Good luck to all of our junior members who are currently sitting either their GCSE or A-Level exams. We send you our very best wishes, but, you won’t need them because we know that you’ve got this! Roll on to the end of June for the extra long holiday this year and fingers crossed that you all have smiles on results days in August. Good luck!
As part of the celebrations, on Tuesday, those present held a pre-matrimonial Guard of Honour for Henry, in recognition of his forthcoming nuptials. We wish both Henry and Racheal a very happy day and, that may this be the start of many happy memories made as husband and wife. Congratulations to you both, have a wonderful wedding day and honeymoon!
On Sunday 11th May 2025, Rob made his way to Manchester for the British Veterans Fencing National Finals. There were 53 competitors, on the day, who ranged from Category 1 to Category 4. Although all fencing against each other and medalling, Rob is in fact in Category 1. Overall, there were eight poules, five poules of seven fencers and three poules of six fencers. Rob found himself in poule five, which consisted of seven fencers and, most unusually he was the only right-handed fencer! This, would prove a challenge, which we’re sure Rob could step up to.
His poule round was good, winning four bouts but losing two. One of the losses was a 5-4 loss; a really close loss, whereas Rob’s wins were quite emphatic; he won one of the matches with no hits against, two had only two hits against and the last had only three hits against him, showing that he was in control for most of the poule matches. Overall, this seeded him 21st overall and the 7th category 1 seed.
In the first round of the Direct Elimination, Rob’s efforts from the poules meant that he was granted a bye. Next up he won emphatically, 10-3, against the number 26 seed. The next two matches in the DE were slightly closer, only just winning 10-9 in each match, against the number 10 and the number 2 seeds. The semi-final match saw Rob back to his best, easily overcoming the 3 seed by 10 hits to six, to reach the final, against the number 1 seed.
The name of the number one seed is well known against some of our more seasoned club members and, they knew that it was going to be a hard task for Rob to overcome. However, despite the loss in the final, Rob managed to land three hits against his opponent, proving that he can fence with the best of them!
Overall, Rob took home the silver medal, proudly flying the flag for both himself and Gravesham Fencing Club. Very well done, Rob. I guess it’s harder than we all think to win the club monthly competition AND an external one in the same week! Congratulations Rob.
Rob – The April Monthly Club Competition Winner (no trophy because Mark was absent through illness – sorry Rob)
On an unfamiliarly warm Tuesday, April night, eleven fencers were in attendance for the club monthly competition. Following a standard format of poules (three-minute matches with the first to five hits taking the win); followed by Direct Elimination (‘DE’ – each match of two by three-minute rounds, with the first to ten hits to win, apart from the final which is three by three-minute rounds, with the first to fifteen to win), Rob finally had something to cheer about!
The poule of five raced through their matches with Ben, Rob and Henry taking the spoils, each with a 75% match win rate and, only their indicator scores separating them. Peter and Steve were on the receiving end of the three with Peter only managing one win and, Steve receiving the wooden spoon of the poule.
Poule two had an extra fencer (six in total) and were much more evenly spread, with many of the fights going the whole-time distance. Here, Paul took the spoils with four out of five wins and one draw. Dave and Phil were equal second, winning three matches each and being separated by their indicator, with Richard closely following with two wins, Sofia next with one victory and Mark taking the wooden spoon in his poule.
With time on our side, it was deemed possible to get the DE section of the competition, if not completed, then at least started. With eleven fencers in total; Paul, Dave, Henry, Rob and Ben all revelled in byes and some extra rest in the heat of the hall. Steve put up the fight of the night, but just lost out to Peter, 9-10, whereas Phil versus Mark twinned with Sofia versus Richard and saw Phil and Sofia reach the top eight with 10-6 winning scorelines. After short breaks for some fresh air and liquid sustenance (not alcohol, although some may argue they might fight better!), the quarter finals were underway. Here, Ben beat Sofia 10-4, Rob, still warming up, managed to overcome Phil, 10-6; Dave could not overcome his nemesis, Henry, losing, uncharacteristically quickly, 10-3 and, Paul beat an uncommitted Peter (he didn’t want to fence Henry in the next round either!) 10-3.
Now though, with time quickly running away from us, we just about managed to complete the semifinals before the end of the session. Paul gave a distracted Henry (he’s getting married soon, you know!) a masterclass, beating him 10-5, whereas Rob showed his prowess in this format, beating Ben 10-6, to take on Paul in the final. However, with the heat and time against us, the final, much to a tired and hot Paul’s relief, would have to wait until the following Tuesday. Would Paul come back refreshed and ready to take on a Rob, who regularly tells us that this format is his forte? Would Rob, who is a self-confessed 15-point master be able to overcome all the tricks and techniques that Paul has acquired in his extra years of fencing? Who is your money on?
