Club Successes

Some of the outstanding results of Ashton fencers:

Marilyn Holmes

Marilyn started fencing at Ashton when she was only eleven years old. At that time in the North West this was considered quite young to fence.

She was the first club member to win a national championship. She worked very hard with her trainer Les. Jones and it paid off. In 1964, she won the National Junior Schoolgirl Championships.

The following year, she set up a record that will never be repeated. She again won the Junior title, and, because she won it so easily, the LAFU agreed she could fence in the Senior Schoolgirls Championship. It was no surprise when she won that too, but to cap it all she went on the win the British Women's Under Twenty Championship.

Three national championship successes in one season and including one she was really too young to enter.

Marilyn was selected for three World Youth Championships and in two of them was joined by Susan Green.

On several occasions, Ashton had two of the three women fencers selected for the World Youth Championships.

After moving to Reading University, she won the university championships. However, it was disappointing for Marilyn not to be selected for the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968.

After University, Marilyn joined the WRAF.

Susan Green (Olympic Fencer)

Ashton's most successful fencer, her achievements are outstanding: British Senior Schoolgirl Champion in 1967; Won the British Under Twenty Championship twice; British Senior Women's Champion, in 1968, aged only seventeen; Won the British Open Women's event (Desprez) in 1969 and again in 1973; Won the C-L De Beaumont International event in 1973 and 1974; and many other honours.

Susan was selected for the World Youth Championships three times and for the World Championships four times.

At the Vienna World Championships, in 1971, Susan beat Belova-Novikova, a twice world champion!

Susan won a team gold medal at the Commonwealth Games and was selected for three Olympics, the first in Mexico in 1968 when she was only eighteen.

Amanda Ferguson (Olympic Fencer)

Amanda another young Ashton fencer to make the Olympic team.

Amanda only joined Ashton's beginners class because the badminton class was full. Little did she realise where the sport would take her.

One of her first results was second place in the 1982 British Under Sixteen Championship. This was followed by second place in the 1983 British Under Twenties Championship, missing the first place by one hit.

In 1984, she won the British Under Eighteen championship and retained her title in 1985. The following year Amanda won an international foil competition in Spain.

Amanda was selected for the World Youth Championships three times, in 1985/6/7, and for the World Championships in 1991.

The pinnacle of her fencing career was a place in the team for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

She was the only member of the team to win any fights in the match against Russia.

Gary Fletcher (Olympic Fencer)

Gary and his friend Mark Booth were pupils at the local Grammar School who thought they would give fencing a try. The club had a beginners class running at sabre.

Jim Philbin had been a member of Ashton in the mid seventies when he competed in the 1974 British sabre championships and only missed the title by one hit losing to Richard Cohen in a barrage having beaten him in the final. Jim moved to London the following year and joined the Polytechnic.

This may have been the spur for Gary. He started by winning the North West Sabre Championships, and went on to win it a further twelve times. This record still stands today. Mark became accustomed to coming second.

In 1980, Gary came third in the British Under Eighteen Championship and, in 1985, won the British Junior Championship.

With no one in the region to raise his game, Gary had to work hard at his training sessions. So much so that when he went to Bradford University he travelled each week to Ashton to continue his training with Les.

This dedication was rewarded in 1990 when he won the British Sabre Championship, and, even more so, when he was selected for the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

Ashton is the only club in the country, outside of London, to have two fencers at different weapons selected for the Olympic Games in the same year.

British Under Twenty Women's Foil Team Champions

Three Ashton teenagers, Shelagh Baines, Tina Connor and Vicky Green, were members of the Ashton Under Twenty Team that won the British Under Twenty Women's Foil Team Championship in 1988.

The event was particularly memorable because the Ladies Amateur Fencing Union had invited Ashton Coach Les Jones to London as the guest of honour and to present the trophy and medals to the successful contestants.

Seen in the picture, from left to right, are Kristin Payne (British Under Twenty Women's Team Manager), Vicky Green, Les Jones, Shelagh Baines and Tina Connor.

It is also of interest that Shelagh came second in the individual under twenty championships in 1987, Tina was third in 1988 and won the championship in 1990.

Paraplegic Olympic Games

Three members of Ashton have fenced in the paraplegic Games: Howard Wardle, Margaret Bone and Deborah Mabbitt.

Howard won a bronze medal at foil at the Paraplegic Games in 1976 in Montreal.

British Women's Foil Team Championships

In 1970, Ashton became the first club outside of London to win the event beating Thames Fencing Club in the final to win the women's foil team championship since the competition was first held in 1909. The team was Susan Green,Janet Yates, Janice Deakin and Colette Bailey all teenagers. It was stated that the event was captured at last by the classical training and physical fitness of the young Ashton quartet. Janet Yates played a major role winning all four of her fights in the final.. Ashton won the event again in 1973

The team was Susan Green, Janet Yates, Janet Jones and Caroline Hall who defeated London Fencing Club in the final. Having qualified for the Coppa Europa in Turin, they beat Achi Tesi (Italy) 9-7 and USAC (France) 11-5 and reached the last eight by beating ZFKA Sofia, Bulgaria on hits, losing to a strong Romanian 4-9 - One of the best results by a British team.