Warm water but an overcast sky for our 800m (880 yards) mild tongue twister of a race in memory of a true gent and past President, Roy Wrey.
The cup and prizes were presented by Laura and Jon Tomlinson (plus Billy and Cedric). Laure and Jon had a close bond with Roy Wrey: he was club President when they met lakeside.
The first trophy for Matt Lund (aka Mr Poppy) after eleven years with the club.
Silverware for Matt
Matt joined in 2011, but this is his first trophy
Roy Wrey was a true gentleman who graced the club from the late 1950s until he died “in post” as President in 2006. “A quiet, un-fussy character”. Roy was a regular from the late 1950s and served as vice Captain from 1965 to 1970. In the 1980s his wife became ill and Roy spent many years caring for her. Being unable to leave her alone for longer periods a return trip to the Serpentine by tube from Northolt would have taken too much time away from home. We did not see him for many years. It was only after her death that he come back to us in the mid-1990s. Roy was always extremely well-liked and active in the club and in 2004 was elected the 25th President of the Serpentine SC.
Roy's daughter Christine has in the past attended the race to present the cup. Living in Leighton Buzzard Christine found this rather difficult and was happy for Laura and Jon Tomlinson to take over the sponsorship in 2013. They have a soft spot for Roy, who was president when they met through their common love of the lake.
President Roy presenting the Peter Pan cup to Geoff Ransom, Christmas 2005
2022 cup winner, Matt Lund
Laura (nee Moffatt) joined the club in 1999. She has a lovely speaking voice (as befits a vicar's daughter). In the early 2000s when spending an extended stay in Texas she featured on a local radio station reading out all the names in the telephone directory of the small west Texas town of Marfa. Though Marfa's population is less than 2,000, this was still quite a fascinating feat.
Jonathon joined in 2005. After a while some of us did notice the growing bond between the two, for instance seeing how Laura would be ready with a cup of coffee for Jon on the lakeside after a winter competition heat. Us mere mortals had to trudge back to the changing room to make our own! They married in 2009.
For more history of Roy Wrey's time with the club dating back to the 1950s as well as Laura and Jon's recent escapades please follow this link to the 2021 report:
http://serpentineswimmingclub.com/news/51118/roy-wrey-race-2021
For those of you with club kit of a certain vintage, Jon Tomlinson is the second person exiting the lake on the back of your tee-shirts and hoodies.
An overcast sky, but the water was a warm 21.4c
Tim Outen and Tony Schiemann await the call
Mike Lund, first home and thus a first trophy to polish for a year
Second place went to Mike Olizar. No decent photos of Mike were captured on Saturday, so here is one from January 1986 of Mike and two of his daughters
Natasha third
Brian fourth
Fifth place went to Laura Ozaki, who was not aware of the Serpentine tradition of prize winners standing with a cheesy grin for the photographer
Still no smile for the camera from Laura. But Laure Latham looked pleasantly elegant in her summer bonnet
Sixth place for Tony
President Rob struck a triumphant stance on hearing he was a magnificent seven
Kevin Blick strode purposely up to claim eighth prize
A prize for Charlie
Ted Gerald was also up there
Finally, John Luckhurst got the call
Rob was full of praise
Roy always took great care over his well-prepared post-race speeches, even when his own health began to fail. A nice, “old world” touch would be exhibited when he led the customary "three cheers". Rather than "hip! hip!” Roy would lead the cry with a quick "pip! pip! pip! hooray!”.
Rob leading the pip! pip! pip!
And a big hooray! from the crowd
Roy experiencing goggle malfunction, 2003
Vice Captain 1965-70. President 2004-06. (Note: photo is from the Titmuss archive, unattributed. It was most probably taken by Andrew Buurman, photographer and past club member)
Report compiled by Brian Thomas