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Category: History

RIP John Martin-Dye, 1940-2022

31 December 20224 January 2023
History, Penguin members, Water Polo

We are sad to say goodbye to John Martin-Dye who died today.

John joined Penguin in 1948 when he was eight, and he grew to be a top swimmer and water polo player who stayed with the Club throughout his life, although also played for Watford in later years.

As a swimmer John was a double Olympian. As a water polo player he represented Great Britain internationally and was part of the Penguin team that won the British Championships in 1965.

Water polo team
1950s Penguin Water Polo Second Team probably mid to late 50s
Left to right
Back row: Ken Rogers, John Martin-Dye, Ted (Curly) Gerald, Terry Bushell.
Front row: Terry Fray, Lewis Bloomfield, Bobby Wollaston.
With the London Water Polo League Referees Cup, the Middlesex County Water Polo League shield and an unknown trophy.

 

John’s son, Graham, says, ‘John was an amazing father! His ethic in life was inspirational. He always worked hard to achieve anything, and never gave up. He lived life and travelled the world. He was always there for me and supported me in anything I wanted to do. He gave so much of this time back to sport and the community.’

Read more about John in the blog post written by Graham, last year. 

Our thoughts are with John’s wife Delia, Graham and all the family. 

RIP John. 

John and Graham Martin-Dye in their dress suits at a Penguin Dinner
John with his son Graham at a Penguin Dinner.

My Penguin Story: Graham and John Martin-Dye

18 March 20224 January 2023
History, Olympics, Penguin 100 Centenary, Penguin members, Water Polo

In this post Graham Martin-Dye tells his own Penguin story and that of his father, John…

John and Graham Martin-Dye in their dress suits at a Penguin Dinner
Graham with his Dad, John, at a Penguin Dinner

 

Born on 3rd January 1978 in Watford General Hospital to John and Delia Martin-Dye, I started swimming at Watford Swimming Club aged five, and I got into water polo aged seven or eight, watching my dad and older brother Steven.

I played for Watford seniors when I was about 12 and was soon scoring goals due to my fast swimming speed. I broke numerous club records and swam at county and southern county level.

When I was 15 I went with Watford to Malta for an annual tournament with teams from countries all over Europe. Penguin were there too and, because my Dad was a Penguin, the Penguin team treated me like one of their own, especially coach John “Shakey Lakey’!

A few year later, as my coach, Shakey would give me my first opportunity to play National League. He and Dad coached together and were great mates.

Graham Martin Dye with the Penguin Junior water polo team with his father and Shakey Lake as their coaches
Me in the Penguin junior water polo team in the 1990s, with my Dad (right) and Shakey Lake (left) as our coaches

 

At the Malta tournament, I watched a player from Yugoslavia called Igor Milanovic. He was one of the best centre forwards in the world and he inspired me to get better and gave me the desire to play international polo. He was an amazing player and scored some amazing goals.

I joined Penguin in 1994 and played my first National League game away against Cheltenham. Ian Spooner played. He was absolutely amazing and a real hero of mine growing up.

I loved playing for Penguin and we went on a pre-season tour to Konstanz Germany, where I played with the likes of Paul Skerm, Jerome Read, Paul Whatley and Graham Forbes.

Water polo team
2002 British Champions
Back row: Steve Baker (Coach) Aram Eidipour, Bruce Elder, Andy Holt, Sinan Naipoglu (GK), Chris Evans, Igor Zagaruiko and Ian ‘Grimbo’ Grimwood.
Middle row: Steve Cooter, Graham Martin-Dye, Tom Perry (c), Danny Davis, Wayne Davis and Paul Whatley.
Front row: Paul Skerm, Roger McPherson (GK), Jerome Read and Nick Beard.

 

At 16 I was selected to play for Great Britain in the European Junior Water Polo Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was a fantastic experience and taught me so much about international water polo and the level you had to be at in order to compete with the best.

I made the England senior team at 18 and played in the home nations in Scotland, where our goal keeper David Bush got red flagged in the first quarter of the final against Scotland. Luckily, we went on to win!

I then had a break from the international game for four years to focus on my swimming career. I was training for Sydney Olympics 2000, but just missed out on selection.

In 2000 I returned to water polo and was selected for the England team that played in the 2002 Commonwealth water polo championships in Manchester, winning the bronze medal. I also played with Penguin in the team that won the British Water Polo Championships at Sheffield the same year.

Water polo team photo
October 2002 and off the back of winning the British Championships title,  we played in the LEN Champions Cup, held in Malta. Sadly we returned home to London empty handed
Back row: Graham Martin-Dye, Bruce Elder, Simon Pemberton and Rodger Mcpherson
Middle Row: Chris Evans, Mark Bullerwell, Ed Morris, Nick Hume and Joe Ernst
Front row: Stephen Cooter, Aram Eidipour, Tom Perry, Wayne Davis and Jerome Read

 

In 2003 I left the UK to play water polo in Australia for the Balmain Tigers in the Australian National League from 2004 to 2010. We won bronze in 2004 and 2005.

All in all I had a great swimming and water polo career and I now live in Australia where I have a wonderful wife and three children. I also still try to enjoy some masters and Australian country water polo from time to time.

******

My father, John Martin-Dye was born on 21 May 1940 in Shepherds Bush where he grew up in Thornfield Road.

He joined Penguin when he was eight and remained a member of the Club throughout his life.

Young John Martin-Dye with his trophies
Dad with his swimming awards and trophies

 

One of the stories Dad would tell about his early aquatics career is how, aged 15, he did a back flip from a diving board but was too close, hitting his chin on the board and knocking out his two front teeth!

Thankfully this didn’t affect his determination or passion for swimming and water polo.

Newspaper cutting
1961 Penguin Swimming Club Champions
From left to right: PJ Randall, Ian McClelland, John Martin-Dye, Howard Beesely, ‘Spud’ Murphy (Club Coach), Craig Gibson, Keith Young, Ronald Clapp, John Pickering, John Pettican, Keith Clapp, Terry Lines, Jack Nievens

 

Dad’s list of achievements in swimming is long and impressive, holding a place in the Great Britain team from 1960-1966 and a double Olympian. During this time:

  • In the 1960 Rome Olympics he came 4th in the 4x200m Freestyle Relay team which set a new European record.
  • At the 1961 ASA British National Championships he won the 110yd, 220yd and 440yds Freestyle
  • At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth he won bronze in the 4x200yds and 4x100yds Freestyle relays.
  • He became the ASA British National Champion in 400yds Freestyle again in 1963.
  • At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics he was 7th in the 4x100m Freestyle relay.
  • In the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston Jamaica he won bronze in the 4x100m Freestyle relay.

Dad was also a first-rate water polo player. He was part of the Penguin National League team from late 50s, I think, to 1968 and he played for Great Britain.

