East Midlands Region - England Fencing

See Calendar for dates of regional competitions, further details and entry forms to follow shortly.

The England Fencing Coach and Club Development Conference is being held at Loughborough University on Sunday 29 March 2009.

This is a wonderful 'local' opportunity for all EM coaches to attend and for clubs to send a representative delegate or delegates. Full details of the conference and how to register for attendance can be found here.

East Mildands Beginners Competition is on Sunday 15th February, see the Calendar or click here for entry forms and details.

Results of East Midlands Region Qualifying Competition for British Youth Championships
A total of 92 fencers took part in the BYC Qualifier competition on 30th November at Ellis Guilford Sports College. The top four fencers in each category go forward to the national finals, there were 5 qualifiers in the Girl’s U14 Epee. In addition a further three fencers who did not fight at the competition went forward to the finals having a “bye” based on their results in last year’s finals.
The organisers wish to thank the referees who turned out to assist with the running of this competition, without their help it would have been impossible to run. For a full list of results click here.

EAST MIDLANDS COACH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2009

Next Coach Development Programme starts January 2009. Click on 'Coaching' for details.

EAST MIDLANDS REGION ENGLAND FENCING CLUB VOLUNTEER DEVELOPMENT

FIRST AID AND 'SAFEGUARDING AND PROTECTING' COURSES

Club officials, helpers and parents volunteering in clubs are invited to apply for the following prgrammes:-

First Aid Course 09:00 to 12:30 Sunday 25th January 2009 NOTTINGHAM. Cost £35.00 (includes share of venue hire).

'Safeguarding and Protecting Children' Course 13:00to 16:30 Sunday 25th January 2009 NOTTINGHAM. Cost £25.00 (includes share of venue hire).

Both these programmes are a 'Clubmark' requirement and many local authorities are now insisting that club officials have attended one or both of these courses.

Cheques for the full fees made payable to East Midlands Region England Fencing should be sent to

Norman Randall, 26 Oak Tree Avenue, Radcliffe-on-Trent, Nottingham, NG12 1AD

to reach him no later than 20 December 2008

Applications forms for both courses are available here

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE TALENTED COACHES' PROGRAMME

We are delighted to announce that Chris Forbes, coach at Arnold and Carlton, Sherwood Cadets, and (from Jan 09) Wheldon School, has been selected for the Nottinghamshire Talented Coaches' Programme. This County Sports Partnership programme supports coaches on their continuing professional development towards the next level of qualification.

Coaches from many different sports apply for this programme and a panel assesses each application. This is the first time a fencing coach has been selected for this programme and attests to Chris' potential as an up and coming coach and also to our sport's growing profile in the county.

Well done and congratulations, Chris!

Shropshire Open

East Midlands fencers Charlotte Murphy, Tom Nicholls and David Alexander won the Shropshire Open in their respective weapons, WS, MS and MF. Simon Donald and Daniel Redshaw finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the MS. Philip Hoyle came second in the ME.

Paralympic Training Camp

Nottingham City Fencing Club is hosting a Paralympic Training Camp during August. Lee Fawcetts and other members of the GB Foil and Sabre squads will be in attendance and the club are therefore looking for intermediate (i.e. involved in competition at regional level or above) and advanced foil and sabre fencers who will be able to take part in the structured training sessions run by Laszlo Jakab, the national wheelchair fencing coach.
This is a fantastic opportunity for regional fencers to contribute to GB's success at the Beijing Olympics and a chance to promote in the region an exciting and interesting variation on the sport of Fencing.

For full details of times and venues, and an enrolment form please click here.

GB Team at Lonato 2008

13th is lucky for some! East Midlands based fencers feature in medals at the Nationals!

Congratulations to Hannah Lawrence of Wingerworth for her excellent first place in the Women's Epee event at the British National Fencing Championships held in Sheffield on 12 th July 2008.

Congratulations also to Catriona Sibert, Tegan Hill and Rachael Hamson fencing as Salle Stretton and their coach Graham Stretton on an outstanding result at the British National Fencing Championships team event on Sunday 13 July.

Fantastic news for the individuals, their clubs, their coaches and the Region

Gold at Team: (l-t-r) Rachael Hamson, Catriona Sibert and Tegan Hill

The team receiving their medals and certificates from Keith Smith, President of British Fencing.

Dateline 10 July: CONGRATULATIONS to Hannah Boyle from Foremarke School who won a bronze medal in the Under 11 Girls' Epee event at the England Youth Championships last weekend. Well done to her and to her coach Bob Fensom.

All together there were 10 East Midlands fencers who entered the EYCs, with some good last eight places. Well done to all who entered.

Reminder: Armoury Workshop Sunday 27 July at Ellis Guilford School, Bar Lane, Basford, Nottingham. Your chance to fettle all those duff weapons and spools! Application Form available from secretary@emfencing.com but HURRY! Limited to 20 places and 8 have gone already!

EAST MIDLANDS REGION ANNUAL ARMOURY WORKSHOP

'Introduction to Basic Armoury'

back by popular demand, lead by our very own Regional Armourer, Andrew Goodier.

Sunday 27 July 2008, 09:45 to 16:00, at Ellis Guilford School and Sports College, Bar Lane, Nottingham, NG6 0HT. £20 payable in advance.

Application Form has been sent out to all club contacts and is also available from secretary@emfencing.com , but hurry only 18 places available

East Midlands Region sends hearty congratulations to Daniel Redshaw who has won the Leicester University Sports Personality of 2008 for his personal performance improvement (novice-to-ranked competitor), his coach status and work with the University team and club.

This award acknowledges Dan's tremendous enthusiasm and efforts on behalf of fencing. In addition to his involvement at Leicecter University Dan is also involved in the revival of the Notts and Derbys County Fencing Union.

Well done, Dan!

Change of Date of AGM

Three East Mids fencers at Paris competition earlier this month
l-t-r, Sam Ward, Rachael Hamson, Tom Clarke

There was a total entry of 93 this year. Congratulations to all who participated and a big thanks to all the parents and coaches who helped to make the competition a success. Well done and best of luck to all our Regional qualifiers who go forward to the finals in January/February 2008.

Congratulations to Mick Dennis, Head Coach and Chair of Foiled Again Fencing Club in Derby, and all his team on an important first for England Fencing and East Midlands Region in particular. Foiled Again have just been awarded the Clubmark quality assurance standard after a lot of hard work getting systems and procedures into place.

When it comes to important things like bids for grants and funds or mundane things like local authority venue hire, the Clubmark award signals to Local Authorities, leisure and education departments that a sports club is run effectively and efficiently, and meets national standards especially concerning policies and procedures for equality, diversity and child protection and the way all its activities are managed and lead.

Well done to Foiled Again for being the very first England Fencing affiliated club to be awarded Clubmark. Region will be inviting Mick to brief the committee and possibly the AGM on the achievement, but organisers should feel free to contact Mick if you want to learn more. Club contact details are to be found under club links on this website.

Silvia Earl takes Bronze at World Veterans' Championships

Congratulations to Lincolnshire's very own Silvia Earl who won a bronze medal at sabre in her category at the recent World Veteran's Championships in Sydney, Australia. She's no slouch at foil and epee either with 13th places at both weapons. Well done too to Sylvie Brown for her 7th place at sabre and 10th place at epee and to Rob Brookes (34/36) in his Category Epee event.