Title
Derek Timmins Oral History Recording
Subject
Derek Timmins
Description
An oral history interview with Derek Timmins
Creator
Michael Romyn
Publisher
Kent's Sporting Memories
Date
Interview recorded on 9 September, 2019
Contributor
Derek Timmins; Michael Romyn
Rights
Kent's Sporting Memories
Format
MP3 (1:12:47) Also available in WAV
Language
English
Type
Sound Recording
Identifier
Derek Timmins
Transcription
Kent’s Sporting Memories Oral History Summary
Interviewee: Derek Timmins
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 9 September, 2019
Location: Derek Timmins’ house in Folkestone, Kent
0:00 Name, place and date of birth (Derek Timmins, Birmingham, 4 August, 1949); Derek lived in Birmingham until he was seven, before moving to Folkestone due to his father’s work (he worked at the port in customs and excise) but also because his mother’s family hailed from the town; Derek describes how his parents met at his grandmother’s house in Swansea; memories of Birmingham – playing on the allotments, going to school near Walsall, his father going to Aston Villa games etc.
4:05 Visiting his grandmother in Folkestone during the summer holidays, and looking forward to moving to the town as a boy; attending St Mary’s Convent School in Folkestone, where he was one of the few boys in his class, before moving to Harvey Grammar; there was little in the way of organised sport at the convent school; Derek recalls playing football and occasionally cricket at Jocks Pitch (a park) in the summer evenings with his younger brother and friends – ‘there could be anything up to twenty boys turn up in an evening, and you know there’d just be jumpers for goal posts and we’d go out there and play.’; going to play football at Radnor Park on the weekends; playing at the beach in the summers and swimming in the outdoor pool near the seafront.
10:50 Derek describes joining the sailing club aged thirteen, where he continued to sail until he was about twenty; the club was formerly Folkestone Yacht Club, now Folkestone Yacht and Motorboat Club; he sailed predominantly in dinghies, and raced in competitions on the weekends; he joined Hythe and Saltwood Sailing Club in his twenties; he describes his brother’s boating success, including at a national level.
14:18 Playing a range of sports at Harvey Grammar; playing table tennis at the yacht club, and how this led to Derek’s involvement with Folkestone Sports Centre (FSC); the lack of junior club teams when he was a youngster; playing local league football and five-a-side football after leaving school.
20:20 Derek describes the ‘fifty yard’ open air swimming pool on the Folkestone coast – ‘when I was at primary school it was very busy, there was a lot of activity’; joining the outdoor pool’s swimming club while at primary school to get a reduction on the entry fee; Derek estimates that the pool closed down in the mid-1970s, after the sports centre pool (indoor) opened.
24:00 The very early days of FSC and the setting up of the centre’s charitable trust; the existence of squash courts and Folkestone Squash Club at the old Pleasure Gardens Theatre, and the availability of squash courts at the sports centre – some of the first facilities established at the centre; Derek’s involvement with squash at FSC including playing in numerous squash leagues; playing tennis with work colleagues at FSC; buying an FSC life membership in the late-1970s – ‘we paid £180 a year for ten years, and that entitled myself and my family to get free membership of all the clubs and free entrance to all of the facilities…and it was free for my wife and children as well’; visiting FSC as a family, and taking part in a range of sports; the relative lack of life members – ‘I wouldn’t say there were a lot of life members…there wasn’t really a life members gathering down there.’
31:20 The friendships Derek struck up with fellow squash players at FSC; the importance of the life members when the popularity of squash began to wane – ‘there was a nucleus of people playing at the sports centre and it sort of kept the non-life members involved as well.’; Derek’s on and off involvement with squash over the years, playing in various leagues and eventually deciding to stop playing when he was sixty-six.
35:00 Derek states that there were roughly 150 members of the squash club at its height in the 1970s; playing in leagues across Kent; squash being one of the larger clubs at FSC – ‘it started off as “the club”, as I say they had the two squash courts and Folkestone Squash Club moved across and a lot of people started to take it up from different walks of life, and yes it was. I mean you couldn’t get courts – it was really difficult to get courts. People used to turn up – if you wanted a court then there’d be people standing in a queue at the desk to book up a court for the week ahead…it was manic’.
