2025 - Veterans Home Nations

Congratulations to the Scottish Veterans fencing team who were competing at the Veterans Home Nation Quadrangular in Cardiff earlier this month.

The women’s foil team, who were missing their captain Sheila Anderson, met very strong opposition from the other three teams. The women’s epee team fought valiantly achieving a bronze medal after beating the Irish and only narrowly losing to the Welsh.

In the women’s sabre team, Sylvia Brown sustained an injury in the first match, meaning reserve Karen Grant had to rush onto the piste straight from the epee medal ceremony. The Sabre ladies won against the Welsh, lost narrowly by only 3 points to the Irish. The English ladies won all three weapons.

All three of the men’s teams won silver medals. This left Team Scotland in third place overall, one point behind the Welsh hosts. England won, as usual, with the Irish team a couple of points behind Scotland.

Full results for the 2025 Veterans Home Nation are here:

The teams were:

Women’s Foil

• Ruth Davidson

• Louisa Dawson

• Rosalind Graham

• Helen Pitt

Women’s Sabre

• Silvia Brown

• Viven Frith

• Rosalind Graham

• Michele Narey

Women’s Epee

• Karent Grant

• Lorna Smith

• Maggie Tait

Men’s Foil

• Rory Gibson

• Mick McKay

• Nick Mort

• Paul Stanbridge

Men’s Epee

• Al Baker

• Andrew Brown

• Hugh Kernohan

• Tim Stephens

Men’s Sabre

• Keith Davidson

• Richard Foster

• Mo Mansoori

• Brent Myers

First row Men’s Foil, Men’s Sabre, Women’s Epee, Women’s Epee

Second Row Women’s Foil, Women’s Sabre

Glasgow Open 2025 - Results

That's a wrap on another great Glasgow Open!

This year saw over 160 entries across the six weapons, from as far north as Orkney to as far south as Bristol. This year we also pioneered video review for all six main event finals - to our knowledge this is the first time since the Commonwealths in 2014 that a Scottish event has used video review!

You can see a full livestream of both days at the 2025 Glasgow open here, with focused coverage of the finals at the end of each day.

The medal and trophy winners are listed below (click here for 2025 Glasgow Open Full results):

See you all again next year!

 Mixed Sabre

1st: Miller Hetherington (Salle Ossian)

2nd: Oisin Lindsay-Dorward (Salle Ossian)

3rd: Patrick Moorehead (University of Aberdeen)

3rd: Lachlan Grant (University of St Andrews)

 Women's Sabre

1st: Rosalind Graham (Sancroft Blades)

2nd: Nicole Saunders (Premier Sabre Academy)

3rd: Amelie Geens (University of St Andrews)

3rd: Lucy Higham (Salle Ossian)

 Mixed Epee

1st: Isaac McKerr (Edinburgh Fencing Club)

2nd: Archie Tyler (Forth Valley Fencing Club)

3rd: Rob Blackburne (Forth Valley Fencing Club)

3rd: Duncan Readle (University of Dundee)

 Women's Epee

1st: Mhairi Gifford (Shetland Fencing Club)

2nd: Lucy Grant (Edinburgh Fencing Club)

3rd: Marie Gerardin (University of Edinburgh)

3rd: Maria Lebedeva (Knightsbridge Fencing Club)

 Women's Foil

1st: Ao Feng (University of Edinburgh)

2nd: Chloe Campbell (Forth Valley Fencing Club)

3rd: Angeline Costello (University of St Andrews)

3rd: Lily Graham (Edinburgh Fencing Club)

 Mixed Foil

1st: Lachlan Grant (University of St Andrews)

2nd: Euan Drummond-Murray (Salle Holyrood)

3rd: Vinson Wong (Salle Holyrood)

3rd: James Havard (Salle Holyrood)

And our overall weekend trophies:

Best veteran: Rosalind Graham (Sancroft Blades)

Best student: Lachlan Grant (University of St Andrews)

Dusty Memorial Prize (Best Club): Edinburgh Fencing Club

Mandy Kettles

Scottish Fencing is sad to announce the passing of Mandy Kettles who died 4 April.

Mandy volunteered for many years, running DT at the Scottish Open and the Scottish Schools amongst some of the events she supported. She will be missed by many in the fencing community and Scottish Fencing send condolences to her family Eilidh, Calum and Clair.

Mandy’s funeral is at Stirling Crematorium on Wednesday 30 April at 11am.

BYC qualifiers

If you wish to enter the BYCs in May here is how to enter the qualifier events for Central and East region. Remember even if you have a bye from last year’s competition you still need to enter the regional qualifier.

Central Section enter on Sport80 - entries close 16 March 2025

East Section Regional Qualifiers- -- entries close 14 March

Anyone interested in taking on the organising of West or North section entries please email admin@scottish-fencing.com and we will forward your details to British Fencing.

Coaching Conference 2025

We are delighted to share with you that tickets for our Coaching Conference 2025 are now available.

Partnering up with Scottish Archery again, this one day Coaching Conference will take place on Saturday 26th April 2025 at the Stirling Court Hotel from 9am to 5pm.

The price also includes a 2 course lunch, tea and coffee intervals during the day!

There is 4 workshops planned for the day covering a range of different topics that will hopefully peak your interest as a coach. The overviews of the workshops can be found below.

To book your ticket to the Coaching Conference, you can do this by clicking the link below, completing the form and submitting payment.