Water polo team
Penguin Water Polo Second Team probably mid- to late-50s, with the London Water Polo League Referees Cup, the Middlesex County Water Polo League shield and an unknown trophy
Back row: Ken Rogers, John Martin-Dye, Ted (Curly) Gerald and Terry Bushell

Front row: Terry Fray, Lewis Bloomfield and Bobby Wollaston

 

Watch John in action for GB vs Spain in this 1965 British Pathe video: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/britain-beat-spain

 

In 1965, in the Penguin team alongside Shakey Lake and other Penguin greats, Dad won the British Championships in Walsall in a close-fought final beating Cheltenham 6-5. Dad scored five goals and Les Baldwin scored the other. Ron Turner was captain of the team.

1965 Winners of the ASA Club Championships
Back row: John Lake, Terry King, Pete Richardson, Bobby Wollaston and Brian Randall
Middle row: Dave Littlechild, Lew Bloomfield, Terry Bushell, Gerry Jarret, Bernard Castle and George Pepper
Front row: Mike Rogers, Bill Waite, Ron Turner, John Martin-Dye and Les Baldwin

 

Read the press report of their success.

 

This post is part of our Penguin100 series of stories from Penguins past and present, sharing what being a member of the Club means to them as we celebrate our Centenary.

Malcolm Cromer: Penguin Life

17 December 202114 January 2022
History, Penguin 100 Centenary, Penguin members

To celebrate the Club’s centenary we are publishing a series of stories from Penguins past and present, recording what being a member of our Club means to them.

This post comes from longstanding Penguin and Club Vice President Malcolm Cromer.

  

 

 

I’m Malcolm Cromer. Born 15 September 1950, Lefroy Road, Shepherds Bush, West London.

Man wearing gallses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shepherds Bush in the late 1940s and the 1950s I remember now as being grey. There were still some bomb sites from the war that had not been developed. Rationing lasted until 1953. As a kid in the 50s there was not a lot going on. Sounds grim but it wasn’t.

My best friend, Jack Neivens, born 27 September 1950, just two houses and the width of a road away. We followed in the footsteps of my brother Frank and Jack’s sister Gillian who were born within two weeks of each other in 1947. Jack’s real name was Alan, but with a sister named Gill…

Around 1956-7 Jack’s dad, Ron, started taking us to a swimming teaching club called ‘The Water Gypsies’ run by Hammersmith Borough Council at Lime Grove Baths on Sunday mornings. The baths were opened in July 1907 so were already 50 years old when we started there. You were enrolled with The Water Gypsies for one year, it was free of charge and, if you were deemed good enough after the year, you were recommended to Penguin SC for a trial if you were a boy, and Hammersmith Ladies SC if you were a girl. After a year Jack and I were put forward and accepted by Penguin.

 

Swimming pool
Lime Grove Baths

 

Our Penguin Life journey had begun.

From the age of seven our lives consisted of school and swimming training on Mondays and Thursdays at Lime Grove. Chain swimming length after length with our then coach ‘Spud’ Murphy shouting “There’s plenty of room out in front”. I mentioned that the pool was already 50 years old… the chlorinated water stung your eyes and nostrils, and I remember many a night crying myself to sleep to get rid of the stinging sensation. The situation was caused by so many by unwashed bodies and their effluent in the pool. Shepherds Bush was, after all, a working class area with some quite deprived areas of housing. I often quip that ‘at Lime Grove you did not swim, you went through the motions‘. Even now I think those of us who experienced the conditions and survived probably don’t need a COVID vaccination as we can withstand anything.

 

Newspaper cutting showing Penguin junior swimmers with their trophies
Cutting from the West London Observer, Friday 16 Nov 1962: Penguin Juniors enjoyed an outstanding season. They are pictured here after their victory in the Chelsea Inter-Club Challenge Shield gala. Back row L-R: Geoffrey Lake, Keith Young, Tommy Reid, Ronald Clapp. Front row L-R: Malcolm Cromer, Keith Clapp, Jack Nievens, John Jeffreys, Terry Lines and Peter Lee.

 

I joined Acton Swimming Club to get extra training and was ‘second claim’ to them if Penguin did not need me. After a dispute with an official at Penguin, I left and went first claim to Acton. As few years later, by the time I was fifteen, Jack had started playing water polo at Penguin and after a brief conversation with him I rejoined Penguin to learn the ‘dark art’.

Polo training sessions would see thirty to forty members vying for places in the pick up teams. Sunday afternoon training at Lime Grove consisted of one hour swimming training, one hour ball-work and one hour of water polo games. In one of the more grueling exercises we would line up along one side of the pool, dive in, swim the width of the pool, climb out, run across to touch the wall, run back, dive in, swim back, climb out, touch the wall, run back, dive in and repeat 20 times. The climb out was the killer as the difference between the waterline and the pool deck was some 25-30cm, not like the modern design where the water laps onto the side.

Our mentors were legendary:

  • RT – Ron Turner – Olympian and everybody’s hero.
  • Les Baldwin, who would kick you then tell you what you were doing wrong.
  • Bryan (Swaz) Randall, first team goalkeeper who taught me the sling shot and push shot.
  • Bill Wait, who taught me how to insert my finger into the opponent’s swimming trunks drawstring, twist, and then move him around at will: it was he also who said “Nod to the referee when you give away your first foul, look quizzically at him after he gives you a second foul, and you will usually get away with the third foul” – the Dark Arts.

1965 saw the formation of an under-18 side coached by Terry Bushell and managed by RT. Jack was elected Captain.

A three year programme resulted in us becoming National Champions in 1968. Along the way we had beaten our arch rivals Sutton and Cheam at Crystal Palace to gain the Southern Area Championship. We then went on to play Thornaby at their home town of Stockton-on-Tees in the quarter finals. Thornaby were so confident of be becoming the eventual champions they had bid for and were awarded the hosting of the final, but we beat them after extra time.  The extra time made us late for the train home, but British Rail held the train until we got there. To this day I do not know who arranged that!

 

Newspaper cutting about the train being delayed to get young Penguins home from a matchThe semi final saw us at Walsall playing the Midlands champions. We won and retired to a local for a drink and a meal. The coach driver, who had watched the game came with us and celebrated with one too many Guinness and whiskies, couldn’t find his way out of Walsall. We stopped to ask a Police motorcycle patrolman – Terry Bushell doing the asking, not the driver. The patrolman very kindly gave us an escorted drive to the motorway.

It was during this coach trip that Jack got taken short, found a plastic bag, relieved himself only to find that the bag had holes in it. Several of us were anointed before the bag was jettisoned through the skylight of the coach.

The final back up in Stockton saw us playing Birkenhead, the North West Champions. We won!

