Cheltenham Masters Water Polo

Another busy weekend for CSWPC. Over 30 swimmers at the county blocks in Bristol, our U19 boys have qualified for the National Water Polo finals and our U19 girls play their qualifiers today. Not to be forgotten, Cheltenham’s John Spicer turns 70 today, and of course will be volunteer coaching at Leisureat cheltenham this afternoon as he has for over 30 years for the club!

Sad loss of a Cheltenham great.

It is with great sadness that we bring you the news that Phil Jones died last Thursday at the grand age of 90.

Following in the footsteps of his father, aunt and brothers Jack and Frank, Phil joined the Club when he was about eight years old.

Although mostly thought of as a water polo player, his swimming credits include the Club under 15 (50 yards) Championship 1946 and 1947, the Under 16 100 yards Midwinter Cup in 1947 and 1948 and the Under 19, 100 yards Holborough Cup from 1948 until 1951. In 1952 he won the Mens 100 yards Breaststroke Championship. He was the 100 yards Junior Gloucester County Champion in 1947 and Western Counties Champion in 1948.

Water Polo was in his blood and he was destined to be a mighty goal scorer left or right handed. He played his first ‘First Team Game’ at the age of 14, on May 10th 1947 against Derby where they drew 5 – 5. His last ‘First Team match would be 17 years later in 1964.

He was selected to play for Gloucestershire county on May 29th 1948 against Devon at Bristol South which saw a win of 4-0 and he continued playing for Gloucestershire until his ‘retirement’ in 1964.

At the age of 16 (1949) Phil was selected for the English Water Polo team to tour Scandinavia, followed by more International Caps from 1951 to 1955, and the European Games in 1958. His last game for England was in 1962.

International Games

1949 England v Norway
1951 England v Holland
1955 England v Wales
1956 England v Scotland
1958 GB European Games Budapest, played Holland, West Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Bulgaria
GB v East Germany, East Berlin
England v Ireland
England v Scotland
1959 England v Wales
1960 England v Scotland
England v Ireland
1962 England v Wales
England v Ireland

In 1961, he was appointed England Coach and was then promoted to GB Coach from 1964 to 1968.

In 1962, he was a founder and instrumental member of the Premier League Committee (National League, now British Water Polo League), and served as its secretary for 13 years (1962 – 1975) and was chair from 1976 – 1982. In 1967 he became a committee member of the ASA Water Polo Committee and in 1969 he was elected President of the Gloucester County ASA, followed by President of the Western Counties ASA in 1980.

In 1980 he was awarded Life Membership of CSWPC. Phil held every role from time keeper to Club Chair, he help establish our mini Artistic swimming squads and our after schools clubs. He was secretary of the District and County Water polo Committees, and was the driving force behind the very successful Centenary Year Celebrations in 1987. In 1996 , Phil was made president of the ASA, which coincided with Atlanta Olympics, which allowed him to witness the Games live in Atlanta.

In 2022, a few weeks after his 90th birthday Phil ‘retired’ from the Club’s General Committee but was still an active member. He was not always a popular committee member as he was meticulous in Club rules, policies and procedures but he was passionate about the Club and its future and he was well respected by everyone, whether they agreed or disagreed! His legacy will live on!

Many days have been spent with him over the last few months clearing his garage and summerhouse of boxes and boxes of ‘stuff’. Lots of treasures and tales of 82 years of CSWPC have been shared which we will be forever grateful for and will be kept in our archives.

His wife Shoena has been a silent supporter of the Club for all their married life and his eldest daughter Fiona has followed Phil on to the General Committee. His granddaughters Kate and Meg Read have been successful Water Polo players in their own rights and we know how proud he was of them.

He will be sorely missed by us all and our condolences go to his family

Funeral arrangements will follow

Here are a few of the photos from last weekend's tournament.
The full gallery is available here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AgrQN7lkeYlSxDPSkHvWB-OZ_jtw?e=EIqHdd

It was great to see you all at the weekend. Massive thanks to everyone that helped on the day and to Stu for organising the whole thing.
We've got 500+ photos of the day so will upload them when we can. In the meantime, here's a picture of the main man.

The Masters Tournament on 2 July is now a 5 team round robin so new the timings will be:
1230 Set up & warm up
1300 First match
1900 Pack up & party

Match schedule:
1. Coventry v British Police
2. Worcester v Cheltenham
3. Bristol & Welsh v Coventry
4. British Police v Worcester
5. Cheltenham v Bristol & Welsh
6. Coventry v Worcester
7. British Police v Cheltenham
8. Bristol & Welsh v Worcester
9. Coventry v Cheltenham
10. British Police v Bristol & Welsh

Spectator tickets for the tournament are available now on the Lido booking system.
Just £5 to watch a whole day of top quality water polo!

Buy Tickets for Masters Polo 2nd July SPECTATOR Spectator ticket for Masters Water Polo on 2nd July

There are now only five teams so timings for the tournament on 2 July have changed to:
1200 Set up & warm up
1230 First match
1830 Pack up & party

This year's tournament is fast approaching!
See you all at the Lido at 1pm on 2 July. Teams include Bristol & Welsh, British Police, Coventry, Worcester and, of course, Cheltenham.

New date for this year's tournament, it's now Saturday 2 July.

It's back!

Details to follow.