39:10 Social life among the squash club at FSC – ‘with your opponent, not necessarily with, it wasn’t sort a group of people but invariably you did meet people in the bar who had played or had played before you and you’d have a chat and everything, but it was – you and your partner would normally go to the bar and have a drink afterwards. It was quite convivial.’; the lack of organised social events laid on by the squash club; the bar at FSC, and how the old cafeteria overlooked the pool where the current gym is positioned – ‘only after squash matches at the cafeteria because we always provided food for the opposition’.
43:21 Derek’s family’s involvement with sport at FSC, including squash, tennis and golf, which his daughter excelled at, eventually playing for Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup; how and why he joined the FSC committee in the late 1990s and then being asked to join the board of trustees in the mid-2000s; the current priorities and objectivities of the FSC board; the decline of the golf course at FSC, and plans to use the land for other, more popular activities.
57:00 The work of FSC manager Tessa Stickler in regard to making the centre more inclusive, particularly for disabled clients – ‘she deserves the credit for doing nearly all the work there. Us trustees don’t have to do much.’; Derek states that there is something for everyone at FSC, regardless of age or physical ability; Derek describes the more exclusionary, almost elitist attitude at FSC in its early days – ‘it wasn’t all embracing in the same way…with all clubs there was an element of cliqueness ’.
1:04:00 The prevalence of junior sport – including summer camps - at FSC in the early days, and how much of this activity was facilitated by volunteers, including trained sporting professionals; Derek states that the biggest change at FSC has been the move away from elite sport to a more community minded programme; the more elitist approach in the early years was perhaps a product of the lack of sports facilities in the town at that time – ‘the sports centre sort of took over as the place where serious sport was going to carry on’ – while the recent rise of other sports centres such as Three Hills encouraged FSC to take a more community minded approach; FSC’s ongoing challenge of raising money to keep pace with necessary changes while keeping access affordable.
1:12:20 Derek states that his fondest memories of FSC are of visiting the centre as a family, and of enjoying the ‘friendly’ atmosphere.
Interviewee: Derek Timmins
Interviewer: Michael Romyn
Date: 9 September, 2019
Location: Derek Timmins’ house in Folkestone, Kent
0:00 Name, place and date of birth (Derek Timmins, Birmingham, 4 August, 1949); Derek lived in Birmingham until he was seven, before moving to Folkestone due to his father’s work (he worked at the port in customs and excise) but also because his mother’s family hailed from the town; Derek describes how his parents met at his grandmother’s house in Swansea; memories of Birmingham – playing on the allotments, going to school near Walsall, his father going to Aston Villa games etc.
4:05 Visiting his grandmother in Folkestone during the summer holidays, and looking forward to moving to the town as a boy; attending St Mary’s Convent School in Folkestone, where he was one of the few boys in his class, before moving to Harvey Grammar; there was little in the way of organised sport at the convent school; Derek recalls playing football and occasionally cricket at Jocks Pitch (a park) in the summer evenings with his younger brother and friends – ‘there could be anything up to twenty boys turn up in an evening, and you know there’d just be jumpers for goal posts and we’d go out there and play.’; going to play football at Radnor Park on the weekends; playing at the beach in the summers and swimming in the outdoor pool near the seafront.
10:50 Derek describes joining the sailing club aged thirteen, where he continued to sail until he was about twenty; the club was formerly Folkestone Yacht Club, now Folkestone Yacht and Motorboat Club; he sailed predominantly in dinghies, and raced in competitions on the weekends; he joined Hythe and Saltwood Sailing Club in his twenties; he describes his brother’s boating success, including at a national level.
14:18 Playing a range of sports at Harvey Grammar; playing table tennis at the yacht club, and how this led to Derek’s involvement with Folkestone Sports Centre (FSC); the lack of junior club teams when he was a youngster; playing local league football and five-a-side football after leaving school.