 

Photo of the Penguin water polo players who won the 1968 Junior Championships of England
Winners of the Junior Club Championships of England, the Southern Counties Junior title and the Middlesex County Junior Finals. Standing L-R: Terry Bushell (Team Coach), Malcolm Cromer, Derek Fraser, Clive Roberts, Peter Berry, Derek Ross, Ron Turner (Team Manager) and John Wilkinson (Club Captain). Kneeling: Martin Howard, Alan Wright, Jack Neivens (Team Captain), Niel Hutson and Brian Pearce

 

Newspaper cutting about Penguin winning the National Championships

 

 

Certficate

 

While all this was going on Jack and I had been working our way upwards from the Penguin fourth team. My debut in the first team was at Nine Elms against Cheltenham.

From 1965 to 1975, with all my friends in the first team apart from Jack being several years older, my life was water polo and Penguin. Gerry Jarrett (who lives next door to me), Bobby Wollaston, Eddie Rowe, Terry King, Roger Roberts, Mick (‘Dodge’) Rogers, John Lake, John Martin-Dye. Eventually Peter Berry and Derek Fraser gained places in the first team too and went on to gain representative honours. It was during this time that Steve Baker joined us to become one of the legendary Penguin goal keepers and later stewards of the Club.

My brief sojourn into international representation occurred around 1969 or 70 where I was selected to play for GB under-20s in a friendly against Spain. We had a get-together as GB Lions at a tournament in Sutton and Cheam before being thrown into the game against Spain at Walsall Baths. We were due to play Spain twice, once on the Friday evening and again on the Saturday. At our team talk on the Friday we were told that most of our opponents had played in the Spanish senior team in the 1968 Olympics, they had been together as a junior team for four years, and they were financed by a millionaire – “Go in and do your best”. Well… Friday’s result was 22-1, Saturday’s result was 22-2, neither in our favour! I remember Brian Flook of Sutton and Cheam (who was there to play Walsall on the same programme) coming into the changing rooms after and saying “Well done lads, remember they are professionals”. That sentence saved me. I was in shock and felt that we had been sent into in an ambush. Thank goodness that things have improved.

Back to 1967 – not yet 17. Penguin were invited by the Maltese water polo club, Balluta, to a tournament in August. We flew out from Heathrow on a chartered Bristol Britannia turbo prop aircraft. This was my first trip abroad to anywhere exotic and hot.

I presented at Heathrow early enough to get a drink at the bar with the rest of the Penguin party before the 10.00pm flight. Jack was with me. I was wearing my one and only suit – a blue John Burton creation complete with white shirt and Penguin Club tie, all designed for the rigours of the British climate. I looked and felt smart, and somewhat sophisticated.

In the bar Dodge Rogers came up to me and asked “Are you all right Malc?” I said yes looking at him dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. As we took our seats on the plane Dodge came up to me and asked, “Are you all right Malc?” and I said “Yes Dodge”. Halfway through the flight Dodge came up to me and again asked “Are you all right Malc?”. Again I said “Yes I’m fine”. The flight landed around two o’clock in the morning. As I made my way towards the exit of the plane a wave of hot air hit me and it got progressively hotter as I got to the door. I started sweating in my Burton suit, my shirt clung to me and I loosened my Club tie. I made my way stickily down the steps onto the excessively hot tarmac to find Dodge Rogers waiting at the bottom. He smiled at me and said “Are you all right Malc?”…

The suit stayed in my room for the rest of the tour.

Our accommodation was a newly built college in St Julians. We finally got to bed around 3.30am only to be woken by the sound of a compressor and road drills at around 6.00am. I went back to sleep but was woken at around 8.00am by an explosion that shook the building. I leapt out of bed expecting a scene of devastation, but all I saw was the workmen eating sandwiches around the still intact compressor. Back to bed only to be awoken by another explosion. I was experiencing the prelude to the St Julians fiesta weekend where they set off loud fireworks called petards every morning leading up to the saints day fireworks display.

The tournament consisted of four teams: Balluta the hosts, Penguin, an RAF representative side who seemed to spend all their service life playing water polo around the Mediterranean, and Otter from London. The first game was on the evening of our first full day in Malta at the outdoor Balluta pitch.

Jack, Terry Bushell and I found ourselves at the front of the spectators area behind the journalists table. (Water polo was – and still is – a big sport in Malta and games were reported in the daily papers).

The first game was Balluta vs Otter and was an ill tempered match; I know not why. At one point when the match was stopped by the referee, one of the Balluta players got out and remonstrated with the ref. An Otter players came to the side of the pitch, still in the water, and asked the referee what was happening. Suddenly the Balluta player took a run off the side of the pitch, leapt, and did a scissor kick into the face of the Otter player, knocking him senseless, and subsequently hospitalising him.

This caused uproar. Parts of the crowd started to riot and the police took time to settle things down. When the Balluta goalkeeper got out and stated that his team mate was in the wrong, his teammates started to push him around and he was ‘sent to Coventry’ by his team the following day!

at the end of the game our goalkeeper, Terry Bushell, asked for the name and address of the Balluta goalkeeper and the next day Terry, Jack and I went to visit with him. This was our first introduction to a man who was to become a lifelong friend and comrade – Charlie Mock.

Many of you will have seen Charlie unknowingly as he has been an extra in many films made in Malta. If you have ever watched the 1971 film Murphy’s War starring Peter O’Toole, Charlie plays the German submariner sonar operator who hands the sonar earphones to the Captain just before O’Toole drops the torpedo on them. In the more recent film World War Z Charlie is standing just behind Brad Pitt in one scene.

Charlie has been a great friend to Penguin and me over the years. He asked me several times to go and play for Balluta, but like an idiot I declined because I did not want to lose my amateur status. Balluta later changed their name to San Giljan and many years later hosted our women’s team for a short tour. In recognition of his great friendship with Penguin Charlie was made and Honorary member of the Club a number of years ago.

 

Two men in dinner suits
With Charlie Mock at the Penguin Dinner in 2013

 

Penguin toured Malta again in 1970, and this time I collected all the newspaper clippings and put them in a scrap book. Given the passage of time they are sepia-like now.

Steve Baker’s blog post outlines and records the fortunes of the Club in terms of our results over the years. From 1965 to 1975 I was taking part in those Penguin results.

Having played water polo at a high level for 10 years I had to concentrate on work and some semblance of a career. I had married ‘the management’ Carol in 1972 – one of the few sound decisions in my life – and she had been a constant support during the polo days.

In 1975 I took two years away from Penguin after purchasing our first house in Bracknell, Berkshire. The mortgage left us with only £5.00 spending money at the end of the month. Instead I played water polo locally with Bracknell, and that brought me back together with Brian Flook who I mentioned earlier. Brian was working at Bracknell Sports Centre and a member of the team.

I got back to Penguin in 1977 and carried on, as before, spending most of my spare time playing polo with the Club. A typical day would be: drive to work in Basingstoke (25 miles) – do a days work – drive home – dinner- drive into London (either Imperial College or Highgate School) for a 9.00pm game start – go for a post-match drink – driving home arriving around 12.30am. I did this a couple of times a week, plus Sunday afternoon training at Clissold Road baths in Stoke Newington.

