A Series by Tony Pearce
.
LONDON SWIMMING
A PERSONAL NARRATIVE
Part One.
OVER HERE. OVER THERE.
When I first walked on to the poolside as the newly appointed Swimming Coach at St Paul's Boys School in 1993 my intention was for that swimming pool to be an example which every other school in London with a swimming pool could follow.
Then,
it was I and Me. After some three decades St Pauls Barnes, now Barnes Swimming
Club, is now one of the foremost swimming clubs in London Region Swimming. It
is an example of how to foster community links and offer equal opportunities to
all - from the young age group school swimmer to the senior swimmer attending
further education or starting work to the master’s swimmer.
All
aspiring to be the best that they can be.
Now.
It is We and Us.
It is here that the facts of Tony's association need further explanation. He trusts that his opinions, derived from his long experience will be of enjoyment and interest to all.
During
WW2 St Paul's Boys School in London was the Allied Invasion HQ, attended by
Field Marshal Montgomery, himself a past pupil at the school, King George and
U.S General Eisenhower.
Tony's
Grandparents, Charles and Alice Pearce, were a typical working-class family in
South West London. They had come through WW1.
Charles,
a post office telegraph boy, survived the horrors of such battles as the Somme
as a corporal of a gunner’s unit.
Alice,
a seamstress in a dressmaker’s shop, worked in the arduous environment of a
munitions factory. As a married couple, they bore three daughters.
They always wished
for a son. WW2 broke out and their wish was granted. To escape the bombing of
London, Alice and the three daughters were evacuated to Suffolk while Charles
continued service in the Medical Corps.
A
In 1941, during The Battle of Britain, the eldest daughter Jennifer, 15, being of school leaving age, joined the WAAF and became an ambulance driver, a vocation she continued to occupy for the rest of her working life.
Wayne Sheffer was a farmer from the little town of Henderson
Kentucky on the border of the Ohio River near Indiana.
He was the eldest of 7 children. Only 3 survived at birth. When WW2 broke out, as a Staff Sergeant in the USAF Military Police, he was part of the Allied Invasion experiencing action in France and Germany.
He and Jennifer met when he came to England and Tony was
born. An attachment, "The
Letter", written by Wayne to Jennifer in 1945 indicates this. Here, Wayne
mentions that they meet. They didn't. It is surmised that at this point Wayne
was posted to France and then Germany. The end of WW2 saw the immediate
bringing back home of the U.S forces..
Hence, the post WW2 Family became Charles and Alice Pearce with
their remaining 2 daughters and a late born son:
Anthony
Wayne Pearce (Tony Pearce)
To read "The Letter" download it here
LONDON SWIMMING
Part Two To Follow
TAKING THE PLUNGE.
©Tony Pearce