Author: Sarah Wren

Eduardo wins our David Fallon Memorial Award


Masters Swimming, Penguin members

Eduardo on the poolside holding the glass David Fallon Memorial Award.

 

We’re excited to announce that Eduardo Washington is the inaugural winner of our new award in memory of David Fallon. The award recognises a Penguin masters swimmer who has brought great credit to the Club across the year.

Eduardo has raced in numerous meets this year, winning lots of medals and culminating in a bronze at the GoCardless Swim England English Masters Championships last month.

Eduardo’s endless enthusiasm has also encouraged other Penguin masters swimmers to compete.

Well done Eddie!

RIP Terry King


Penguin members, Water Polo

Terry King passed away early Sunday morning. 

Terry joined Penguins in the early 60s and soon became a permanent member of the men’s water polo first team. 

Water polo team with trophy
Penguin men’s first team, ASA Champions in 1965. Back row l-r: John Lake, Terry King, Pete Richardson, Bobby Wollaston, Brian Randall. Middle row: Dave Littlechild, Lew Bloomfield, Terry Bushell, Gerry Jarret, Bernard Castle, George Pepper. Front row: Mike Rogers, Bill Waite, Ron Turner, John Martin-Dye, Les Baldwin.

 

Terry represented England in water polo from 1970-72. He was an honorary Vice President of the Club. 

Terry organised the first Club tour to Malta in 1967 which was an outstanding success and started Penguin on its subsequent European exploits which have continued to the present time.

Team photo of water polo players
1967 Malta tour. Back row l-r: Pete Harmon, Terry Bushell, Eddie Rowe, Ron Turner, Mike Rogers, Glyn Berry. Front row: Bobby Wollaston, Terry King, John Lake, Jack Nievens.

 

Our thoughts are with Terry’s family.

RIP David Fallon


Uncategorized

At a touching funeral this morning we said our final goodbyes to David Fallon.

Person in dinner jacket

 

David joined Penguin in 2005 as a masters swimmer and was a regular at training from then on, as well as swimming with us at masters meets and in open water events.

With his wife Jiyeon, David rarely missed a Club social, be it our post-training pizzas, our summer croquet fun, our Christmas meals or our gala dinners. His trademark was always to arrive fashionably late!

At the end of last year David was diagnosed with cancer and lost his battle to the illness on 15 April, aged 58.

A kind and gentle giant, David leaves a giant hole in the Penguin masters swimming squad. Our love and thoughts are with Jiyeon.

Middlesex -Masters-June-2009

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RIP David, 17 June 1964 – 15 April 2023.

Donations to David’s chosen charity, CW+, the charity of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, can be made here.

 

Club Trophy Presentations


Award, Penguin members

Last month saw our annual presentation of the Club’s Rob Derbyshire and Ron Turner awards, hosted by Club Chair Rob Kingsmill at Latymer Sports Centre.

There was a great turn out from all the Club, including the Juniors, Senior Men’s and Women’s teams and lots of parents. Thank you to Chrysi who coordinated the evening and to all the parents who helped provide a lovely spread of food for everyone.

The Ron Turner Memorial Trophy
Ron Turner was an inspirational member of Penguin, he was a member of the hugely successful Penguin sides that won the ASA knock-out competition in 1947, 1951 and 1952. Ron was an exceptional forward player with an unerring shot accuracy, known for his fitness and tough approach.

The Ron Turner Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to an under-21 member of the Club who is considered to have best shown the qualities that Ron would have admired: commitment, effort, loyalty and application to the sport of water polo, and to Penguin.

The Club’s Committee decides the recipient based on nominations received from members and coaches. For the 2022 award there were had three strong nominees: Sam Wood, Madeline Roberts and Catie Du Toit.

The Trophy went to Catie Du Toit. It was a very special moment for me as Club President, alongside Rachel Bull our Senior Women’s Team Captain, to make the presentation to Catie. I trained and played with Catie when she arrived at her first sessions at the London Aquatics Centre, and since then alongside her in the British Water Polo League. I have watched Catie grow to be the special player she is. Congratulations Catie.

 

Three women, one holding a trophy
From the left, Fiona Greer (Club President), Catie Du Toit with the Ron Turner Memorial Tropgy and Rachel Bull (Women’s Senior Team Captain).

 

It speaks volumes of our junior programme that we had such impressive nominations…

Sam Wood was nominated for his hard work and strength in supporting his team. In every water polo environment, whether local level or National Academy, he is well respected by peers and coaches alike.

Sam is training with the London 06 National Academy squad. In 2022 he competed in the U16 Middlesex team that won the Intercounty Championships, the the 2007 London team in that came third in the Inter Regional Championships, in the London League U18 and U16 teams for Penguin Hillingdon, and he has played in the senior Men’s London League team.

These achievements are only half of what makes Sam such a quality athlete. He has completed the level one water polo referring course now helps run and referee tournaments for LWPL at Hillingdon, showing a long term dedication to the sport. Sam also helps the younger athletes during the development tournaments. Sam is the embodiment for hard work and dedication and we are proud to have him as part of Penguin.

Madeline Roberts is one of the best representatives Penguin could have to represent the Club’s strong junior performance team. Maddie started at the age of nine at Hillingdon through the Sport England-funded water polo development programme. She had played in all the junior competitions, usually as the only girl in a mixed team.

Now at the age of 17 (18 this December) Maddie is captain of the U19 Penguin team. She is part of the winning Women’s team of ladies in BWPL Division 2, and a key part of the team currently in the play-offs aiming to reach the First Division.