20:20 Derek describes the ‘fifty yard’ open air swimming pool on the Folkestone coast – ‘when I was at primary school it was very busy, there was a lot of activity’; joining the outdoor pool’s swimming club while at primary school to get a reduction on the entry fee; Derek estimates that the pool closed down in the mid-1970s, after the sports centre pool (indoor) opened.
24:00 The very early days of FSC and the setting up of the centre’s charitable trust; the existence of squash courts and Folkestone Squash Club at the old Pleasure Gardens Theatre, and the availability of squash courts at the sports centre – some of the first facilities established at the centre; Derek’s involvement with squash at FSC including playing in numerous squash leagues; playing tennis with work colleagues at FSC; buying an FSC life membership in the late-1970s – ‘we paid £180 a year for ten years, and that entitled myself and my family to get free membership of all the clubs and free entrance to all of the facilities…and it was free for my wife and children as well’; visiting FSC as a family, and taking part in a range of sports; the relative lack of life members – ‘I wouldn’t say there were a lot of life members…there wasn’t really a life members gathering down there.’
31:20 The friendships Derek struck up with fellow squash players at FSC; the importance of the life members when the popularity of squash began to wane – ‘there was a nucleus of people playing at the sports centre and it sort of kept the non-life members involved as well.’; Derek’s on and off involvement with squash over the years, playing in various leagues and eventually deciding to stop playing when he was sixty-six.
35:00 Derek states that there were roughly 150 members of the squash club at its height in the 1970s; playing in leagues across Kent; squash being one of the larger clubs at FSC – ‘it started off as “the club”, as I say they had the two squash courts and Folkestone Squash Club moved across and a lot of people started to take it up from different walks of life, and yes it was. I mean you couldn’t get courts – it was really difficult to get courts. People used to turn up – if you wanted a court then there’d be people standing in a queue at the desk to book up a court for the week ahead…it was manic’.
39:10 Social life among the squash club at FSC – ‘with your opponent, not necessarily with, it wasn’t sort a group of people but invariably you did meet people in the bar who had played or had played before you and you’d have a chat and everything, but it was – you and your partner would normally go to the bar and have a drink afterwards. It was quite convivial.’; the lack of organised social events laid on by the squash club; the bar at FSC, and how the old cafeteria overlooked the pool where the current gym is positioned – ‘only after squash matches at the cafeteria because we always provided food for the opposition’.
43:21 Derek’s family’s involvement with sport at FSC, including squash, tennis and golf, which his daughter excelled at, eventually playing for Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup; how and why he joined the FSC committee in the late 1990s and then being asked to join the board of trustees in the mid-2000s; the current priorities and objectivities of the FSC board; the decline of the golf course at FSC, and plans to use the land for other, more popular activities.
57:00 The work of FSC manager Tessa Stickler in regard to making the centre more inclusive, particularly for disabled clients – ‘she deserves the credit for doing nearly all the work there. Us trustees don’t have to do much.’; Derek states that there is something for everyone at FSC, regardless of age or physical ability; Derek describes the more exclusionary, almost elitist attitude at FSC in its early days – ‘it wasn’t all embracing in the same way…with all clubs there was an element of cliqueness ’.
1:04:00 The prevalence of junior sport – including summer camps - at FSC in the early days, and how much of this activity was facilitated by volunteers, including trained sporting professionals; Derek states that the biggest change at FSC has been the move away from elite sport to a more community minded programme; the more elitist approach in the early years was perhaps a product of the lack of sports facilities in the town at that time – ‘the sports centre sort of took over as the place where serious sport was going to carry on’ – while the recent rise of other sports centres such as Three Hills encouraged FSC to take a more community minded approach; FSC’s ongoing challenge of raising money to keep pace with necessary changes while keeping access affordable.
1:12:20 Derek states that his fondest memories of FSC are of visiting the centre as a family, and of enjoying the ‘friendly’ atmosphere.