After a week’s break and with much cooler weather, Paul and Rob warmed up on a relatively small turnout for a Tuesday night. Not wishing to wait around they quickly got down to the business of duelling for the title of April Monthly Club Competition Winner. Rob took an early 3-0 lead, but Paul was having none of it and quickly equalled the score at 3-3. Rob went ahead again, but Paul was quick to equal his opponent’s hits and equalled the score at 4-4. However, after the first three-minute session, Rob had found his mojo and was 7-5 ahead, despite, according to Sandy, “the best hit of the night” coming from Paul. After the first break the first hit was a double, keeping Rob in an 8-6 lead. From here on in is where Rob triumphs and, before we knew it, he’d taken a 12-6 lead. Paul managed another hit, but was unable to keep that form going and, once Rob tasted the lead and, a victory, there was no going back. Two minutes and four seconds into the second three-minute round, Rob pounced and won the match with a 15-7 scoreline. As the self-proclaimed ‘master of the fifteen-point match’, I think we’re finally having to give Rob his due and bow to his greatness…well, for the month of April anyway! Well done, Rob, the April Monthly Club Competition Victor.
Rob – “Paul scored seven points from me? Me? Are you absolutely sure? That’s my record ruined.”
Rob – “So, I was ahead on hits anyway and I got a little cheeky because I knew it was in the bag; so I said to Paul, ‘go on, there I am, see if you can just get one more hit’…and he only did! Best hit of the night according to Sandy… but what does he know about fencing?”
2025 Once again saw two competitors from Gravesham Fencing Club power through to the British Youth Championships in Sheffield. With Claudia deciding to remain at home due to upcoming exams, it was left to Sofia to fly the flag for Gravesham at this prestigious fencing event. With 36 fencers in attendance, in Sofia’s age, there were six poules of six fencers in the initial round of the format. Sofia found herself in poule two against five unfamiliar fencers from across the country. A slow start meant that Sofia won one of her matches, but she did manage to score in the remaining four duels, giving her half a chance at a much better seeding.
Finding herself in 29th position, she was unfortunate not to receive a bye in the first round of DE, not that this mattered, because she easily overcame her opponent with a 15-9 victory. The win, and lack of rest, didn’t go in her favour, as she now up against the number four seed. Having done some background work on the opponent’s style, despite walking away, having lost 15-6, Sofia was happy that she’d exceeded her expectations for the match, scoring well against a formidable opponent and, finishing 29th overall and in 8th place for the South East region.
A huge congratulations, Sofia, for representing Gravesham extremely well at the highest junior level in the country. We’re incredibly proud of the amazing performance that you put in, in a very busy year for you – keep up the good work!
Dave and Steve at the Kent Open
Sofia and Steve with the trophy table at the Kent Open
On a quiet Sunday morning in April, fencers from across Kent, made their way to Canterbury for the Kent Senior Fencing Championships. Gravesham Fencing had three competitors, competing in three events.
In the men’s senior epee there were 35 competitors, with many familiar faces and names amongst those competing. Following the usual format, there were poules followed by Direct Elimination (DE). With a nice, even five poules of seven fencer, there was plenty of fencing to be done. Steve found himself in poule 2 fencing some familiar and formidable opponents and, securing two wins out of six, he managed to score in three of the remaining four duels. His only nemesis was Raymond Miles, however, this was of no surprise given that the opponent won all of his poule fights and, managed to keep clean sheets in three of them and only getting hit once in two of the other remaining match ups – quite the feat for any fencer.
Dave found himself in poule number 4 and fared slightly better winning three of his six duels and scoring well in his other three, which still gave him a +4 indicator, despite only a 50% match win rate.
Following the poules, Dave found himself seeded 19th and was given a bye in the first round of DE and, Steve was seeded 26th, also claiming a bye. The longer break didn’t fare well for Dave and he found himself knocked out of the final 32 by the 14th seed in a 15-9 scoreline. Steve, on the other hand, took full advantage of the extra rest and was up against 7th seed, Henry Fazakerley. In a very tight fought match Henry just about managed a one hit lead and Steve was eventually gazumped 15-14 by the indomitable double hit. The final result saw Dave finish 22nd and Steve in 26th place.
