'Wonderful' piece of history returns as Kettering swimming trophy found in toilets - 30 years after it vanished

A Kettering swimming teacher couldn’t believe her eyes after finding a trophy she had once won – 30 years after it vanished from a trophy cabinet.

Christine Green found the Royal Edward Challenge Cup left in the toilets at Kettering Swimming Pool in London Road earlier this month.

The trophy, which was first awarded in 1922, had not been seen or competed for since it went missing in 1993.

In an incredible coincidence Christine, a former member of Kettering Amateur Swimming Club (KASC), had been part of the Kettering Leisure Village (KLV) team which last won it.

She said: “Initially I thought one of the club swimmers had left a trophy behind but when club coaches Howard and Jacqueline Farrow didn't recognise it I decided to take a closer look.

"It was only then that I realised what it was."

The trophy had been created as a result of an incident on His Majesty’s Transport ship Royal Edward on August 13, 1915, when it was torpedoed while en route to the Dardenelles.

A Kettering man, Charles William Ward of the Royal Army Medical Corps, was on-board when the torpedo struck and he was sucked underwater.

He was rescued by another man from Kettering – there were ten Kettering men on the ship who had all joined up together. They were John Howard, Ernest Toseland, William Harry Bates, James Summerfield, Herbert Wills, Charles William Ward, R.W. Waller, Zachariah Bailey and T. Dyson. Only Ward, Waller, Bailey and Dyson survived.

Charles never forgot the act of bravery by ‘a strong swimmer from Kettering’ that saved his life, and as a result he donated the Royal Edward Challenge Cup to be competed for annually by factory and works teams from Kettering.

Over the years many teams took part in the competition which formed part of KASC's annual club championships. They included teams from Weetabix, Alumasc, Kaycee, Timsons Engineering, Wicksteed Park, police and many others.

It was won by a team representing the newly-opened KLV in 1993 and was displayed in a trophy cabinet there until it went missing that year.

But now it’s back home and will be repaired – with KASC appealing for anyone with memories or pictures from factories and works races to contact them.

Head coach Jacqueline Farrow said: "This is a wonderful piece of club history and we are grateful to whoever returned it, whatever their motivation.

"It will be repaired and we'll try to find a way to reintroduce this."

Club chair Mike Annable added: "Thirty years after it was last seen the Royal Edward Challenge Cup is back home.

"Given current rules and regulations I'm not sure it could be brought back in its original format but we're going to see what might be possible."

A book by former BBC Radio Northampton presenter Richard Oliff about HMT Royal Edward, "Fastest to Canada, The Royal Edward: from Govan to Gallipoli", covers the trophy and its loss in some detail, along with more information about the Kettering men that sailed on her.