Peter W Holmes MBE

Peter was born in Wolverhampton on 25 January 1932. He had an elder brother, Dennis. Dennis passed away in 1944 on a war time bombing mission, as part of the Dam Busters.

Peter joined Wolverhampton Swimming Club in 1947 and later joined the Staffordshire Amateur Swimming Association in 1961. He became President in 1971/72 and again in 2001 to celebrate his 40 years of service to the Association. He continues on the executive committee till he passed on Saturday 4^th April, serving a total of 65 years, a remarkable achievement.

He became a member of the Midland District Swimming Association Executive Board and became their President in 1982

In his younger days Peter was a natural in the swimming pool and Water Polo played a major role in his early life. He played Water Polo for England. Sounds glamorous but not when you hear about him getting hyperthermia in a match in Holland, that took place in an open air swimming pool in the winter.

He served his National Service in the RAF and spoke very fondly of this period of his life.

Peter’s wife, Margaret, was his rock in every single aspect of his life. At times he could be difficult, as his standards were so high, but Margaret knew exactly how to handle him. He wore the trousers, Margaret told him which ones to put on.

The Holmes family were not a typical family as sport took over all aspects of life. Peter secretly loved the mind games that he had with the older swimmers such as Tony Ward, Malcolm Babb and Alan Blades, who all used to play him up on the starting blocks.

Peter became a mini celebrity when an elite Russian Swimming Squad came over to Coventry and the event was selected as the first ever live televised swimming meet in the UK. Peter duly disqualified their main swimmer for two false starts live on television.

Peter was involved in many aspects of sport, apart from his heavy involvement in swimming. The Sports Aid Trust, Sports Injuries Clinic, Wolverhampton Sports Advisory Council  the Wolverhampton Sporting Hall of Fame which he launched in 1999.

He wanted to highlight the role that Wolverhampton, a city he was so proud of, played in the world of sport. The Hall of Fame is at Aldersley Stadium, some of the names displayed on all the boards include Denise Lewis, Tessa Saunderson Steve Bull and Billy Wright. Amongst the famous people is Mike Ayres, a renown Swimming Coach from Wolverhampton who coached a number of International Swimmers, along with Wolverhampton Swimming Club as a Centurion Wolverhampton Sporting Club.

For his in-depth involvement in sport he received his MBE in 2008 an honor he cherished for the rest of his life.

Peter meant so many different things to so many different people. He was a larger than life character who always had a view on right and wrong. He would be there for anyone who wanted to discuss the in’s and out’s of sport and he loved seeing people progress in their goals and ambitions.