Later in the day and, some would argue ‘a glutton for punishment’, Steve also took on the foil competition. With 22 fencers present, there were two poules of 5 fencers and two poules of 6 fencers. With one win from four fights, but with good scoring on the remainder of his matches, Steve found himself as the 16th seed. Despite missing a bye in the first round of DE, Steve managed a strong 15-4 victory, taking him through to the final sixteen. However, this paired him against the number one seed, to whom he succumbed 15-2 to be knocked out of the competition. The final placings saw Steve move up to 15th overall.
In the women’s epee, Sofia was the sole Gravesham representation on the day. There were twelve fencers, giving two poules of 6. Sofia was in poule 2 against some old foes. Despite a rusty beginning in the poules, which saw her win only one of the duels, she pulled it together to win a very good match against the number 11 seed, with a thrilling 15-14 scoreline. This match placed her against the 3rd seed in the next DE round. The close scoreline of the previous match had, unfortunately, taken its toll and she lost the quarter final 15-7. Overall, this placed Sofia in a very credible 8th spot.
A very well done to our fencers, at what was a very tough local competition. There was some great fencing by all of our competitors and now we must make sure that consistency is key. Well done to all – a great showing for what our club can achieve.
Mark presenting the trophy and hot cross buns to winners Henry, Will and Sofia
With the February competition taking the record, for the longest running club competition to date, it was decided to delay the March competition until the first week, and day, of April. With twelve fencers in attendance, it was agreed that we would run a team competition, with none of those competing wishing to be declared the ‘April Fools’ at the end. With a little help from Sandy, the teams were allocated as follows:
Team A – Paul, Peter, Sandy
Team B – Gully, Mark, Steve
Team C – Joe, Richard, Dave
Team D – Will, Sofia, Henry
First up, we saw Team A take on Team B. Sandy took an early lead against Mark, but Gully just as quickly took control, and Team B, into a 6 v 3 lead. Paul versus Steve was ‘even Stephens,’ keeping Team B with a three-point lead at 9 v 6. Peter then took on Mark. Having not had time earlier, to warm up against Gully’s onslaught, Peter took control this time putting Team A into a two-point lead. Sandy continued Team A’s winning ways, beating Steve 3 v 2 and maintaining a three-point advantage for Team A. Gully, clearly on form, showed Paul how it was done, scoring six hits to Paul’s two and, surging Team B back into a one-point lead. Steve versus Peter was even, maintaining Team B’s one point advantage, with two matches left to play. With the big hitters coming up last, Paul took back the advantage for Team A, against Mark. With a two-point lead, could Sandy withhold an on-form Gully? The answer was ‘just’. With the final scores tied at 27 v 27, it was time for the fencing equivalent of the ‘golden goal’, which, on this occasion went to Gully and saw Team B heading for the final showdown.
In the second heat of the evening, the first duel was not to be missed. Joe versus Henry was a tight affair, with Joe just edging it by one hit. Second up saw Will take on Richard and bring Team D into a one-point lead. Next, Dave regained the lead, this time by two points, for Team C, against Sofia. Henry took on Richard and despite a very thrilling and well fought march, Henry couldn’t reclaim the lead for Team D, but he did bring them back into contention, being only 1 point in arrears at 11 v 12. Next up, Sofia fenced Joe and did an outstanding job of losing by only one hit, which kept Team D in contention at only 15 v 13 down. Will’s earlier efforts saw him slow down against Dave, which saw the older master take control, and Team C, back into a commanding 18 v 14 lead, with only three duels remaining. In their last match of the heats, Richard took on his arch enemy Sofia. Not to be outdone, by the soon to be birthday girl, he showed her who was boss, winning the match 3 v 1 and surely taking Team C to the final, with an unassailable 6-point lead. The last two duels of Dave v Henry and Joe v Will looked to be a cracking, but tightly fought finale to the heats and, surely no-one could overcome Team C’s six-point lead? Up next was Henry versus Dave. High on the euphoria of his wedding preparations, Henry was a man not to be underestimated. Like a male Mary Poppins, he swept in on an East Wind and gave a taste of a spoonful of sugar and brought the score back to a commendable 22 v 24 in Team D’s favour. It was now Will’s to lose. Up against Joe, both men fought a tight knit round, levelled at 3 v 3, but Henry’s lead from the previous round was enough to see Team D through to the final.
With time not on our side, each match was reduced to two minutes for the both the third-place play-off and the final, with both matches being fought simultaneously.