Water polo players
1979 National Water Polo League Division 2 Champions. Back row L-R: Gerry Jarrett, Peter Allen, Paul Whatley, Jack Dengel (President), John Tozer, Steve Baker, Jimmy Andrews, Malcolm Cromer, Graham Forbes. Front row L-R: John Martin-Dye, Dean Lloyd, David Burling, Bobby Wollaston, John Lake, John Woodward.

 

I finally hung up my cap around 1985; I can’t remember my last league game, but have remained a member of Penguin.

 

Penguin water polo reunion at Cheltenham Lido
National League anniversary celebration at Cheltenham Lido in 1986. Standing L-R: Tony Pearce, John Whelan, Jack Dengel, Lew Bloomfield, Ken Rogers, Peter Harmon. Sitting L-R: Malcolm Cromer, Mike ‘Dodge’ Rogers, Bobby Wollaston, Kevin Burge (referee and player from Isleworth Penguin), Ron Turner and John ‘Shakey’ Lake.

 

A number of years ago Carol, my wife, and Lew Bloomfield got together and enlisted some of the old players and their wives (some now widows) to create an informal club called the Pearl Club. We keep in regular touch in order to stay active, both mentally and physically. Old friends like Gill Turner get together with Fi Rowe and Jean Harmon. Before COVID we would spend a weekend every year in Bournemouth. All this from our association with Penguin. We are looking forward to getting together again next year after a two-year gap.

Sitting at atable at the Penguin Dinner in 2013
With some of the Pearl Club members at the Penguin Dinner in 2013

 

Many of the players with whom I played and made fantastic friendships are now no longer with us: RT, Eddie Rowe, Bobby Wollaston, Peter Harmon, Shakey Lake, John Tozer, Bill Wait, Dima Gallitzine, Derek Roberts and  others.

Men in black tie suits
Penguin 75th Anniversary Dinner in 1996.Standing L-R: Bobby Wollaston, Terry Bushell, Peter Harmon, Gerry Jarrett, Eddie Rowe , Lew Bloomfield and Bryan Randall. Sitting L-R: Jack Dengel, Ron Turner, Derek Roberts and Ben Castle.

 

But the biggest loss to me was Jack.

Man and woman in part outfits
Jack Nievens and wife Barbara at the Penguin 75th Anniversary Dinner in 1996

 

Jack Neivens – the mate that I had grown up with – died of a heart attack in October 2000 at the age of 50. I go to his grave in Croughton, Northants every year on his birthday, 27th September, and leave a birthday card. The story is even sadder. After winning the National Junior Championship in 1968 the junior team was invited by the Club to attend the annual dinner and dance then held at Hammersmith Town Hall. We were all seated together, lauded by the Club throughout the evening and given presentation tankards. Jack’s father Ron was, like all the parents there, as proud as punch especially as Jack was the captain. During one of the dances Ron collapsed and later died of a heart attack.

I make no apology for reminding those who remember these incidents. They are a part of life and if any of the younger Penguin members reading this post go on to have similar life friendships with fellow Club members then be prepared but don’t dwell on the bad times. Treasure the good times and the comradeship that being a member of Penguin can bestow.

 In his blog post Steve Baker has already highlighted the nomadic existence of the Club since the Lime Grove days. When considering the future of Penguin, my one wish would be to have a stable home pool where all the sections of the Club can meet together. The meandering delusions of an old ‘has been’? Maybe, but it would be great to give future Penguins the chance to have the same life-enhancing exercise, sport, and above all comradeship that I have been lucky to have throughout the greater part of my life.

See more of my Penguin friends across the years in the gallery below.

I train every weekday at 7.00am at my local David Lloyd club. 1500 metres a day. Not bad for a 71 year old, but I owe it all to Penguin.

Malc C

Manibus Pedibusque
With Hands And Feet

With-Ron-Turner-at-Penguins-75th-Anniversary-Dinner-in-1996

With-Ron-Turner-at-Penguins-75th-Anniversary-Dinner-in-1996
Image 1 of 6

Penguin100 Stories: Steve Baker

3 May 202122 September 2021
History, Penguin 100 Centenary

2021 marks our Club’s 100th anniversary.

To celebrate we are publishing a series of stories from Penguins past and present, recording what being a member of our Club means to them.

Our first post comes from long-standing member and Past President, Steve Baker.

 

 

 

1969.

15 years of age, a full head of hair and a 30-inch waist!

I didn’t really know what was about to happen.

Penguin were in a high point, junior national champions, ASA Knock Out runner up to Poly, top five in the newly formed, seven-year-old, National Water Polo League.

Numerous top and talented players, Pete Davis, and Derek Fraser, both international goal keepers; Ron Turner, John Martin-Dye, both Olympians; Eddie Rowe, Terry King, Gerry Jarrett, John Lake, Pete Berry, Ian Wright, Jimmy Andrews, Malcolm Cromer and numerous others. We boasted five senior teams and a junior team.

The early years

I joined Penguin from Hampstead Priory, a swimming and water polo club in Swiss Cottage, North London. I had some early plaudits for my goal keeping. I was a good swimmer, especially in fly and long-distance open water swimming and had represented London at the English schools.

At Hampstead Priory I started as an outfield player but as is often the case found myself in goal due to an absence of a goalkeeper. It was here that I started my ‘relationship’ with Yugoslavia. I met a Yugoslav goalkeeper, Nic Vuckovic, who was possibly the biggest and certainly one of the first influences in my career. Nic was a draft dodger (and who can blame it in Cold War Europe) who was not tall but a fabulous goalkeeper with fantastic technique and reflexes. He taught me skills unheard of in the English game of dynamic goalkeeping, positioning, ball stealing and importantly how to stop a shot. Useful in an aspiring goalie.

I played for the Priory in the days of the leather ball and was taught how to catch and throw by a policeman, Mr. Brown. Catching and throwing a leather ball is by far the best way to learn to control a water polo ball as there is no ‘grip’.

I wanted to get better, I was living in Kilburn and had my bike, so it was off to the Penguin. It might have been Polytechnic as they used my school pool for training, but they did not have a junior team. Their loss.

Thursday evenings at Lime Grove baths, Shepherd’s Bush, our home for many, many years, now a development of flats.

Shepherd’s Bush, famous for the Empire, Steptoe and Son, the BBC and Penguin Swimming and Water Polo Club.

Our home pool, Lime Grove (two pools actually), was immediately opposite the BBC TV studios. The story often told was that in the early days of TV when, shock horror, no one had 42-inch screens and watched football every night, there were matches where the crowds queued around the block to get in and see Penguin.

Rob Derbyshire, the pool manager at Lime Grove, founded Penguin in 1921. Hammersmith Ladies was formed in 1916. The two clubs merged in 1921: the birth year of my father and Prince Phillip, so lots of good things happened.

