Seven Saturdays of the Bob Kelly Winter Series culminated on the 16th December with a points victory for Fran Lou. Congratulations, speeches and hugs were the ordedr of the morning. CNN were present to capture the event.
Plus a look back at the other six rounds of heats, commencing 4th November.
Also, Katie Irvine scooped the Dani Lobo handicapper's award for the most competitive swimmer.
A very proud series winner, Fran Lou
Also in the mix -
2nd Brian Thomas
3rd Nicolas Amman
4th Jamie Giles
5th Anne Mannix
6th Paul Daniels
Jesse and Duff provided a nice, bright splash of colour on the rather dull winter's morning.
President Rob spoke of Bob's US Navy exploits and his long post war career in the world of art
The crowd eagerly hung on every word of Rob's speech
Brian snuck into second place.
Bull terrier Lewis donned the Surf Line Hawaiian baseball cap, part of the very generous "goodie bag" prize
The morning saw a second cup presented - the Dani Lobo handicapper's award for the year's "most competitive swimmer"
Mike Barron presented the cup (and read out Dani's speech) to the very worthy winner, Katie Irvine
Water 6.4c, air 10c. Some might say a typical mid-December day.
This Saturday last year our final races of the series were frozen off due to ice. Very untypical.
Trees on the north bank of the lake now almost leafless
A few caps and costumes of colour to brighten the final heat of the final Saturday of the 2023 Winter Series
Our regular cygnets occupied their usual spot at the 50m mark
A film crew from CNN were on the spot to capture the atmosphere
The CNN treatment
Under severe cross questioning from representatives of the international media, Robin denied any responsibility, stated he had followed the rules at all times and apologised if any unintentional hurt had been felt. He went on to say it was in fact fake news, a deep state witch hunt and that people now wanted to move on.
Saturday 16 December saw the end of the Bob Kelly Winter Competition, with middle and youngest sons Duff and Jesse on hand to represent the Kelly family and present the Bernard Fettes cup to series winner Fran Lou.
The Winter series of the Serpentine Swimming Club span many generations and harks back to the early years of the club in the 19th century. This particular cup has been awarded at the end of the Winter Competition since 1957, presented by Bernard Fettes. Since the mid-1970s the series has been sponsored by the Kelly family. American artist Francis (Bob) Kelly was club President 1983 to 1986.
Francis (Bob) Kelly (1925 - 2012). A Bayswater based American artist and art restorer with a world-wide reputation
1973 London exhibition
Bob became an avid collector of antique bottles .... from the mud of the Serpentine lake's floor
1977, Jesse (10) and Duff (12) help Bob with his bottles. Jesse and Duff were on hand this morning to present the cup and prizes.
Bernard Fettes swam with the club for many years up to the mid 1960s. Our dear friend Alan Lacy recalled that Bernard, a dentist, was an established member when he joined in 1948 and would arrive at the Serpentine in his pride and joy: his Jaguar motor car. Research by Mike Harris showed Bernard Fettes to have served in the Army's Machine Gun Corps during WW1.
The club, 1963. Bernard is standing, 6th from left,
You may not have met them in person, but there are some famous Serpentine names that you may recognise from club cups and presidential speeches
Bernard standing next to bearded Frank Simms, overlooked by Roy Wrey and Sid Richardson
4 November. We were greeting with a very wet mid-autumn morning.
Water 11c. Air 9c.
View from the bridge
A passing classic in the background. A London Routemaster bus ready to support the London to Brighton veteran car run on Sunday morning.
Race officials Stefan and Robin tried to stay dry. An interesting choice of brolly for Stefan; Robin stayed with tradition.
The second round of heats fell on Armistice Day.
We witnessed a beautiful but fresh autumnal morning.
Water 8.5c. Air 4c.
Warmer out than in.
A brilliant view from the bridge
Some recent familiar faces completed their first club race.
Water 8.1c. Air 10c
Aspect: cold, dank and grey. "Normal for November".
A cold and grey November morn
Fran was on hand to brighten up the grey morning
Race heat over, some walked out, some walked back. And you thought we were a swimming club!
A very chilly morning, though the sun shone brightly on the rightious (or should that perhaps read "shone brightly on the right bunch of cranks that comprise the SSC"?)
The water was holding up at 7c, but the air had dropped to just above freezing at 1c.
The pavilion stood magnificent in the shade of the 8 o'clock sunshine
A gloriously chilly morning
The lake held its temperature; the leaves held their autumnal golden glory
Crisp
Metrological winter had definately arrived. The first properly cold morning of the season.
Water 3.5c. Air 0c.
Apprehensive racers on a gunmetal grey cold morning, though Charlotte's choice of swim cap brightened the mood.
Well wrapped-up spectators
Amanda arrived too late to watch the races (she does not compete), but in time for her fiery ginger birthday cake courtesy of Charlotte.
X (formally known as Twitter) revealled that though intensive testing took place that morning to check and calibrate the club thermometers, no one had thought to actually take the temperature of the lake.
Friday was 4.6c. Sunday was 5.4c.
"It felt like 5c".
So let's all "Take Five" - I feel a tune coming on.
It rained a lot.
Laure and Ilyan, our intrepid calibrators
A very wet Saturday morning
"There's no such thing as bad weather, just unsuitable clothing" (Alfred Wainwright). Robin took heed. Not too sure with respect to Thanos's choice of leg ware?
Another gunmetal grey Saturday morning tantalised us for the penultimate round of the Bob Kelly Winter Series
Ros Young directed Stu Bowman and John Luckhurst as they positioned the orange buoys at the 100 yard mark ready for the Christmas Day race for the Peter Pan cup.
Ros ready with the reckoning
Final adjustments
Perfect
(report compiled by Brian Thomas)