John Tierney lifted the Bill Phipps cup

Bill served with the Royal Marines from 1954 to 1956.  On leaving the Marines Bill briefly dallied with studying biology at the University of San Francisco.  Waking from a drunken spree in British Columbia, Bill found he had joined the Royal Canadian Navy.

Whilst in the Canadian navy Bill became a fully fledged deep-sea diver.  Bill recounted Serps-side that this was nothing like the romantic James Bond tropical-waters frogman -  it involved walking around cold, dark, filthy harbour floors looking for mines, salvaging wrecks and recovering dead bodies.  Bill recalled he at first suffered from claustrophobia, "but down there nobody can hear your scream, no matter how loud”.

Though Bill did enjoy his navy life he was keen to come home and marry sweetheart Henrietta, a landscape architect and daughter of artist Henry Lamb.  Bill tried various ruses to convince the Canadians he should be sent back to Blighty.  One time when “tipsy” he threw a champagne cork at an officer and jumped overboard into the icy waters off Newfoundland.  Fished out just in time, he was court-marshalled and placed in solitary confinement.  Despite such escapades, Bill was eventually awarded an honourable discharge in 1960, and soon after married Henrietta.

When home, Bill undertook an apprenticeship as a silversmith, after which he worked from his garage before moving to a workshop in the Clarkenwell Road.  In 1963 Bill was recommended to the Art Workers’ Guild.

Bill’s skill and reputation led to many commissions and exhibitions, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Goldsmiths’ Hall and the Design Centre.  For many years Bill acted as club engraver of the club's race cups and trophies, as well as entertaining us at Christmas parties and the occassional Saturday mornings with his oddball musical skills -  he could produce a readily recognisable  tune from an adapted bicycle pump!

The Bill Phipps race was introduced to the club fixture calendar in 2004.  Bill handcrafted the cup himself out of a single piece of silver.  The first winner was "the other Bill" -  Bill Deeley.

Bill, along with Louis Schendler, managed to somehow walk off from the changing room early one morning not realising they had donned each others' trousers.  It was not until Bill got to the car park and felt in his pockets that he noticed his car keys and wallet were not there.  A moment of panic ensued before he realised he was in fact wearing the wrong trousers. This was the mid 1990s.

Such an occurrence would, you might think, be a one-off.  Not at the Serpentine.  Move forward twenty odd years and the feat was repeated by two current members.  Ask around and you may discover the names of the culprits who revived what we hope will not be a continuing tradition.  (Names withheld to spare the culprits any embarrassment -  James and Vincent, you know who you are!).

For much more information on Bill Phipps, please follow this link to the "race we missed" report from April 2021 -

Serpentine Swimming Club