My early memories from 1969 through until 1972 were of evenings either training, playing pickup games where the winners stayed in and there would be three or four teams of Penguin players getting in after a period. Two hours of games. Sometimes we would have two proper matches in London and Middlesex Leagues on a club night.

Penguin Juniors was a fantastic experience. A fabulous set of players in a London League champion team: Peter Berry, Clive Roberts, Alan Wright, Jimmy Andrews, Graham Forbes and Steve Tetlow. The 1968 national junior champions included captain, Jack Nievens#, and Malcom Cromer. Malcolm’s father, Wally, was the club swimming coach and a silversmith who made the Presidents’ chain!

We also made up then bulk of the Middlesex county junior team that had numerous epic matches against Essex, led by GB junior captain Graham Bernard, Sussex, with the fearsome Billy Warner, and Surrey with their Chris Smith who had a habit of joining the opponents in the warm-up to test the ‘grit’ of the goalie by planting a shot on his nose. Legendary, unless you were the goalie.

That played into my hands of course, as I quite enjoyed saving with my head.

Tony Love playing for Watford and Hertfordshire was a standout player in the day with one of the best handling skills in the league. He turned his hands into being a top chef and later went on to provide us with some of our best annual dinners at Harrington Hall, Kensington.

In the 1960s and 1970s Polytechnic was without doubt the outstanding team of the age. Nearly all their players were internationals: Neil May, in my opinion the best goalie, alongside Martyn Thomas of Cheltenham, that the country has seen. (I was too young to really see Pater Pass at his best, one of the few water polo plyers to be honoured by the Queen.); the much-feared Terry Benstead, club and country captain; Roddy Jones, Chris Ayling, the McCartney brothers, Tony Meek (still winning masters national swimming titles at the age of 70+), Dave Chapman and possibly one of the best forwards the country has seen in the form of left hander, Andy Lench. Andy was a young player for Aston before moving to Poly. Andy was also one of the first players in my knowledge to have gone abroad to improve themselves. He went to the then Yugoslavia as a current senior international water polo player. The Yugoslavs immediately said his leg work was not good enough and wouldn’t allow him to play until he had spent a month doing solely leg work.

A strong message for any aspiring player.


Playing for Britain

I had watched the Poly play an international tournament in Crystal Palace in 1968 when I was still at Hampstead Priory and was hugely inspired and influenced. Indeed, it was the Poly ‘methods’ that influenced me hugely as a ‘leader’. They had plans in the 1970s to play in the Dutch league to improve their play. I remembered that idea and it inspired me to start the regular forays to Holland for Penguin teams.

My international journey started in 1970. I was a member of the team in 1972 which won a three-team tournament of GB, Spain and Holland. It was the only victory against Spain and Holland in half a century.

I was selected for my country and represented GB Juniors in Duisburg, then in West Germany, in the 1973 European Junior Championships. A very memorable moment was playing in Hungary in a warm-up tournament, when the coach said we should be defensive to keep the score ‘respectable’. Mark Mitchell and Andy Lench both refused to do this and the team went on the attack. Although we lost 8-4, it was one of the best performances against a Hungarian team until the 11-11 draw in 1991 by the GB seniors. Sadly, this cost Mitchell and Lench their places in the European Championships team – a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face.

Another memorable match in Budapest was playing Sweden in a thunderstorm, lightning and all, the rain splashing a couple of inches above water level and the referees dressed in white waterproofs. Where was health and safety then?

Liverpool

1972 saw me go to Liverpool University and with two great goalkeepers ahead of me at Penguin, I joined Everton to get National League and higher-level competition.

With Everton, we won the ASA knock out against Poly in a 7-6 extra time game at Walsall baths with Geoff Derby as coach. He was to become Penguin coach 15 years later. We also staged the Europa Club Championship at Blackpool baths in 1974 and were beaten by a Ferencvaros side featuring Sivos and the Conrad brothers and the goalkeeper who went on to become GB Women’s coach. I got a MOTM award, the Hungarian goalie cap and a senior GB call up on the back of it. A very proud moment.

Having Gary Simons and Martin Blenkinsop as ball boys was a fun moment in retrospect. They both went on to become outstanding international players and of course played for Penguin in the middle 1980s.

At Liverpool, I had three great years where the University won the UAU (Universities Athletic Union) water polo championships three times and the UAU swimming championship twice, a never to be repeated feat. We also got Gold, Silver and Bronze in the BUSF (British Universities Sports Federation) championships. It was here that I met my lifelong friend John Barnes, who played so well for UAU B. To be fair, he was a ‘Fresher’, and an A team player for the subsequent three years, but put in the B team to lead on that occasion.

Rebuilding the team

On my return to London, I immediately rejoined Penguin for top division play. Sadly, the club was in a period of decline. In 1974 we appeared in the ASA Championship final, lost to Poly and a large number of the first team retired. This left Gerry Jarrett leading a team of older players and a couple of kids. It was so bad that we went to Birkenhead for one fixture in the ‘Ferry’ against Birkenhead. The Ferry was a huge lido on the south side of the Mersey where the cold wind was always present. Of the ‘Magnificent 7’ that day, we had 2 goalkeepers, Terry Bushell and me. I therefore played outfield and scored one of our two goals that game. We were relegated that season and 1977 saw us in division 2.

John Lake took over as coach and the team reformulated around a group of young players and one or two elder players. John Martin-Dye and Gerry Jarrett were there, now supported by young, keen and slim players such as Graham Forbes who boasted ‘the best legs in the National League’ and a new talent who would go on to be the leading scorer in Division 2 for many years, Paul Whatley. Paul was tall, fast and extremely strong with a devastating shot.

John made me Captain and we started a programme of development with a strong association with Holland, playing in Zeist (the biggest water polo field in the world, probably), staying with Jan and Myrna, relations to Lew Bloomfield. Indeed, that association proved pivotal in later years.

Here’s a typical team attending Holland with all nine players under 25 years, plus John Lake as player/coach, Jan and Myrna and Lew and family:

Water polo players
1979 Dutch tour

Numerous young talented players came our way and we ‘reached out’ to other non-National League clubs for talented youth. David Burling, Dean Lloyd and Paul Howard were just three outstanding young players that joined us under this method, whilst through our junior development and connections with schools such as City of London we acquired Ian Spooner, Dave and Paul Bryan, and of course there were the ‘family’ ties, Paul Wollaston, Guy Neivens, Peter Falcini.

By 1978 we were League 2 champions and promoted.

Water polo players
Division 2 Champions.
Back row: Gerry Jarrett, Peter Allen, Paul Whatley, Jack Dengel (President), John Tozer, Steve Baker, Jimmy Andrews, Malcolm Cromer, Graham Forbes.
Front row: John Martin-Dye, Dean Lloyd, David Burling, Bobby Wollaston, John Lake, John Woodward.