The third place play off was a tightly fought affair. The score went to and fro between the two teams (Team A and Team C), with the third match between Sandy and Richard so tightly fought that they were timed out at 7 v 7. Joe then took on Peter to regain the lead at 12 v 8; a lead which was quickly regained by Paul, in the next match, but just as swiftly overturned again by Sandy, putting Team A back to winning ways. Peter then came across a very determined Richard to see the lead swing back to Team C at 19 v 21. This match saw the tide turning more than a blustery day down at Margate! If we had had a club ‘swing-o-meter’ even Peter Snow would have had trouble controlling it on this match! It did make for a very happy Sandy, who was over the moon and justified at his team selections! However, with only two matches to fence, it seemed that Richard’s determination filtered down through the team and, both Dave and Joe held on in their matches to give Team C, of Richard, Joe and Dave, the third-place position, while Team A, of Sandy, Peter and Paul were awarded the wooden spoons on this occasion.
The final knockout saw Team D, of Sofia, Will and Henry, take on Team B, of Steve, Gully and Mark. Team B took an early lead, which they managed to maintain for almost half of the relay legs. Going into the fifth duel, Henry v Mark, Team D found themselves starting with a 9 v 12 deficit. Riding high on the ecstasy of his forthcoming nuptials (I’m milking this joyous event for as long as I can Henry!), Henry put on a blistering performance, bringing Team D back into a 15 v 13 lead, and leaving Mark, Henry’s opponent, wondering if Rocky had made a comeback and sucker punched him into submission! From that point on the momentum remained with Team D, with Will beating Steve 3 v 1, Sofia levelling her match with Mark, Henry only just defeating Steve at 3 v 2, leaving Will to bring home the bacon (or, on this occasion the Waitrose Lemon and White Chocolate Hot Cross Buns) against Gully; which he did with a masterclass of hits, beating Gully 3 v 2 and leading Team D to the title of Champions for the March 2025 Monthly Club Competition and relegating Team B to runners-up.
As always, at this time of year, the winners were awarded the trophy and, in homage to the upcoming Easter holiday, a packet of the aforementioned White Chocolate Chip and Lemon Hot Cross Buns from Waitrose – delicious!
Well done to everybody who competed and a huge thank you to all those who helped to referee the matches. There were some amazing twists and turns and hits and, a lot of fun. A very special well done to our March 2025 Monthly Club Competition Winners; Will, Sofia and Henry.
Mark presenting the trophy to the Team Winners
Richard, subserviently, handing out the Easter hot cross buns to the relay winners of Henry, Will and Sofia, while Mark ponders snatching a pack and making a run for it!
Sandy boasting to the other winners that he’s taking all the glory for his and Henry’s joint win, seeing as Henry wasn’t present for the photo!
Winners – Sandy (and Henry), Claudia, Peter, Dave and Mark
The most recent club competition was decided to be held on a Friday night so that the members of the club who don’t normally make Tuesdays could have their chance to compete, as well as the juniors who now regularly attend. With fifteen members across all ages and sexes in attendance, it was decided to hold a poule unique (where everyone fences everybody else). Each match was to be fought over two minutes, or quicker if a fencer won sooner. The winning fencer was to land three consecutive hits. If a fencer was in the lead, but then the opponent landed a hit, or a double hit was scored, the score would return to 0-0. In the event that one of the fencers was in the lead at the end of two minutes, then they would be awarded the match. In the event that the score was even after two minutes, then the match was drawn.
Despite getting going and all fencers preparing for their matches in reasonable time, a number of the bouts lasted the full two minutes and we struggled to get near to half the matches completed despite competing right up until the end of the booked session. A prime example of this was the Sofia versus Jaina match which religiously saw Sofia go 1v0 up, then the next score being a double hit. This was possibly the worst version of Groundhog Day, as we didn’t get the respite of 24hours, more like Groundhog 3.5 seconds! Well done to Peter who managed to keep track of refereeing that one!
The following Friday we continued to try and race through the events and, in a learning curve for those who arrange these events, it was decided that the time limit for bouts would have to be much reduced, possibly even to one minute, in the event that we had just as many fencers for future competitions! With 22 duels still left to fence after the second Friday, it was decided to try and complete some of the bouts on the Tuesday, with a final flurry on Friday 21st and, anyone not in attendance on that Friday would have their remaining bouts decided by a ‘walk-over’ due to non-attendance.
Overall, it was the juniors who made the biggest impact. Initially Jake managed a couple of wins against opponents, but in his absence for the remaining sessions, Toby took over and continued his good form. Jake, Toby and Jude all had the seniors on the back foot, with many of them scoring first and, even going 2v0 up in many of the matches, before the experience and wisdom of the seniors took over and they managed to come back and take a last-minute lead and/or win. In many cases the win versus loss format did not do justice to the good scoring of the junior members. The one junior to buck the trend was Claudia. Like a silent assassin, she steadfastly and quietly got on with the job and before anyone else knew, she was six wins up and in contention to take home the trophy this month. Clearly, her history of fencing the seniors but also regularly taking on the likes of her peers played into her hands this month, as she was able to come out all guns blazing from the off, whereas the senior members, having not had much experience fencing the newer juniors needed more time to fathom the junior technique.
