2005 | Leigh Edward |
| 2006 | Turner Haydn |
| 2007 | Cooper Paul |
| 2008 | McDonagh Andy |
| 2009 | Du Cane Leslie |
| 2010 | Impey Peter |
| 2011 | Bowman Stuart * |
| 2012 | Gilbert Mary |
| 2013 | Challinor Felicity |
| 2014 | Jan Farmer |
| 2015 | Eliza Kaczynska Nay |
| 2016 | Dave Murray |
| 2017 | Sakura Adams |
| 2018 | James Norton |