We were joined for one year by Alessandro Ghibellini, Olympic Medalist and Italian hero. A member of Pro Recco, the most successful club side ever in Europe. That started another enduring relationship which saw future players such as Marco Baldinetti, one of the top players in the world at one stage, join us and indeed Alessandro’s sons Stefano and Alberto played for us, usually when living with me to learn English. Alessandro added experience and solidity to our structure, and we looked to have gained a foothold in Division 1.

However, a couple of outrageous incidents which after all these years still stick in the mind occurred. A ‘standing’ goal by Benstead where we were drawing 4-4 with Poly and thence lost by 1 and two final games of the season wins by Aston (including the infamous John Barnes) against Poly and Sutton after the season had been decided, saw our 8 points insufficient to stay up and we went down on goal difference, bitterly disappointed.

More than a water polo club

We had the very good fortune to become associated through Paul Whatley with Slush Puppie who were our sponsors for almost a decade. Ralph Peters, the company Managing Director, supported us hugely with cash, equipment and kit.

In 1980 we attempted to build on the relationship with our sponsors Slush Puppie and create something interesting and new by starting the Slush Puppie Galarama. My idea was to try to replicate the fabulous 1970s show It’s a Knockout, or, as we were in the EEC then, Jeux Sans Frontier.

In the event, we had water polo matches of course, but we included massive relay races 12x25m silly races and my favorite, the Club Superstars where the attending clubs would put forward their ‘Hero’ who would do a number of exercises in a competitive way. All events counted equally for the overall winners. In addition, the events were used as vehicles for sponsorship, raising money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, Help a London Child and Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

The first event was held at Potters Bar helped by our great relationship with the pool manager Dave Webzell and secondly at Janet Adegoke pool.

Portobello won the first event and we won the second.

It is a shame that this event stopped but it was mainly due to the lack of control of a home pool and demands on pools for whole weekends.

Whilst on the subject of ‘not water polo’, the swimming achievements should be mentioned.

John Martin-Dye alongside Rob Derbyshire, were our most successful swimmers, both Olympians. John was British 100m, 200m and 400m swimming champion, all achieved in the now long-gone Derby Baths in Blackpool. A beautiful indoor 50m saltwater pool.

We frequently attended the Middlesex Masters’ competitions with Ron Turner and John Lake regularly winning events. Indeed, John Lake in 1987 became the European Masters 100m and 200m Backstroke champion and held the British records for those events.

To broaden the achievement base, some of our members have qualified for the British Triathlon Age Group team and a number have completed solo and team Channel crossings.

As a slight tangent, we did some whacky things. We were awarded Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s Illuminated scroll twice for being British Champions, Chelsea FC being another recipient. We canoed the Wye as a team building exercise. We also entered the Guinness Book of Records with a 25-hour water polo match, led magnificently by a somewhat prune-like John Barnes.

Home sweet home

If ‘pools’ has been a constant commentary in my recollections, it’s because having a ‘home’ pool has over time been a recurring theme.

Those early years of the 1970s and 80s saw us being moved on from pool to pool. Nine Elms pool where we were playing as they started to drain the pool, Lime Grove was closed to build flats, we moved to Kensington New Pools. Through Cliff Spooner we obtained Imperial College, which was our home for many years prior to getting into Gurnell. This association, which I managed to secure as the pool was just opening, was fortunate as it was the only deep-water pitch outside of Crystal Palace in London.

In my time at Penguin, we have used the following as our home pool:

  • Nine Elms
  • Lime Grove
  • Kensington New Pools
  • Imperial College
  • Potters Bar
  • Highgate School
  • Gurnell
  • Shell
  • Hillingdon
  • Latymer

John Lake, as manager for the Shell Centre pool, made a significant contribution to the club by enabling Penguin to use the Shell Centre for many years. It had previously been the home of arch rivals, Otter.

We have been very lucky to have developed relationships with pool managers and Local Authorities over the years to facilitate this.

Water polo players
Opening match at Gurnell pool, Ealing, 1984.
Penguin v Scotland

What’s in a name?

Our club’s name has been a moving feast. 1916, Hammersmith Ladies, 1921, Penguin in the 1980s we became Hammersmith Penguin to associate ourselves more closely with the borough. The problem was that overseas Hammersmith meant very little. We were “London Penguin”. In the 1990s therefore with the ASA refusing our application to become London Penguin, we adopted the name West London Penguin S&WPC. The ASA had decided that London was too large an area for the ‘London’ suffix and all clubs had to have a geographic name. Established names such as London Polytechnic and Otter were allowed to stand.

Becoming a force

Back to competition.

Division 2 could not hold us, and champions again in 1981 saw us back up in the top division. From 1982 through the early ‘80s we gradually developed our position and our hold on Division 1. As we strengthened, further players joined us, John Barnes from Aston, Martin Blenkinsop and Gary Simons from Everton, Rick Ambidge from Bedford, Robbie Arnold from California, Fraser Moore from Scotland. Each of these players made a significant positive impact in their way. John, an outstanding swimmer and all-round player who should have represented his country. Martin and Gary, both very strong and astute water polo players. Rich, a raw recruit from Bedford who swam a 55sec 100m and was a very strong defender. Robbie had all the skills. Fraser, an extremely rugged centre forward.

We made many trips to Holland in those days playing in competitions and training in environments superior to what we had in London.

After that there was a grim determination. An incident saw Paul Whatley and me approached to join Polytechnic. We refused saying that we would be champions soon enough. The laughter from our erstwhile opponents was enough to drive us on.

Returning to Holland. We had a training weekend staying on Jan and Myrna’s garage floor in sub -zero February temperatures. “WE WILL WIN THIS YEAR,” said Paul Whatley, “cause I’m not ****** coming back here again in the winter”.

We did win. In 1986 we staged and won the British Deepwater Championships. In its inaugural year. As Secretary for the National League, I had set this up to replace the one-off game between the champions of England and of Scotland which had to that date decided the British champions.

That year the team was coached by Mick Leask, a policeman with pretty extreme training and motivational methods. The sight of players wearing the ‘hat of shame’ was enough to drive the best from them. The team in the 1980s was outstanding and the winning team at the first British Championship was a magical blend of raw talent and strong ‘professional’ players.

Ian Spooner, surely one of the best pure talents to emerge from the club, Robbie Arnold, only a year with us but hugely influential, Martin Blenkinsop, Paul Wollaston, the nonstop swimmer, Paul Anjos, always winning the swim off. Fraser Moore is a player worth a mention at this stage. In the key match of the British Championships finals, he scored two goals out of the pit against the then US national team goalkeeper to put us 2-0 up and completely shock Poly. A 6-6 draw with Poly. But with wins for us against Portobello and Sutton and Poly losing to Portobello, the championship came to West London.

1986 British Champions.
Back Row: Paul Whatley, Fraser Moore, Paul Wollaston, John Barnes, Steve Baker, Martin Blenkinsop.
Front row: Jerome Read, Gary Simons, Ian Spooner, Guy Nievens, Paul Anjos, Robbie Arnold.
Laying down: Rich Ambidge.

