For those who did not attend the Serpentine Christmas Party where the awards were made I am very pleased to announce that Life Membership has been awarded to Karen Hancock and Sid Wills.

Karen joined the club over ten years ago and soon after established her very popular Saturday hill session in Greenwich Park.  A few years later Karen also established the equally popular Interval Session at the Greenwich Dome.  Since that time she has lead these session almost every week helping scores of members improve their running.

Karen is an accomplished runner as well, still competing regularly and often placing in her age group in open races as well as being Serpentine’s best age-graded runner in many of our Championship races.  Karen’s racing experience makes her a valuable source of advice and is always very willing to help other members with their training queries.  I have been pleased to receive her advice in the past, although I probably still eat and drink too much for her liking.  Her enthusiasm for our sport is what makes her a valuable part of the club and her recognition is well deserved.

Sid joined the club in 2000 and quickly demonstrated his enthusiasm for running as part of a club.  He joined Bev Thomas in assisting on Wednesday nights, becoming the key club run organiser which he continues to do to this day.  He introduced the famous Last Wednesday of the Month Cheese and Wine events where sweaty runners gather to drink as much wine and eat as many snacks as they can before passing out in the fug.  He has also run dozens of beginners courses which has been a rich source of club focussed members and volunteers.

Sid has been a committee member for over ten years where his contribution has been very important.  One of the challenges the Chairman faces is extracting the often very good point Sid has to make whilst keeping him brief.  Sid has been very keen to encourage club recognition of our many volunteers and his thoughtful input to discussions on awards is very helpful.  Being a retired revolutionary also makes Sid an interesting contributor to discussions.  It is easy to consider this merely a charming anachronism from a past age but come the revolution Sid is sure to be the first to the barricades.  I only hope being a comrade of his will save me from the scaffold.

Sid is also an active competitor.  He is not the fastest but still enjoys the thrill of running and still claims that “Running is Magic”.  I think many of us agree.

Charles A Lescott

Hon Chairman