To the Reader:

Intro:
The sport of fencing has a long and rich history. The noble art of fencing is as competitive as it is rigorous. Modern fencers require agility, both mental and physical, quickness, flexibility, concentration, and subtlety of movement. However fencing has always been regarded, as more than a sport, it is both an art form and a deeply personal and individual form of combat. All of these aspects are true of fencing everywhere. So what motive sustains cavalier's fencers in particular? I have long agreed with Cavaliers sage secretary Gillian Kings- Lynne on this point: "[that] our club has developed in such a way that we are not only here for the fencing. For some of us it has become a large part of our life – it offers a sense of belonging and provides an extension of friendship and activity for some members which goes beyond the normal reasons for attendance." This aspect of life at Cavaliers is self-evident; that the comradeship and friendship is a fundamentally cohesive part of fencing.

Cavaliers, from its earliest recorded times, won its title-deeds in the full blaze of recorded history and the achievements are there for all to see and applaud; the erection of a fencing club universally available to all and the securing of self- sufficiency and prosperity through the sweat and industry of fencers, coaches, volunteers and club office holders. ECU Cavaliers school of fencing is committed to providing the skills and competencies that will take our members to reach their personal best as confident, independent fencers.

Let me start by saying that I am highly conscious and indeed indebted of the fact that cavaliers stalwart, George Osgood (who many of you have met as he sits at his desk fixing equipment), is writing the history of fencing in Western Australia since its inception. Obviously Cavaliers looms very large within that history. Some years ago, George commenced this opus magnum, a highly ambitious work of epic proportions. I have it on good authority that this history is wonderful, humorous, insightful, generous and uplifting. Following in his footsteps I feel fundamentally unqualified to write this history. Therefore, out of respect for his upcoming accomplishment I have taken it upon myself to be neither, wonderful, humorous, insightful, generous or uplifting. Instead I shall be grim, of dismal vision, miserly and depressing.

In The Beginning:
All beginnings are arbitrary but in July 1955 cavaliers was formed…

W.E. Brown (Bill Brown) Started Cavaliers School of Fencing in the Music room at the Yal in Murray St Perth in July 1955 with four foundation members Peter Price (President), Lyn Groom (Secretary), Annette Collinson (Treasurer), Bill Brown (Senior Instructor). Bill won the Foil State Championship in 1958-59 and many more state team championships in all three weapons.

Three months later Graham Donley joined dragging along co-worker Tony Green. Tony stayed only for a short time, but Graham was in for the long hall, contributing greatly to the development of the Club in all aspects from coaching to administration. He held almost every perceivable committee position including President, Vice president, Head Coach and Cavaliers Delegate to WAAFA (West Australian Amateur Fencing association). His fencing commitment wasn't limited to just Cavaliers, but at the State level Graham was also hard at work holding those same positions for WAAFA. At one point or another his wife Dot and daughters Robyn, Gaye and Beth all fenced.

Soon after, a young Barry Wasley and his sister Nola joined the club and like Graham, their association with fencing would span many years. Barry similarly held many office positions for Cavaliers and WAAFA, and on the piste he took home the State Champion title across the weapons up to 23 times. Those of you holding those very same trophies today can have a look and see these names.

Both Barry and Graham would later be recognized for their contribution to fencing and would be awarded life memberships of both Cavaliers and WAFA.

The bit in the middle:
The Club created by these fencing icons now has a history spanning 50 years. However, as history is not revealed to us in tablets of stone, it has to be created from the remains of the past. Such a creation inevitably involves the ruthless selection and rejection of material and synthesis to shape the past into a coherent story. The story of cavaliers has its ups and downs, but can now be looked back on as essentially, a story of progress.

During the late 1950's and early 1960's, the main club to rival Cavaliers was the Postal Institute and in the 1960 to 1970's the main competition came from the UWA Fencing Club. In the late 1970's and early 1980's it was a club called Scaramouch run by Dr Michael Tait.

Many of the fencers in the early to mid 1970's came from Highgate Primary where Barry taught not just as a teacher, but also as a fencing coach.

It was in 1974 that Mahmud and Rashid Jaffar started at Highgate and joined Cavaliers that year. Mahmud would later become head coach of Cavaliers and Rashid coach at the UWA club.

At this time (1974), a senior membership to Cavaliers cost $45.00 and a junior membership was $25.00.

During the early 1970's Trevor Spafford also joined the club, but as an experienced fencer having started at 13 in England. At his school, The Nautical College Pangbourne, all the boys were expected to take part in Boxing or Fencing. Trevor chose fencing, reportedly not liking the idea of having his face bashed in. Good choice Trevor.

For most of the time in the 1950's through to the late 1970's Cavaliers had a membership of 25 to 35 fencers.

Cavaliers had a very distinguished list of achievements, with countless State titles, national tournaments and a small number of national championships. One of the first was the national under 12 foil won by Dean Osgood in 1981 in Brisbane. One of the greatest achievements was the 24-25 consecutive state team foil titles won by Cavaliers.

