Julian Taylor from Cuffley has written in after seeing a picture of his uncle, accompanying a story about swimming in the River Colne in the April 12 edition of Nostalgia.

The picture has prompted a fascinating story about the life of “swimming champion of Hertfordshire” Bill Kuebler.

Mr Taylor said: “I was greatly surprised looking through the Watford Observer this morning to see a photograph which I had last seen about 60 years ago, on the wall of my parents’ bungalow in Southfield Avenue.

“The two young men pictured were as captioned – on the left, holding the guitar, was Alf Smith and on the right was Bill Kuebler – my uncle Bill.

“Both were keen swimmers and lovers of the outdoor life and making their own music, taking the opportunity to indulge in all three while unemployed. They would have been about 18 at this time, in 1935.

“Later Uncle Bill was given a job at Odhams in north Watford as, I suspect, a casual labourer, in order to coach the firm’s swimming team.

“I have a competitor’s card admitting him to the Printing and Allied Trades Charity Sports Association Annual Swimming Gala held at Shoreditch Baths, Hoxton, on September 26, 1938.

“I don’t know how he got on, on that occasion, but I have several medals awarded to him by the Hertfordshire Swimming Association.

“We used to have a number of cups and plaques won by him, but these were sold to raise money – probably very little – in the years after the war.

“I was brought up to believe that uncle Bill was ‘the swimming champion of Hertfordshire’ and that he would have been selected for the Olympic Games of 1940 had war not intervened – both, possibly, just family legends, but we were all very proud of him, and that’s what counts.

“Bill lived with his parents in Fearnley Street until they both died in 1940/41 – illness in both cases, not the war, neither lived long enough to draw an old age pension. He then moved in with us in our tiny bungalow until he was called up.

“He still played the guitar and one of my earliest memories, aged about two or three, was hearing him singing ‘South of the Border, down Mexico way’…  strange how potent cheap music can be. One of his guitars was left with us, as was his motorbike, kept in our shed until that too had to go.

“In the army he became Driver William Henry Kuebler, of 585 Corps Field Park Company, Royal Engineers. Later he was billeted on a family in Kilbirnie, Ayrshire.

“We have letters from the family saying what a good chap he was – and sending their best wishes to little Julian and congratulating my dad for working in de Havilland’s aircraft factory building Mosquito bombers ‘to teach these Germans a lesson’.

“The story ends on January 7, 1943, when the ship S.S. Benalbanoch, on which Uncle Bill was being taken to North Africa, was torpedoed north of Algiers, sinking immediately with the loss of 340 troops and 57 crew.

“Before going overseas he was in a hotel in Scarborough and we have many pictures of him, still with his beloved guitar.

“In one picture he is standing alongside another soldier who looks very like Alf Smith – who knows?

“Bill was obviously very well-liked by all his friends and colleagues. I know that my mum thought the world of her little brother.

“His name, along with all those with no known grave, is on the War Memorial in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.  I have his medals.

“At the time of his death Uncle Bill was entitled to the balance of his pay and allowances and his Post War Credit, £19 – 11s- 8d – about £19.60, half of which was paid to mum as his next of kin, the other half to a niece. Mind you, that was quite a bit of money in those days, as the saying goes.

“But, what of Alf Smith? He, fortunately, survived the war and lived with his wife, Marie, and their daughter, in The Harebreaks.

“We saw a lot of them for many years, but, in the nature of things, dropped away and I don’t know Alf’s later history.

“What I can remember is that Alf was a learned man – very widely read in history, literature and politics. 

“He and Marie were both keen on opera. They lent us many books and operatic records – 78s, of course.

“Like many of that generation they were what you might call ‘left wing intellectuals’ – particularly Marie who, when met in the street, would greet us with the clenched fist salute of the Communist party. This may well have been ironic, I was too young to judge.

“Oh well, I don’t know if this is of any interest to your readers, but I have enjoyed writing it.”

Does anyone else remember Alf Smith or Bill Kuebler and his Olympic ambitions? If you can take the story any further, please write and tell us.

ONLINE TOMORROW: Timber Cottages and the identity of another of the Leavesden Green School footballers from 1953-54.

 

This Nostalgia column was first published in the Watford Observer on April 26, 2013. The next Nostalgia column can be found in tomorrow’s Watford Observer (dated May 3, 2013) or read online here from 4pm next Thursday.

If you have anything to add – or would like to tell us anything you think our readers may enjoy about Watford’s history – we are always pleased to hear from you. Contact Nostalgia, by clicking here abinnie@london.newsquest.co.uk