We played in the European club championships for the first time of a number in following years. We were drawn in Naples against a very strong set of opponents from Italy, of course, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. We lost to Naples by one goal and appeared on Italian Match of the Day. A week of training in the Pro Recco pool prepared us well for the competition. We gave a good account on our first European Cup competition but failed to get through to the second round.

This was not our first foray into Europe of course. The club has been on regular tours to Holland, Portugal and Malta and struck up firm friendships such as with Charlie Mock of Malta.

Water polo players
Penguin at Sliema pitch, Malta in 1985.

The team went on the next year (1987) to win the National League and featured possibly the most all-round player I have ever seen at the club, Rich Ambidge. He joined as a very raw, big and fast swimmer. Two years with us as an attacking back and then off to the USA where he starred for many years. His influence on our play was extraordinary. We also had the emergence of Miguel Ortiz who topped the scoring charts. He was as close to Gary Lineker as you will see in a pool. A scoring sensation from all distances and of course with some South American guile thrown in. We had a new coach, Goeff Derby, in his day a high scoring forward for Everton.

Water polo players
1987 National League Winning Team.
Bact row: Derek Roberts, Graham Forbes, Ian Grimwood, Rich Ambidge, Paul Wollaston, Mario Tixi.
Middle row: Paul Whatley, Fraser Moore, Steve Baker, Ian Spooner, Alan Wollaston.
Front row: Miguel Ortiz, Gary Simons, Paul Anjos, Jerome Read.

In the middle 1980s we had a number in the National Team, Paul Whatley, Gary Simons, Martin Blenkinsop, Miguel Ortiz, Paul Wollaston and me for England, Ian Spooner and Paul Nicholson for Wales, Fraser Moore for Scotland.

I became coach of Penguin in 1989 and we had success with a very young team winning the ASA Plate in 1991 in Ponds Forge, Sheffield and repeatedly came close in other competitions.

1992 saw a barbarian team go the World Masters including 4 Penguin players, Paul Whatley, John Barnes, Ian Grimwood and myself. We had a remarkable journey in the competition reaching the semi-finals.
I also became the GB and England Manager in 1993 which saw my involvement with the club reduce.

The club continued to be very close to winning many trophies in the 1990s under coaches, Paul Wollaston and John Lake. Young players continued to be the core of this team including Jerome Read, Bruce Elder, Tom Perry, Danny and Wayne Davis and JP Gaume.

The 1990s saw Penguin again as very close to the top but never quite there for the men’s team. But the club developed in other ways with the formation of the women’s team. It was here that John Lake gravitated to become their very popular coach for many years.

The women competed at the top with clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester and Otter, all of which were very strong in the fledgling years.

In 1999, I was approached by senior members of the team to come back as coach. How can anyone say no to such a request?

On my return to Penguin as coach in 2000 we had 5 years of great success, winning the British Championships in 2002 and runner up in 2001 and 2003.

The team by the early 2000s the team was becoming a lot more cosmopolitan. The 2002 British Championship winning team featured players from England, Scotland, Wales, Iran, Turkey and Azerbaijan. The finals at Ponds Forge, Sheffield were as epic as when we won in 1986. Wins against all teams left us with the crunch match against Bristol, who had emerged under Mark Taylor, the National Team coach. In the tightest of games, the breakthrough goal was scored by Aram Eidipour against the national team goal keeper, Dave Bush. Aram must have dummied Dave and the defence 10 times and got closer and closer to the goal to make a certain goal. Time stood still during those dummies.

2002 British Champions.
Back row:  Steve Baker (Coach) Aram Eidipour, Bruce Elder, Andy Holt, Sinan Naipoglu (GK), Chris Evans, Igor Zagaruiko.
Middle row: Steve Cooter, Graham Martin-Dye, Tom Perry (c), Danny Davis, Wayne Davis.
Front row: Roger McPherson (GK), Jerome Read, Nick Beard.

We were once again on the European tour with trips to Malta, Crete, Portugal, Holland and Belgium.
The St Niklaas tournament in Belgium on August Bank holiday weekend became a regular pre-season training tournament for both junior and senior teams. We won this tournament a few times with both senior and junior teams. A morning swim across the chilly lake was the penalty for anyone whose intake on Saturday evening was over the eight…

Water polo players
Penguin at St Niklaas.
Back row: Andy Holt, Paul Skerm, John Whatley, Stefano Pedrali, Dorian Dacie.
Middle row: Paul Whatley, Guy Whatley, Jerome Read, Brice Elder, Tom Perry, Nick Beard, Justin Shute, Paul Wollaston.
Front row: Steve Baker, Steve Cooter.

One of my favourite photos was taken by Martin Waller of a voluntary entry following beating the Belgian State team in the St Niklaas final with a Penguin junior team. I was the overworked coach:

SDteve Baker jumping into the lake still wearing his clothes
A final victory celebration! St Niklaas, Belgium.

Bright new beginnings

As Club President, I made an after-dinner speech urging the club to turn its attentions to the development of young players.

Paul Bryan, Paul Whatley and I worked at St Paul’s School for many years developing young players, but we were always in the hands of others regarding pools.

The opening of the 50m all deep pool in Hillingdon provided an opportunity for the club. A return to former days and a huge opportunity to develop junior water polo. There was a time when Penguin would play matches in Hillingdon lido. John Whelan liked it so much he bought a house within walking distance.

With the senior players seeking to run the first team on their own, I moved on to working with the juniors. After some five years of negotiation and public relations where I worked very closely with the Sports Development Officer in Hillingdon Council, we were awarded the right to develop water polo in the borough, securing the water polo contract for Hillingdon pool and setting up our junior operation there which started in 2010.

This took the form of junior and mini polo and was the basis of the junior teams that we now have. Success in winning the London League junior division 2 and winning the junior county and regional championship and semi-final of the ASA junior was a great run. This formative operation in Hillingdon in one of the premier 50m deep pools in London is still going as under the leadership of Sue Seagroatt.

A training camp in Becej, Serbia allowed that crop of young players including Joe Ortiz and Tom Dean to develop their skills ahead of their international appearances. It also meant a full circle in my relationship with Yugoslavia. Starting with my Yugoslav coach and coming to Serbia with the juniors.

A number of senior games for the men and the women were played at Hillingdon and we staged some London League tournaments. This excellent facility was largely passed up as a home by the club and we now run the Hillingdon Penguins there once a week.

Penguin is still developing junior players with the main focus now at Latymer Sports Centre where, with Latymer Penguins, along with a solid base in masters swimming.

As President for the London ASA, I led a funding proposal for water polo and was successful in getting a £250,000 award from Sport England for a three-year project in London. With the money, I employed Claudio Palumbo to work with all clubs in London. This initiative saw London win the junior nationals in 2014.

When the contract was terminated by London ASA, Claudio became the Penguin coach with the successes that have followed. This including winning the U17 Boys National Age Group Championships in 2019.

