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By ROISIN GADELRAB
  
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Club strikes a blow for fencing’s image

Sport sheds its elitist tag at weekly nightclub sessions


Advanced class: (from left) Simon Harcourt, James Stone and Six Woo


Founder Jed Beardmore

D’ARTAGNAN may be long dead but swashbuckling fencers are keeping The Musketeer’s art of swordsmanship alive in the unlikely setting of a Tufnell Park nightclub.
Fighting Fit fencing club meets once a week for training and tournaments at the Dome nightclub, above the Boston Bar in Dartmouth Park Hill.
Founder Jed Beardmore has been spreading the word about the club to customers at his timber shop, Goodwoods, in Junction Road, Archway.
One convert to fencing, trainee solicitor Violet Oruwani, of Gospel Oak, said: “I found out about the club through Jed. We were decorating our flat, and he just told us about it.
“I always thought it would be very expensive, for the upper class, but here it’s reasonable and they supply the equipment. This really opens it up to all classes.”
Mr Beardmore, 38, founded the club six months ago after the one he was attending shut down.
He said: “I’d tried another club but found it a bit too elitist and snobby, which is often the problem with fencing.”
So he and his former coach decided to go it alone. Mr Beardmore said: “We never intended it to be a business. It just took off. I want anybody to join. I don’t care who they are and what background they’re from.”
He hopes to launch a children’s programme to make the sport accessible to even more people. He said: “I had a conversation with an Islington councillor. They’ve expressed an interest in expanding and developing a programme for children.
“As parents we’re a little bit traditional with the way we bring our kids up. With fencing, you have to have that sort of discipline. They turn into really nice kids and you feel it’s something children would benefit from.”
Mr Beardmore is keen to ensure the club stays in the area. He said: “Kids from an underprivileged background do get excluded from society’s sports. While Camden has good facilities there’s not much up here.”
Anyone interested in joining the club should call Mr Beardmore on 0207 272 6246.



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