In the early 1980's, with political interference at a seemingly all time high, there were moves by external parties to try to close Cavaliers. Membership had dwindled to just a handful, but we kept going meeting in the Mt Lawley Senior High School (MLSHS) gym. Strangely enough, the MLSHS gym is only a few metres from our current venue. By the late 80's The State body was effectively non-existent, but Cavaliers along side UWA fencing club remained open holding sessions. The people who had tried to wipe Cavaliers out had gone.

That bit closer to now:
Despite the hick-up of the early 80's, Cavaliers once again went fourth and with each successive year and generation of fencers, the club improved and progressed, continuing to meet at the MLSHS gym. A new band of people were coming along. In the early 90's the Kings-Lynne family joined Cavaliers. Where Mahmud had been doing all the coaching in addition to all other committee positions, Gillian now stood beside him, secretary file in hand. In 1996, Mahmud Jaffar and Andrew Lean coached a new group of eager beginners. Neil Herzog, Catherine Chamberlain, Derek Bazen, Danny Gentilli, Dov Spinks, and a couple of months later Gazelle Taylor, joined to form a nucleus that would take Cavaliers to its present day.

As these new comers, along with Chris Kings-Lynne, Tim Kings-Lynne, Cass Ward, took up coaching and infiltrated the committee beginners courses were introduced.

The course bestowed an extensive curriculum on eager new fencers, introducing students to the fundamentals of fencing over an eight-week period. The success of these courses is reflected in the high retention rates of inductees.

Although some of the clubs early history is partially lost in the mists of the past, most of the recent salient events and changes can be easily pieced together.

In 1996, Cavaliers in partnership with the UWA Fencing club, sponsored overseas coaches to help increase the numbers and experience of fencing in this State. Over the next few years coaches to visit WA from the UK would include Kevin Dunne, Jim Perry and Andy Martin.

Expansion to ECU:
Obtaining a big enough venue represented a significant impediment to expanding the clubs horizons. However the cavaliers committee were highly ambitious. At this time the Cavaliers committee were genuine idealists, wanting the very best fencing venue. The Mt Lawley Boys gym was too small for them – for their energies, their ambitions, and their visions for fencing in this state. In 1998 and 1999 Cavaliers was still a relatively small club and was significantly restrained as the physical size of the MLSHS Boys gym made any real expansion practically impossible. This was anathema to Cavaliers – it destroyed and severally curtailed the clubs future. However in 2000 Cavaliers was approached by Edith Cowan University (ECU), literally over the road. Tough negotiations resulted in ECU offering a much larger venue complete with office, storage space and a much larger floor space. A condition of this was that Cavaliers had to change its name to 'ECU Cavaliers School of Fencing' – a minor disadvantage compared with the immediate benefits. The opportunity for development was enormous as a result of this shift. The offer of Cavaliers to become a University sports club would prove to be the impetus that was to one of the factors in Cavaliers receiving the Australian Fencing Federation Award for Largest Club in 2003 and 2004.

The growth of Cavaliers revealed the shortage of home grown coaches. Soon Cavaliers sort assistance from visiting coaches including Nigel Nutt (NSW) Pieter Leeuwenburgh (VIC), Leon Thomas (SA) Stephen Clarke (NZL), Steven Lim (Malasia), and Marek Jamrozy (POL); each leaving their mark on Cavaliers developing fencers.

These latter years have seen Cavaliers continue to support both the State and National fencing bodies with the work of its members and with its ongoing commitment to affiliate all its members. Gillian Kings-Lynne Held the secretary roles for both Cavaliers and WAFA for more years than any one can remember. Neil Herzog stepped from Cavaliers beginner (1996), to club coach (1997), to Cavaliers Vice President (1998), to WAFA Tournament Director (1998-1999), to State Champion (Foil & Sabre 2001-2004), to WAFA president (1999-2003) to AFF board member (1999-2005) to AFF Director (2005).

Catherine Rogers (nee Chamberlain) stepped from Cavaliers beginner (1996), to club coach (1997), Cavaliers representative on the WAFA committee (1997-1999), to State Women's Champion (Foil & Epeé), to Cavaliers President (1999-2003,2005).… And Mahmud has just always been there.

Our participation in national competition is unmatched with members competing at almost every national comp in recent years.

Our most recent achievements come in the 2005 Under 17 Sabre Championships in Sydney, with Nic Jenzen-Jones winning the title and Chloe coming second to a Singaporean girl, making her the home champion, well done to the two of you.

The Quality of Cavaliers leadership:
Looking back retrospectively, a cavalier is in a highly enviable position relative to other clubs in Western Australia and indeed in Australia. Various office holders within the club have significantly contributed to the development of cavaliers. All of these people have possessed a singular vision and a single-minded determination, often in difficult and unfavourable conditions, to ensure the development of the club in all facets. During the period 1999 – 2001 cavaliers experienced a rapid and unprecedented growth in member numbers. This represented a great event of culmination in the clubs history. Great events in history are often determined my all kinds of factors, but the most important single one is always the quality of the people in charge; and never was this principle more convincingly demonstrated than during these years of rapid growth. Consequently Cavaliers has rapidly evolved into one of the biggest clubs in Australia, boasting a membership of over one hundred active fencers.

