Memorial event for Bill Deeley, Saturday 15 November, 11am. The Army and Navy Club.
Please join the Deeley Family to share memories, laughter and love in honour of a life well lived. See invite for RSVP detail.
All Serpies who remember Bill are welcome. Especially those who swam, drank tea and ate biscuits with him.
Bill Deeley joined the club in 1967. He faithfully served the club as Hon. Auditor from the mid-1970s until 2017 and was a club vice-President.
Bill entered the merchant navy straight from school in the early 1950s. By the age of 16 he was at the helm of a ship heading to Cyprus. The navy life gave Bill the chance to travel all over the world but he especially enjoyed the far east, Hong Kong and Singapore. He became a navigator but his naval career was cut short due to an accident in Vancouver where he broke his leg. On return to England he trained to be an accountant, hence his value to the club as an auditor and advisor on all things financial.
1982, Bill leading Mike Olizar out of the original pavilion changing room on a chilly winter morning.
For many years during the 80s and 90s Bill would be accompanied both in and out of the lake by Steed, his golden Labrador. Steed regularly swam along with Bill in the races. His name even graces one of the cups. The 1996 engraving on the Daily Telegraph cup (now the Emmi Hunte series) reads: 1st Steed; 2nd W Deeley. Club silversmith and engraver Bill Phipps smilingly "denied all knowledge".
2004, winner of the Bill Phipps cup.