International Management

I became the GB men’s manager in 1993 in a real low period with then coach, Rob Heemskerk, resigning 6 weeks prior to the European Championships in Sheffield. Quite a baptism of fire. The first three years were really tough. GB dropped from the A Championship to the B Championships and then into qualification status. However, in 1996 I attended a FINA conference representing Great Britain and met Tom Hoad, the Aussie water polo legend. Over a few amber nectars, we came up with the idea of the Commonwealth Games for Water Polo.

After many presentations, discussions, papers and the like, the Commonwealth Games 5-year plan was hatched and thence one of the most successful periods for England in the pre-professional period.

In 1984, Paul Whatley, Martin Blenkinsop and I were members of the England team which won a tournament in Austria, the first England had won since the 1950s. In the 1990s and early 2000s, England won numerous international tournaments, including the almost unimaginable feat of winning in Malta. The North Sea Cup, the Home Nations, and tournaments in South Africa and Egypt all added to the run of success.

I made contact with and developed a close relationship with coaches in Becej. A small agricultural town in Serbia, Becej has a population of 24,000 people, a terrific reputation for water polo and benefits from a 50m pool! Two training camps for the England national team there were instrumental in the Commonwealth Games performance and success.

It all culminated in a bronze medal in Manchester in the Commonwealth Games 2002, behind Australia and Canada. This was the first medal for England on the World stage since the 1920s. That team included Penguin players Jerome Read and Graham Martin-Dye, with other Penguin players a part of the squad, Bruce Elder, Tom Perry and Chris Evans.

I would go as far as saying that the medal won at the Commonwealth Games was the pinnacle of my career. My club pinnacle has to be winning the British Championships with Penguin as a player in 1986, 1988 and then as coach in 2002.

It must not go unmentioned that the Olympic Games in London in 2012 saw GB gain a place by hosting rights to the water polo competition. Francesca Snell became our first water polo Olympian since the 1950s. It also saw an unrivalled period of financial investment in the national teams to develop them for that competition.

Great names past

When you have been associated with an organization as long as 50 years plus, there will have been losses along the way. Too many to name them all, but really significant people in the history of this great club include Bobby Wollaston, player and then coach in the early 80s; Jack Dengel, responsible for so many years for the Annual Dinner and a good goalkeeper in his time; Bill Usher, our erstwhile Secretary for many years and the keeper of the Penguin Book of Minutes; Dima ‘Prince’ Gallizine, a real Russian Prince and Nilo Falcini, also both good goalkeepers; Ian Williams, a long-term servant of the club and Secretary.

John Lake deserves a special mention as a great friend and mentor to many, coach of the men’s and women’s teams over the years and a very good swimmer and player.

But possibly the most shocking passing was the untimely death of Ron Turner. Ron has been a long-term firm favorite and a three-time Olympian, 1948, 52, 56. On his passing, I organized the making of an unique trophy that bears Ron’s name.  A marvelous piece of work paid for entirely by a number of past and current members of Penguin:

Carved wooden trophy depicting a hand holding a real leather water polo ball
The Ron Turner Memorial Trophy, made of Richmond Park Oak with a real leather water polo ball from the 50s. The carving was by a religious artifact carver.

Summing up

My career at Penguin is now 52 years and there have been many highs and a few lows.<.p>

Who could have known how long this relationship would last. My relationship with my parents was not so long, a serious ‘other’ has not been so long, no institution, employer or organization has been so long.

Water polo and Penguin have been my lifetime obsessions. This is the real answer to the importance of the club to me. Anyone telling me that the club doesn’t matter to me or that I no longer matter to the club is barking up the wrong tree.

My collection of Penguin memorabilia and Objets D’Art is probably unrivalled! My lifetime friends and relationships all revolve around Penguin.

I have had the good fortune to have been National Team Manager for 11 years, National League Chairman for 10 years, National League Secretary for 4 years, London ASA President, Club President and of course represented my Club and Country as a player, coach and manager.

None of these successes would have been possible without being a member of Penguin.

Happy Birthday Penguin. Congratulations on the first 100 years.

Stephen Baker

National Water Polo League Results
Key: Year-Division-Position

Men
West London Penguin (previously Penguin and Hammersmith Penguin)
65-1-5, 66-1-8, 67-1-7, 68-1-5, 69-1-5,
70-1-6, 71-1-3, 72-1-6, 73-1-7, 74-1-6, 75-1-8, 76-1-10, 77-2-3, 78-2-1, 79-1-10,
80-2-7, 81-2-1, 82-1-6, 83-1-6, 84-1-5, 85-1-4, 86-1-2, 87-1-1, 88-1-3, 89-1-4,
90-1-5, 91-1-6, 92-1-7, 93-1-6, 94-1-6, 95-1-5, 96-1-5, 97-1-6, 98-1-2, 99-1-3,
00-1-4, 01-1-3, 02-1-2, 03-1-4, 04-1-5, 05-1-7, 06-1-9, 07-1-6, 08-1-5, 09-1-9
10-1-5, 11-S5-3, 12-C1-1, 13-C1-7, 14/15-C2-4, 15/16-C2-2, 16/17-C1-4, 17/18-C2-2, 18/19-C2-4, 19/20-C2-1

Women

West London Penguin Emperors
10-1-4, 11-S5-4, 12-S5-5, 13-C1-7, 14/15-C1-4, 15/16-C1-6, 16/17-C1-8, 17/18-C1-6, 18/19-C2-8, 19/20-C2-5

West London Penguin Kings
10-2-7, 11-C2-7, 12-C3-3

West London Penguin Rockhoppers
10-4-2, 11-C3-1, 14/15-C2-6, 15/16-C2-9

Farewell John ‘Shakey’ Lake

15 March 20219 April 2021
History, Masters Swimming, Penguin members, Water Polo

We are sad to say goodbye to John ‘Shakey’ Lake who passed away on Sunday 14 March 2021.

 

John Lake raising a glass during his presidential speech at a Penguin Club Dinner
John ‘Shakey’ Lake, as President at a Penguin Dinner.

 

Shakey was one of the most popular of our members ever.

As a teenager, he started his water polo career with Sutton and Cheam but very soon moved to Penguin. He remained a member for over 60 years during which time he served as Club Captain and as President. His contribution to the Club as a swimmer, player, coach, and Committee member was exceptional and, in recognition of this, he was elected as a Life Member.

Shakey became known throughout the swimming and water polo world not only for his skill as a coach but also for his very likeable personality. He was an excellent raconteur and always fun to be with and played a major role in solidifying the Club through challenging times.

As a masters swimmer Shakey was a European backstroke champion and record holder. Even at the age of 80, he was a very energetic, dedicated, passionate, and inspiring coach. 

RIP Shakey. You will not be forgotten and we send our love to Joan and your family.

Celebrate Shakey’s life

Please share your memories and photos of Shakey via this link: https://www.kudoboard.com/boards/p5SHA1uj

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