Laure Latham first home in Alan Lacy's breaststroke race for the Clary Reed cup

In 1948, shortly after his demobilisation from the RAF, Alan Lacy joined the club at the invitation of then Hon. Secretary and Handicapper Clary Reed.  Alan was a "public Lido" morning swimmer and Clary sought to "volunteer" the young man as a club member.  What a great move for Alan and for the club, for which he played a leading role over the next 72 years.  Alan served as club President, 1974-77 and again 1998-2001, having the honour to be our Millenium President. 

For further background on both Alan and Clary and their big part in the history of the club follow this link to the "Race we Missed" report from April 2021 -

Serpentine Swimming Club

You will also find detail of a press interview with Alan where, amongst other things, he recalls his time in RAF Costal Command.

Stephen and his family have donated and presented the Peter Pan Cup since the 1930s, but the Greenbury family’s association with the Serpentine Swimming Club actually goes back way beyond that, for over a century. Stephen’s father Albert Greenbury was one of three brothers all of whom swam at the Serpentine. Albert joined the Club in 1911, becoming President in 1935 and remaining in office until his death in 1955. Albert won the Peter Pan Cup in 1929, and took over presenting the Cup after its founder, Sir James Barrie moved back to Scotland to complete his retirement. This is a tradition that he passed on to his children and indeed to his grandchildren.

Stephen was one of Albert’s three sons - the other two being Norman and Edward - who continued the Greenbury tradition of donating and presenting the Peter Pan Cup after Albert died. Although Stephen himself never dunked a toe in the Serpentine, he retained an indulgent and slightly bemused affection for the deluded people who choose to jump into its freezing waters throughout the winter.   Many past Presidents and Committee Members of the Club recall their dealings with both Stephen and his wife Val, who passed away in 2020 during Covid, with real affection.

Despite his reluctance to swim, Stephen was a very accomplished sportsman. In his youth, he was a champion tennis player, even winning the mixed doubles at Junior Wimbledon in the late 1940s. Newspaper reports of the day described him as “the young Fred Perry”- something of which he was quite justifiably very proud. Stephen continued to play tennis at his local club in Hendon into his eighties, still beating men half his age, before injury and health problems forced him to take up padel instead, and then table tennis.

In his professional life, Stephen qualified as an architect in the early 1950s and had a very successful career both nationally and around the world. He had the first architect’s office to set up in Canary Wharf when the redevelopment of the old Docklands began in the 1980s; but his most prestigious projects included the redevelopment of Billingsgate Fish Market and of Chelsea Football Club.  This latter project was undertaken against a background of foul-mouthed tirades of the then-owner of Chelsea, Ken Bates, who according to Stephen used to pepper the business conversations at their site meetings with endless obscenities.

Swimming in the Serpentine skipped a generation. Stephen’s daughter Lucy (Jeremy’s wife) took the plunge in 2014. She has been hooked ever since, carrying on in Albert’s footsteps – or maybe we should say, in Albert’s wake.

Lucy has even started winning her own share of silverware.

Lucy's brother Simon presented the Peter Pan cup to Alan Lacy in 2003 when he won his second Christmas race.  Alan won the centenary race in 1964.

Jeremy has recent history with Alan Lacy's breaststroke race.  He won the cup in 2021 and again in 2023.

(the above text was taken from Jeremy's speech, interspersed with a few illustrations and liberties introduced by myself)