The Flying Friendship Cup

This is an international invitational club competition inaugurated with an airline theme (see Andrew Brown's history below). In 2011 the founder clubs recognised that they and their members now have at best only tenous links to any airline. In view of the many friendships made, both recently and over many years, it was decided to continue the competition under the same name and principles but dropping the airline connection. By doing this it is our hope that this unique international, invitational, inter-club team event will continue for many years, outliving the current participants and their clubs, to encourage our newer and younger members to fence abroad, making new friends and exploring each others' countries.

The Flying Friendship Cup takes it in turns to visit the hosts home country. In 2011 it was in the Montparnasse base of Les Duellistes. Summer 2012 should see the competition in Amsterdam before it becomes Wellesbourne Sword Club's turn to host in the High Wycombe area in 2013. The event will return to France in 2014 to Chantilly just outside Paris and then will go to Brussels for 2015.  We will be sending 2 teams in each of the four weapons to fence for the FFC and there will be also be a number of individual fencers joining in from the participating clubs.

The competition is traditionally held around on a Saturday around the last week of May or first week in June. There is a Gala Dinner and prize-giving on the same Saturday evening with each host club doing its best to find a venue to outdo the one before.

Please e-mail Peter Roberts if you would like to be in our teams, fence as an individual or just tag along for the trip.  WAGs & HABs are welcome!

"This annual competition was initiated and arranged by BEA (the future British Airways) and ASADP in 1959, 50 years ago!, by a former club member Joe Garratt a British Airways senior manager and is a closely fought affair with a team of one fencer in each of the four disciplines. Wellesbourne was fortunate to have Joe, who had been fencing since his Navy days, join as a member some years ago when he was still at British Airways.

After he joined WSC Joe asked if we would like to come to the competition as he had no other BA fencers and for as long as I can remember Wellesbourne has been fencing as the British Airways team which is a bit strange but we like to carry on the tradition. (I did work at BEA in the 70's so feel OK about this)

So each year we fence in a different city against KLM, Iceland Air, Air France and Aeroport de Paris and although many of Joe's old friends have retired we have made many new friends over the years of traveling to Paris , Amsterdam and Brussels and we have hosted the event here in London on three occasions.

Joe was a great friend of mine and of the club as he served on the committee for several years and we miss him since his death in 2001."