The club has built steadily a strong corps of fencers in all three weapons many of whom have represented Western Australia nationally. The span of experience is wide ranging and includes: Mahmud Jaffer, a cavalier's stalwart and probably the clubs most experienced fencer who is a humorous and charismatic character. He retains tremendous enthusiasm and competitiveness for the sport he loves. Mahmud has no intention of retiring but plays a very active role in the club, coaching and instructing. He is now bringing home gold from National Veteran events, but some how still looks the same as he did 10 years ago.

In the all-important financial stakes, the club is remarkably inexpensive, charging a yearly $270 although this doesn't include individual lessons. In 2004 Membership hit around 120 with foilists representing around 40% with fencers wielding Sabres hot on their tail. epee is smaller but nevertheless growing amongst our juniors.

It is at youth level that the club is now looking to its future. In 2001 Cavaliers introduced a class specifically for the U/13's. The Cavalier Bladez, Currently coached by the last lot of juniors to survive to legal drinking age; Nic Gillett , Ed Baxter, Nick Gillooly and Sam Passmore. Cavaliers has built up a strong squad of promising juniors. The Bladez group are hoping to follow in the footsteps of the juniors before them who have represented WA at National competitions. These include Edward Baxter, Jake Millar, James Penny, Nick Jenson-Jones, and Sam Passmore.

Fencing Tradition:
Change was in the air when an English gentleman for Essex joined Cavaliers in 1998. Immediately Seymour began to inject and evoke the noble history, romance and chivalry of fencing from the days of old and successfully transplant it into Cavaliers. As a result the club has changed irrevocably by this Quixotic character. The uninitiated visitor to a Cavaliers session may be forgiven for thinking that they had haplessly stumbled upon a medieval society full of a rich tapestry of historical personalties, of Ladies and Lords and Knights errant. Normal fencing bouts would never just be fencing. Instead they been miraculously transformed into two opponents engaged in 'fierce and arduous combat.'
However the event of naming an individual is perhaps the best example of this noble tradition. Seymour places a great deal of thought and research into selecting a suitable name each fencer (particularly with female fencers so as not to cause grievous offence) Also the name itself has to directly reflect a fencers unique personality, qualities and disposition and temperament. For instance Neil Herzog was dubbed Captain Blood for obvious reasons, Nick Jenson-Jones was named after the famous Roman Mark Antony to reflect an enviable reputation with the ladies. Conversely, Joanne Diaz, Cavaliers delightful social secretary, was named Princess Aida after the infamous Egyptian princess.

Conclusion:
The following history suggests enormous possibilities. This is a young energetic club that has built up a strong and vociferous espirit de corps at competitions and social events that is often invaluable. It is clearly ambitious and would like to recruit a top class professional coach, as well as establishing a permanent venue. Such objectives will undoubtedly depend on WAFA's continued support of fencing and the hard work and persistence of its membership.

With these substantial investments the club should flourish and blossom over the next few years and expect to make substantial contributions to Australian fencing, ultimately leading to medals on the World and European stages.

It is entirely appropriate to end this history of Cavaliers fencing club on a note of success, because the story of cavaliers is essentially one of progress and success. At the end of 2004, the secretaries report revealed that membership was at an all time high with consolidated numbers in particular social groups such as women fencers, the young adult group and, perhaps best of all, in the veterans group. Currently fencing is growing quickly in Perth and Cavaliers has been keeping up with the pace. As at the 9th November 2004 total club membership totalled 117; these sheer numbers would have been unthinkable several years earlier. These numbers present an impressive testament to the development of Cavaliers.

In these troubled times, all facets of the club, including competitive, social and athletic, should give us hope for the survival and continuation of cavaliers fencing club. To paraphrase the great historian: 'The experience of fifty years should enlarge our hopes and diminish our apprehensions; we cannot determine to what hight Cavaliers may aspire to in its advance towards perfection; but it may safely be assumed that no fencing club, unless the force of nature is changed, will relapse into its original state.' Hence the future prosperity of Cavaliers is undoubtedly assured.

Dick Turpin
(Infamous Highwayman, Adventurer, Gentleman Of Fortune and Truth-teller).

[otherwise known as]
Nicholas Gillett

(Historian, Dialectical Materialist).

Postscript:

This historical work is in part the author's own and in large part borrowed plumage. I would therefore like to thank the following persons for their kind but invaluable assistance. Without them this history would have been fiction pure and simple.

George Osgood, Gillian Kings-Lynne, Catherine Rogers, Semour Wolfinger, Daniel Defoe, Edward Gibbon, Stuart MacIntyre, Paul Johnson, Robert Louis Stevenson.

The life of Cavaliers

See the photo archive associated with this history: photos.

History and Controversy 1979-1981: Annual reports from the Cavaliers executive committee

PDF Version

Attached to this page is a PDF version of the booklet handed out at the 50th Anniversary Dinner, that contained all the above text and pictures.