Duncan Robert “Bob” Turner 1941 - 2013

Bob Turner, who died following a serious illness on 19 February 2013, was universally respected both as a fencer and as someone who would always offer encouragement, and who could be relied on for sensible input into whatever was under discussion.

Bob had a long and distinguished fencing career, joining his local fencing club in Cardiff as a schoolboy. He was awarded his international colours in the early sixties and represented Wales in the Commonwealth Games of 1966 and again in 1970 (the last at which fencing appeared in the programme). One of his greatest successes was at the 1974 Commonwealth Fencing Championships in Ottawa, where he led the Welsh epee team to a silver medal.

Bob with the Torch Trophy

In addition to established events such as the Welsh Open, which continue to attract talented fencers, Bob felt there was a need for a competition for intermediate fencers. As a result, in the 1980s he instigated the Turner Cup at epee for which he provided a silver trophy.

Bob was also an adept administrator, serving on numerous bodies, including the Welsh Sports Council and the Welsh Sports Association, as well as being vice-chairman and subsequently chairman of Welsh Fencing 1985-2012, and president of the Commonwealth Veterans Fencing Association 2009-2013. He was also a long-serving governor, latterly a director, of SportsAid Cymru Wales, the charity which for nearly 30 years has been providing grants to promising young sportsmen and women in Wales at the start of their careers.

His skills were put to the test in 1986, when the Commonwealth Fencing Championships were held in Cardiff concurrently with the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. The overall co-ordination of the championships fell to Bob, then Welsh Fencing vice-chairman. They had attracted very little media attention until it was learned that a fencer from Malaysia was taking part, as the Commonwealth Games themselves had been boycotted by a large number of African, Asian and Caribbean countries in protest at the Government’s attitude towards British sporting links with the then apartheid-era South Africa. Suddenly there was a lot of media attention, but thanks to Bob’s statesman-like manner, this was handled with calm professionalism and a potentially disruptive situation defused.

Throughout his sporting career, as well as giving encouragement where needed, Bob took the trouble to recognise the services of others, such as coaches, competition organisers, website designers, legal advisers and other helpers. In addition, he ensured that those, who in times gone by had given sterling service, were recognised by making them honorary life members of Welsh Fencing.

For his services to fencing, Bob received the BFA silver medal in 2006 and in 2011 was awarded a Torch Trophy by Princess Alexandra. At the time of his passing, a submission prepared by a consortium of his friends was under consideration by the Honours & Appointments Secretariat, and it would be fitting to think that he would have added at least an MBE to his other accolades.

To the last, Bob was a competitive fencer. He was invariably the man to (try and) beat, wherever he fought, whether in his club or at a tournament. In 1997 he took the silver medal in the veterans’ world epee championship trial event in Johannesburg. Following surgery in 2007, he immediately got back into fencing to compete in the veterans’ world championships in Sydney.

As recently as May 2012, Bob fenced for the Welsh Veterans’ team in the Welsh epee championships, where they finished second behind a formidable Cardiff A team. “Not a bad result for the old dogs!”, he commented in an email to me at the time.

Bob will be remembered for his constant enthusiasm, generosity and friendship that encouraged us all to do more. He will be greatly missed.

Michael Clemitson

Edmund Gray writes:

Bob Turner was the most constant of people. As fencers young and old have testified, he was friendly and encouraging towards everyone. Invariably even tempered, never to be hurried, he was always good company, and worth listening to.

His fencing style was remarkably constant too. His technique was characteristically undramatic, steady and effective in his controlled finger movement. Endlessly patient, using his considerable height and upright stance, he played a game of fine bladework, of stop hit and tight contact-attack – and hardly ever all-out attack. Opponents did well to respond with corresponding caution, and prolonged bouts frequently resulted. Always courteous to opponents, he took defeats unemotionally, stretching his face in a wry grimace, swiftly followed by a grin.

Bob’s father, originally from Birmingham, was manager in a hardware wholesale business. Both parents were sports enthusiasts. Before he took up fencing at the age of 18, Bob was himself a keen cricketer. He was educated at grammar schools in Cardiff and Wales and at London and Swansea Universities. In 1976 he married Vivien Lysaght, whose career was in the health service and higher education, and whose spirited strong-minded nature complemented his more reticent personality. His own career was as an academic, lecturing in politics and management at the University of Wales; he often took the trouble to bring his students into contact with key political figures. Always a fount of common sense and free of personal bias, he came to devote almost as much time and trouble to sports administration.

Not one much to reveal his inner self, Bob loved to tell little anecdotes of encounters he’d had, delivered with a grin and a chuckle. He was very loyal in his friendships. What was particularly remarkable was the way he took endless pains to sustain those who were in trouble or merely stood in need of friendship, without regard for any special affinity. To take one very small example, he travelled from Cardiff to furthest Kent simply as a sympathetic act towards a stricken fellow veteran fencer. He is survived by his wife, a married son and a grand-daughter.

Malcolm Fare adds:

I first met Bob 40 years ago this summer in Dieppe, where we had independently arrived on 14 July for an epee tournament. He was leading a group of five Welsh fencers, three men and two women, and I was on my own. It was typical of his generosity of spirit that he should invite me to join them in a search for accommodation. As it was the French national holiday, the place was packed. We looked in vain for three rooms and ended up all sharing the last available hotel room in the town. It was a memorable start to what was to be a long friendship during which we enjoyed many overseas trips together combining fencing with sightseeing. I came to admire Bob as a man of many fine qualities. Always a gentleman on and off the piste, he was also a great companion.