Another late-comer was Sandy, who stood in for Henry and by the last two sessions, we saw the two intermingle to take on their remaining duels. One saving grace was the retirement of Meri, who was too busy to attend the last few sessions, which gave us a greater chance of finishing when we did and, a saving grace for her opponents, as she was on two wins and three losses after the first evening, so who knows how her data may well have changed the course of the competition. Unfortunately, the last Friday evening saw Peter, Phil and Jaina missing. This could well have been the turning point for the results of this month’s competition because Phil was sitting pretty at six wins, but two matches in hand against the less experienced juniors. With juniors (Jude and Toby) in attendance and wining by way of a ‘walk over’ was it this that meant that we didn’t have an outright winner on the night.
After a very long, record-setting (the longest running competition to date) we found ourselves with a five-way tie for first place. Peter, Mark, Dave, Claudia and Henry/Sandy were all tied for first, with each having seven of their thirteen bouts. As you look at the scores, the more eagle eyed and fencing educated of you may notice that Peter may well have been declared an overall winner. This is because; of the five joint winners Peter beat two of the others (Mark and Dave), whereas Dave and Claudia only beat one of the others (in both cases Mark), whereas Mark and Henry/Sandy didn’t beat any of the other tied-for-first winners. In a countback situation (yes, I do listen to you Mr Nash!) this would have put Peter H in first place, Dave and Claudia in joint second, with Mark and Henry/Sandy in joint fourth position. However, after a lengthy debate with some announcing Peter the winner, some announcing a five-way tie, Will not helping at all (he just said you could do either!) and Mark declaring that there was no way that we were doing any more fights, it was decided to keep within the spirit in which these competitions were started and, as it was more fun, to declare a five way tie between Peter, Mark, Dave, Claudia and Henry/Sandy for the club’s longest running monthly competition to date! Well done everybody, including the scorer, as I think we all deserve a decent rest…until the next time!
Well done to our February/March/Nearly April monthly club competition winners:
Sandy (Henry), Claudia, Peter, Dave and Mark.
A very well done to Rob, who competed in Category 1 of the Men’s British Veterans Fencing Competition in Nottingham this weekend. There were 12 entrants in this event and it was competed over 1 poule of the full 12 fencers. Rob won seven of his poule matches, with four of those having his opponent landing only two hits, two of those wins his opponent only landed three hits and last was the only close call with Rob just winning by five hits to four. In the matches that he lost, Rob managed to score three hits in two of them and, for the other two, it was close calls with Rob just missing out five hits to four in each. This meant that Rob had an overall indicator score of +11, which was the fourth highest indicator overall. Unfortunately for Rob, one of his opponents, despite having an indicator of only +7, had managed to win 8 of his bouts, which pushed Rob down to fifth overall. Because this was a poule unique, where every fencer faces each other, it meant that they didn’t follow up with the Direct Elimination round, which as we all know, is detrimental to Rob, who thrives on the tactics required for the fifteen point matches.
To his credit, upon further analysis of the poule matches, it shows that in the poules, Rob beat the competitors who were awarded gold, silver and fourth place and, he only lost to the bronze medallist by 1 point, showing that had the DE taken place, Rob would have indeed been quite the medal contender…but then we all knew that anyway!
So, to conclude, apologies to Rob for the old photo accompanying this report, but let’s face it, apart from a change in haircut, it never gets old (and neither does he)! Finally, a huge congratulations from all of us here at Gravesham Rob. We’re pretty sure, given the poule results that you would have indeed medalled had a Direct Elimination been run. From this day forward you’ll have to be known as ‘Robbed Jennings’! Well done Rob.
A huge well done to Sofia, who competed at the Invicta Open in mid March 2025. Sofia managed to finish a very credible 21st out of 37 female epee fencers, many of whom were seniors with vast amount of experience. Sofia seeded well after the poules and made it to the 2nd round of Direct Elimination, losing narrowly by 15 points to 13 points to just miss out on the quarter finals.
Prior to the start of the Invicta competition, they had a rolling electronic board, showing each athletes current national rankings. Sofia was up there as being placed 204th nationally for this current year. This is a marvellous achievement for both Sofia and Gravesham Fencing Club and we hope to see you rise further up those rankings with each competition that you do. Well done Sofia.