We are raising some funds to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Cadet Winton. We have had two individual sponsors for the event but we are still a little short of our target hence this ‘Crowd-funding’ appeal. This is to honour the Winton brothers.

The Brothers are from one of the most famous fencing families in British history.

The older brother Nicholas’s story about what he did prior to the start of the war never came to light until the 1980’s when his wife found an old trunk up in their attic. It transpired that he was instrumental in saving the lives of 669 children by transporting them out of Prague away from the Germans to adopted parents here in the UK. Sir Nicholas was later knighted for his humanitarian work and only died a couple of years ago at the age of 106.

His brother Bobby was instrumental in promoting ‘grass-roots’ fencing for most of his life, he worked tirelessly for the development of fencing, serving for over 50 years as a member of the AFA Executive Committee. He also found time to set up the AFA's London Section and played a leading part in establishing competitions for boys in state schools. He was chairman of the Men's Foil Committee from 1961 to 1978 and for over 30 years he was a member of the committee responsible for the Association's financial administration. Bobby helped transform the way the sport was run. He was awarded the Fencing Association's gold medal in 1985 and he received an MBE in 1987.

These two men were both very humble and when I approached them in 1990 to ask if we could use their name for the title of Inter-Regional Cadet Team Champions they were delighted. They donated the main trophy that is still fenced for.

This year is the 30th anniversary and we wish to celebrate this milestone by hosting a ‘gala’ buffet on the Saturday evening. Limited edition commemorative t-shirts for all the competitors as well as inviting members of the Winton family to attend to present the trophies.