Sue Pudduck
Sue Pudduck
Former Dart Harbour Board Member, educationalist and Commonwealth Games medallist Sue Pudduck talks to Phil Scoble about the lessons she’s learned through her life.
Sue, who has just stepped down after nine years as a Dart Harbour Board member, thinks carefully when I ask her why she enjoyed fencing when she was a child in Glasgow.
“Well, I liked winning,” she said. “I had quick reactions and a lot of determination and perhaps aggression. I was left-handed and I think that gave me an advantage. Fencing is like a physical game of chess where you are continually attempting to force your opponent to make a mistake and you are trying to find your way through their defence while at the same time trying to make sure that you don’t get hit yourself! Once you win once or twice as a child you get a taste for it, don’t you?”
‘Once or twice’ is an interesting phrase to come from the mouth of a six-time Scottish National Champion and Commonwealth silver medallist.
She competed in the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, winning bronze in the Individual Foil and sharing the glory of the team silver. Susan Youngs, as she was, was one of the top performers in the sport in the world.
Sue found despite her talent that it was tough being an amateur athlete in an era when the term really meant something.
“We weren’t allowed to earn anything from the sport,” she said. “If I was paid anything for an interview perhaps, I had to give it to charity. It was also a very different time in terms of attitudes to women – we could only compete in foil as it was thought to be lighter and ‘easier’ for us.
“My family also didn’t have much money, so it was tough making it to competitions and training camps. There was no grant aid and you were banned from earning anything from endorsements which was hard. I remember when I was at College I used to hitch to competitions with my training partner. Fencing is obviously somewhat a well-to-do sport, with some very wealthy players. I think it really shocked some of the other competitors when we would get out of a truck at competitions!”
Sue moved to London in 1972 as she began her career as a PE teacher. She continued training and competing. After travelling to Canada for the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in 1974 (it was dropped as a full Commonwealth sport after the 1970 games) she began to find it difficult to maintain the tough training regime.
“I moved to Somerset and found that I couldn’t keep at the same level,” she said. “As I hated to compete and not be in contention, I decided to drop out of competition and start to enjoy my life a little – I had been unable to enjoy weekends and do some of the things I wanted to do and it was great to get back a little freedom.”
Sue continued her career - becoming heavily involved in Further Education.
“I loved being involved in FE as those returning to education especially appreciate that they are being given a second chance and are determined to make the most of it. That is really inspiring.”
Meeting her husband Pete whilst volunteering as a sailing teacher in Somerset, she developed a career as someone who could help develop curriculums that allowed those who had started in FE to move on to degree qualifications.
She worked with Plymouth University, South Devon College and eventually ended up running the Mount Batten activity centre in Plymouth Sound.
In 2005 she and Pete moved to Kingswear, and she became interested in a volunteer Dart Harbour Board Member role.
“We’d had a boat on the Dart for a while before we moved to Kingswear and I thought it would be great to be involved. The work was a bit more demanding than I first thought but rarely have I been involved in a more rewarding role.”
Sue used her management experience to help the DHNA with its HR policies and also pressed for it to support educational initiatives. She was instrumental in setting up the Dart Harbour Young Champion Awards, which are now in their fourth year.
“It’s vital that Dart Harbour support the younger generation and show them how easy it is to be passionate about the River Dart,” she said. “I’m very proud of the Young Champion Awards but I’m very proud of all the work I’ve seen at Dart Harbour - it’s more open and more professional than when I joined. It’s supportive of a number of important initiatives that are very positive for the Dart. “
First published By The Dart March 2014