Mahmud Jaffar and Gillian Kings-Lynne receive the 60th Anniversary Award

MAHMUD JAFFAR

Mahmud joined Cavaliers at the age of 11 years and has spent an incredible 41 years working tirelessly to promote the sport within the club and the State. 

As a qualified Level 1 Foil Coach, he was Head Coach for many years and has taken a heavy workload on every Committee in multiple capacities – in particular he has spent many years keeping the Treasurer’s books in tip top condition.   More recently he has been the mainstay of the Bladez group having taught the next generation of young coaches to follow on.

The very existence of Cavaliers is due solely to the tenacity of Mahmud who, during the decline of state fencing in the late 80’s and early 90’s, held the club together single-handedly until new energy arrived around 1995.

As a classical foilist, he has been a successful competitor, taking titles up to his more recent Veteran category.

With the above level of commitment to the Club, it is not surprising that he is not only a Life Member of both Cavaliers and the WA Fencing Association, but also the overall winner of the City of Stirling award for Valued Volunteer 2011.

Gillian Kings-Lynne

Gillian has been one of the longest serving non-fencing committee members our club has had. She first brought her kids along in 1993 and has been secretary/registrar from 1993 through to 2013 when Jinny took on secretary. During that period she established practices that enabled our club to grow and prosper. Keeping all members informed of events and making sure everybody knew what they were supposed to do.

During this time Gillian has also been secretary of WAFA during a time of its rebirth and expansion back onto the AFF scene. She has also been recognised with life membership of both WAFA and Cavs and achievement awards from the City of Stirling.

When there have been visiting coaches from the east or OS, Gillian has often hosted them at her house for several months at a time and in some cases provided a car for them.

Probably the most important contribution from Gillian is her ability to record events to compile a history, whether in the form of newsletters or other documents so that in the future we can look back and know accurately what happened

Congratulations to New Life Members

MIKE MIDDLETON

Mike joined Cavaliers in 2003 and it wasn’t long before he found himself fully involved in the running of the club with his particular interest focusing on Coaching.  He gained his Level 1 Foil Coaching qualification in 2007 and has subsequently specialised in teaching the Beginners’ groups – one of the most important roles in the Club. 

Mike was Head Coach for 2010 and 2011 during which time he was responsible for coordinating all coaching groups and maintaining the qualifications of the coaches.  During 2012, he took on the role of club representative to the WA Fencing Association where he put in a huge effort to address the issue of the lack of training courses in WA for potential coaches.  In addition he has been a willing volunteer in all aspects of club administrative and social activity.  For this reason he received a nomination for the City of Stirling award of Valued Volunteer for 2011.

Despite injuries which prevent Mike from fencing at the moment, he is in training for a Level 1 Epee Coaching qualification and continues to support the Coaching team in the Beginners’ group.

D’ARTAGNAN, SEYMOUR WOLFINGER

In seventeen years of membership, D’artagnan has never lost the true spirit of clubmanship and respect for fencing tradition.  He joined Cavaliers in 1998 and instantly set about reviving and maintaining the age-old standards of chivalry and romance properly attributed to the sport, much to the delight of the enthralled members.   He is chiefly known as the originator of the Defenders of the Realm – a mysterious order which bestows upon its members the responsibility of loyalty, honour and protection of the Cavalier fencing fraternity.

In real life, D’artagnan has consistently supported Cavaliers in a very practical way through an administrative and social commitment – notably as Cavs Librarian where he upgraded the collection with a supply of old fencing movies!  Despite a varying range of injuries which now prevent him from fencing competitively, he continues to hold Committee responsibilities and is currently the club representative at WA Fencing Association.

PETER HARBIN

At the age of 82, Peter may well be the oldest competing Veteran fencer in Australia.  As a member of Cavaliers for the last 13 years, Peter has enjoyed a jammed-packed competitive fencing career participating at all levels from Club and State Competition, to National and International events – and it doesn’t look as though he is about to retire yet.

It falls naturally that Peter’s main interest lies in fencing opportunities for Veterans.  To this end he served three years as Vice President of the WA Fencing Association working for increased promotion of Veteran fencing, particularly through the media.  He has been foremost in encouraging Veteran exchange between South-East Asia and Western Australia and was a team member of the first Australians to compete at the Japanese Veteran Championships in 2010.

 

Peter has fenced since his school days in England and his dedication to the sport is testament to the value of long term commitment and to Club spirit through which Cavaliers now benefits.  Peter continues to focus on promotion of Fencing through his participation at public demonstrations both in the city and at York and through frequent access to media exposure on the radio and in the press.

NEIL HERZOG    

When Neil joined Cavaliers 19 years ago, he became a keen competitor in ALL THREE weapons – he couldn’t decide which one he loved the best and didn’t want to miss a minute of fencing!  Such was his love of the sport that within one year he had qualified as a Level 1 Coach, was working on both Cavaliers and WAFA Committees and was off to the Eastern States to try his luck against the rest of the world. 

From that point on, this headlong courage was to lead Neil into more than a decade of leadership roles which were to propel into the future the standards of fencing both at Club level and that of Western Australia.

Neil was involved at all levels of Club activity but primarily undertook the huge job of updating the old equipment from half-bib vests and steam foils to a modern collection of shiny new electrical equipment.  Neil would pick the boxes up from Customs and he would open them at the club with everyone crowded around in great excitement.

At the same time, Neil’s concern was to upgrade the system of tournaments at State level.  He established a system for WAFA tournaments which would bring WA up to national standard with the use of a computerised ranking system.  For the first time since WAFA was re-established in 1995, all WAFA members had access to their ranking details at any given time.   All rankings were published and an Annual Awards Ceremony with the presentation of medals and trophies was reinstated.

In 2000, as President of WAFA, Neil was responsible for huge achievements in the promotion and recognition of the sport with government authorities and brought about the first serious program for government funding of WA Fencing.

Neil went on to serve as a Director with the Board of the Australian Fencing Federation.  His responsibilities included the drawing up of policies for national fencing, which ultimately affect all fencers in each State.

This driving force did not prevent Neil from having a lot of fun, however, and we have great memories of the amazing Fencing Under The Stars in Neil’s back yard with the old heavy wooden pistes.