Family commitments meant club member Bobby Baxter could not join us for the annual race in memory of his 1889 Christmas Day winning great grandfather. Arthur Hester was a key club member in the late 19th century, serving on the committee from 1890 to 1902. President Rob stepped in with some travel themed literatry prizes.
We also had the chance to congratulate the Serpentine relay team who successfully pioneered a new English Channel route, swimming to Normandy earlier in the week. A "dash" of 39 hours 28 minutes.
Samantha Speirs won her first silverware
It's All About The Base....
The cup was not available, but at least a base was present for the presentation.
President Rob spoke on behalf of Bobby Baxter and told us all about Bobby's great grandfather, Arthur Hester
Arthur Hester was Bobby Baxter's great grandfather and won the Christmas morning race in 1889 at the age of 22. Prior to the involvement of James Barrie and the presentation of a Peter Pan cup in 1903, the winner of the Serpentine SC Christmas Morning Race was presented with a gold medal. The medal has been kept in the Baxter family as an heirloom. It was in 2007 that Bobby made contact with then club Secretary Alan Titmuss, and came along to the club one Saturday morning to show off the medal to members. Bobby joined the club in 2008 and became a regular racer for many years.
Arthur was a local lad from Fulham, whose family ran a tobacconist shop in Lille Road.
Bobby proudly displaying his great grandfather's Christmas morning medal after the 2019 race
In 2009 the then Hon. Secretary Alan Titmuss managed to find a slot in the fixture calendar for an Arthur Hester memorial race, in anticipation of the 120th anniversary of Arthur's Christmas victory. The cup we use for the race is one of the previous Daily Telegraph cups that were bequeathed back to the club, and was introduced in 2014. This particular Daily Telegraph cup was competed for over nine races across three seasons, 1940, 1941 and 1942 - three events each year: 110 yards, 220 yards and a 110 yards All Clothes Race.
Arthur's 1889 Christmas medal
A beautiful early morning
Aircraft vapour trails were very much in evidence against the early morning clear blue sky
Contestants quietly chew the cud waiting for the clock to tick towards their handicap mark
Paul (the hat) Atherton gets ready
Paul first away, watched on by second to start Tony Schiemann
Travel themed literary prizes
First silverware for Samantha
Sally O'Sullivan second
Like Samantha, this was Sally's first time as a Serpentine prize winner
Third place for John Luckhurst
Unlike Samantha and Sally, John has form and is no stranger to sneaking his way into prize contention.
We also had the chance to congratulate the Serpentine relay team who successfully pioneered a new English Channel route, swimming from Eastbourne to Normandy earlier in the week.
A "dash" of 39 hours 28 minutes.
Rob and Boris received the club's appreciation on behalf of the team
Craig took the early morning glory and set out on the final leg
Quite a backdrop
The team followed Craig onto Normandy soil
Back on the boat. Left to right - Anna, Craig, Katie, Rob, Boris, with Innes in the front
And finally, a sad sign of the times
We were back in the water on Thursday 27 June, but the latest test results showed moderate levels of Blue Green Algae. Based on these results, on 1 July The Royal Parks asked that we close swimming as they were more than double the threshold.
(Report compiled by Brian Thomas)