Peter Jeffs
1st May 2019
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Peter Jeffs on Thursday 25th April at the age of 88. Peter joined Cygnet in 1966 at the relatively late age of 36 having spent most of his youth playing football. Veteran rowing was still in its infancy at this time. Nonetheless, Peter joined forces with the likes of Len Huggett, Roy Ellison and Peter Roche and together they carved out a role for themselves as a mean racing machine, whilst forging lifelong friendships. The high spot of their racing careers came in 1973 when they triumphed over Frankfurt, Germany and Barclays Bank to secure a win at the Vesta International Veterans Regatta.
One of the most senior civil servants to grace the ranks of Cygnet Rowing Club, Peter Jeffs always lent an air of authority to proceedings and was a natural choice for club chairman and chair of the Boathouse Executive. In later years, he succumbed to the clutches of the "Golden Oldies" and rarely missed Henley Royal Regatta, the Leander Club lunch or the senior hands Christmas lunch. Yet he remained active virtually until the end, playing tennis and golf well into his twilight years. Indeed for many of us, our last memory of Peter will have been of him striding off to Victoria Station after lunch in the Civil Service Club in December 2017, seemingly as ageless and timeless as ever.
Peter's funeral will take place at 1.15pm on Friday 24th May at Randall's Crematorium, Leatherhead, and afterwards at The RAC Club, Epsom. All welcome.
A longer obituary will be posted here in due course.
Paul Rawkins