Register for the Coaching Conference 2025

If you have any questions please reach out to daniel.baker@scottish-fencing.com

Workshop Title: Enhancing Coaching Through Effective Questioning and Listening Skills

Description: This interactive workshop is designed to help archery and fencing coaches refine their questioning and listening skills to elevate their coaching techniques and better support their athletes' development. Coaches will explore how to ask questions to encourage critical thinking, self-reflection, and problem-solving in their athletes. Emphasis will be placed on active listening and how it fosters trust, enhances communication, and builds stronger coach-athlete relationships

Delivered by: Victoria & Adrienne from Active Advantage

Workshop Title: Using Psychology to Improve Your Coaching

Brad Fullarton is a HCPC Licensed Sport and Exercise Psychologist based in Ayrshire, and the owner of Ambition Sport Psychology. Brad currently works with various national governing bodies for sport in Scotland, including Scottish Archery, Tennis Scotland and Bowls Scotland, in both individual and team contexts. Brad supports his clients to optimise the relationship with their mind by utilising his 'Triple A Framework' (awareness, acceptance, accountability) to achieve increased well-being and performance. Through the consideration of psychology, Brad aims to offer a different perspective and hopes coaches leave the session with tangible takeaways to improve their coaching and the relationship with their athletes.

Delivered by: Brad Fullarton from Ambition Sport Psychology

Workshop Title: Introduction to Mentoring

This interactive workshop will support participants to explore the role of a mentor and within sport. Through a combination of practical exercises and discussions, participants will gain insight into what makes a successful mentor, and the tools they can use to foster meaningful relationships that contribute to the growth and success of athletes and/or volunteers.

Delivered by: Victoria & Adrienne from Active Advantage

Workshop Title: Sport Conundrums – Adapting as a Coach

This interactive workshop is a discussion led by participants. With different types of scenarios, coaches will discuss and share their ideas on the topic presented to provide and opportunity for networking and discussing how their coaching sessions can be adapted and developed to be accessible for a different range of people trying the sport.

Delivered by: Scottish Archery & Scottish Fencing Team

Election of Directors

Four valid proposals were received to stand for election to the Board as Directors. No proposals were received and rejected as invalid. As there are four vacancies, no ballot is required.

Therfore John Bryden (proposal form), Peter Drummond (proposal form), Robin Paterson (proposal form) and Gregor MacCallum (proposal form) will replace Hugh Kernohan, George Liston, Mhairi McLaughlin and Stan Stoodley as Elected Directors, to serve for four-year terms from 19 March 2025.

Hugh Kernohan, Electoral Officer

Election of Directors - update of proposals received

A proposal for election as a Director has been received from Robin Paterson (proposal form), in addition to those already received from John Bryden (proposal form) and Gregor MacCallum (proposal form) .

Further proposals must be submitted before 1800 on Thursday 13 February and will be published here once validated.

Members are reminded to check that the e-mail address listed on their SF membership profile on Sport80 is an address they currently use. In the event of an election for Directors, this is the address which will be used for electronic voting.

Athlete Highlight: Joshua Bryden, Salle Ossian Fencing Club

The Parliamentary Society has showcased an excellent article on Joshua Bryden of Salle Ossian Fencing Club. 
You can have a read of the article by clicking below:

Joshua Bryden: Britain’s Rising Fencing Star Set for European and World Championships

Thank you to the club for highlighting this for us to share!

Election of Directors - proposals received

Proposals for election as a Director have been received from John Bryden (proposal form) and Gregor MacCallum (proposal form).

Further proposals must be submitted before 1800 on Thursday 13 February and will be published here once validated.

Members are reminded to check that the e-mail address listed on their SF membership profile on Sport80 is an address they currently use. In the event of an election for Directors, this is the address which will be used for electronic voting.

Election of Directors - 2025

Scottish Fencing needs nominations from the membership for four positions on its Board as Elected Directors.  If you want to contribute and make a difference to the leadership of Scottish Fencing, please step forward now. 

The terms of office of George Liston, Hugh Kernohan, Mhairi MacLaughlin and Stan Stoodley come to an end on 18 March 2025.  George and Hugh cannot stand again as they have completed two consecutive four-year terms.  Mhairi has indicated that she will not be seeking re-election. 

In order to stand please return a completed Proposal Form, with the support of at least five members of Scottish Fencing, by 1800 Thursday 13 February 2025.  Nominees must be current members. 

Click here for the Proposal Form. 

Submitted Proposal Forms will be published on the Scottish Fencing website as soon as they are validated.  An election will be held if more than four valid nominations are received by the deadline. 

The Board comprises seven Elected and three Independent Directors.  Elected Directors serve a four-year term.  Its role is to provide strategic leadership for fencing in Scotland, to oversee the activities of Scottish Fencing's staff and volunteers, to maintain its ethical standards and legal obligations, and to safeguard the mental and physical well-being of everyone fencing here.   

If you would like to find out more you can speak to Scottish Fencing’s current Chair, George Liston, the COO, Alan Martin, or any of the current Board – email alan.martin@scottish-fencing.com to arrange a call back.  You can read a description of the directors’ roles here https://www.scottish-fencing.com/s/20221201-Directors-roles-and-portfolios-updated.pdf. 

You can also find Scottish Fencing’s Articles of Association, Bye-Laws and other key documents about the Board's work here https://www.scottish-fencing.com/meeting-minutes-strategies. 

Hugh Kernohan 

Electoral Officer (elections@scottish-fencing.com)