Maddie has also played in the U17 GB and England squad, and has several attendances in the National and Regional Academy.

Maddie also shares her experience through coaching and supporting the young girls and is an inspiring role model for our younger players because of her commitment and perseverance. She never gave up playing and working hard when it would not have been easy to compete with the boys. Now, thanks to her willpower, she is inspiring the new generations.

Catherine du Toit, since arriving in the UK, has established herself in the Penguin Women’s senior team and core to their attacking options.

As quoted by an ex-GB coach, “Having coached over 12 years of GB Junior teams, six separate two year age bands, I can safely say that there was more potential in this young player, more raw talent, a physical presence that top world ranking Senior Teams would love to develop, a swim ability that was close to the best I had ever seen from a Junior player, a coachability that was very exciting. In addition, she is a smart cookie, mature for her years and is juggling her waterpolo with her love of music and also studying for her A levels.”

In the last year she worked hard to get a regional trial, this also led to a GB trial which resulted in selection for the GB U19 squad, she competed in the U19 European Championships in Israel where she led the GB attack. Finally, her performances in the BWPL have provided consistent attacking threat and options with a team that is making waves in this most recent season.

If any young woman is the epitome of Ron’s strong values of commitment, effort, loyalty and application to the sport of water polo and Penguin I would without any hesitation say “THIS GIRL CAN” …

You can read more about Ron Turner and the Trophy here.

The Rob Derbyshire Award
There were two nominations for the Rob Derbyshire award 2022; Rumen Kurtev and Rachel Bull. The winner was Rumen Kurtev and it was my pleasure to see Rob Kingmill present this trophy to someone who has coached me in the past and who has been dedicated to the junior programme and the Women’s team.

Woman present a trophy to a man
From the left: Fiona Greer (Club President) with Rumen Kurtev (Penguin Junior and Senior women’s team coach)

 

Rumen was nominated for his continued commitment, and support of the Club in the junior and senior women’s squads. He has dedicated such energy and passion to the junior development in training and in competition. He also stepped in to coach the Women’s team following the loss of John Lake (Shakey). He has been passionately working with the Women’s team, as a result they have achieved phenomenal success, with promotion from the 3rd Division to the 1st Division in just 2 years. The Committee felt this was an important recognition for the whole Club. Thank you Rumen for your unwavering passion.

Rachel Bull was also nominated for the Rob Derbyshire award. Rachel is the senior women’s team captain. In and out of the water she led the team through the challenging time after the loss of Shakey, remaining positive and navigating the difficult balance of grieving the loss of a great friend and coach to many of us, and yet still looking forward and taking the best bits of him with us. Rachel motivated the team through COVID-19 and supported the new coach Rumen after Shakey had passed.

Rachel was featured in an interview for BWLP in March 2022 bringing great credit to Penguin. Rachel leads by example: frustratingly she missed out on a GB trial due to a broken finger in 2022, but she is a formidable player and never gave up. She works hard and sets high standards of herself and her team, which has underpinned their recent success. Rachel continued to train and even with another two broken fingers in the season, she still led the team to a final weekend showdown on BWPL to gain promotion in Liverpool. With a playing career which is going from strength to strength, Rachel is a worthy nomination for this award.

You can read more about the Rob Derbyshire Trophy here.

Fiona Greer
Penguin Swimming and Waterpolo Club President.    

Gill’s still making a splash


Masters Swimming, Penguin members

Gill sitting in an armchair, wearing swimming costume, swim hat and goggles

 

Such an inspiration, our masters swimmer Gill has been featured in the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust ‘s Fit for Life series…

Like to get in shape but worried you are too old or out of puff to start? Here is our fifth Fit for Life interview with a Londoner who shares their life-long love of exercise.

Gill Turner enjoys hanging out with the Penguins three times week. The west London swimming club has been a home from home for the 80-year-old for more than half a century and she emerges from the pool ‘tired but happy’ after the hour-long sessions.

“I swim in the ‘slow’ lane and we usually complete anywhere between 60-80 lengths depending on how much energy we have. I’ve made some nice friends over the years and enjoy the social side of the club.”

It seems age is just a number to the octogenarian who “likes a challenge” in the shape of long-distance walking, trail marathons and taking the somewhat murky plunge into open water swimming with two of her  friends, the self-styled Wet Suit Wonders.

“I like to think of these things as an experience and it was certainly that trying to get in and out of my wet suit for the first time. I haven’t made my mind up about open water swimming yet although the greatest danger we faced was a couple of angry ducks who didn’t like sharing the lake with us.”

Gill has also completed several long distance walks including the 192-mile Coast to Coast, the West Highlands Way and the mountainous Tramuntana Trail in Mallorca.

Her sports mad dad instilled a love of exercise in her but she says it is important to find an activity that you enjoy.

“It’s what I would call a healthy habit and is part of my routine along with several long walks a week. I don’t pay much attention to my age. You shouldn’t use it as an excuse not to do things.”

 

The article is published on the NHS website here: https://www.lnwh.nhs.uk/news/gills-still-making-a-splash-8076

It also featured in local press: 

Ealing Times: https://www.ealingtimes.co.uk/news/23358723.swimmer-gill-still-making-splash-80-penguins/

Hillingdon Times: https://www.hillingdontimes.co.uk/news/23358723.swimmer-gill-still-making-splash-80-penguins/

Ealing Today: http://www.ealingtoday.co.uk/default.asp?section=info&page=congillturner001.htm