A Carlisle woman has competed in the Veterans’ Commonwealth Fencing Championships that took place last weekend.
Wednesday Jones, who works as a licensed conveyancer for Carlisle law firm Mark-Bell Solicitors, just missed out on a medal at the international fencing tournament, but rekindled her love of the sport in the process.
She was part of a squad of four representing Wales who just missed out on the bronze medal with the Veterans’ Women’s Sabre Team event at the University of London Sports Dock, and she also finished 22nd out of 32 in the individual Veterans’ Women’s Sabre.
Wednesday, who took up fencing in 2008 and has been ranked number three in the Wales Veterans, said it had been a great experience after a number of years not competing because of injury and the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said: “I did much better than I thought I’d do considering I’d had five years off. We got Australia first, and we beat them. We got England second and we knew they were going to beat us because England are just an unstoppable force.
“We thought we’d get roundly thrashed by England but we didn’t actually, we held our own and we did fairly well.
“Scotland fenced against Canada and beat them by a couple of points, very close. So we got drawn against the winner. And they were just too good. So we came out of it fourth overall. We did alright.”
Wednesday had gone to the tournament with her main intention to enjoy the experience and she feels she achieved that goal.
She said: “Last week I was thinking, shall I just withdraw because I’m not going to enjoy it and everybody’s going to be really good? But I’m really glad I went and I met so many nice new people.
“There was no way I could compete at any kind of level having had so long a time off but it made me remember how much fun it could be when you’re not worried about winning.
“It’s the closest you get to playing out with your mates being an adult.”
She added: “People kept stopping us between fights and saying how much they admired our team spirit.
“One lady came up to me and said ‘I don’t know anything about fencing, I’m just here to support my grandson, but all I do know is if it’s as fun as you make it look then I might give it a go’.
“I can’t wait to get back to fencing and work on all the things that I need to work on. I’ve got the Welsh Veterans’ Nationals coming up in September in Chepstow, so I’ll be going to see if I can improve on last year’s bronze medal.
“Then I’m going to start on a few little satellite competitions and work my way back in.”
Nick Kennon, senior director at Wragg Mark-Bell, said: “Well done to Wednesday on her and her Welsh teammates’ achievements at the Veterans’ Commonwealth Fencing Championships. Everyone here at Wragg Mark-Bell is proud of her.
He added: “Of course, in her role as a conveyancer, she brings the same drive and enthusiasm to looking after her clients and seeking to get them the best resolution.”
