Fears of the dreaded lurgy (i.e. blue green algae) meant we could not race this week. As a reminder of what we missed you are invited to follow a link in this article and read the report from 2021. Lots of photos and history, both very old and recent.
No race today
Not today's winner
Simoni won the Bradshaw cup in 2024.
Why the water polo ball? "Back in the day" Leanne captained both the Imperial College and University of London women's water polo teams. A tough sport - despite her slender appearance Leanne is no pushover.
Leanne and Hutan took over sponsorship of this race in 2019.
Please follow this link to the 2021 race report. A time when that other, more serious, "dreaded lurgy" required social distancing and a forced absence of Serpentine hugs.
https://serpentineswimmingclub.com/news/51109/2021-bradshaw-cup
Winter victor, 1926
Tommy Bradshaw, centre
We were due to race over 800m (880 yards) for an event that has been on the fixture list since 1946. Sidney and Charlie Greenbury were two of the three Greenburg brothers that joined the club in 1909. The other was Albert, club President 1935 to 1955, whose direct descendants present the Peter Pan cup each Christmas - Albert took over the honour from Sir James Barrie in 1933. The original surname of Albert, Sidney and Charles was Greenburg. Sadly due to rising antisemitism they chose to change the name to Greenbury in the 1930s.
The Bradshaw cup
Records show that the "Bradshaw challenge cup" appeared on our fixture list between 1961 and 1964. It is not clear why the cup fell from the calendar, but the trophy resided with the family of the one time Hon. Secretary Bill Reed until being returned to the club in the 2000s. Tommy Bradshaw was a contempory of the three brothers, so it seemed most appropriate to use the cup for this long established race celebrating Sidney and Charlie.