East End Women’s Museum: Linda Strachan

Linda Strachan, born in Newham, competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games and won a total of seven National Senior Women’s Foil titles, and nine Commonwealth Games Gold medals. She was chosen to be a Torchbearer in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2005 she founded the Newham Swords Fencing Club along with her husband Pierre Harper and has since helped young fencers develop into international competition winners. 

She was awarded the “Inspiring People’s Award” in 2013 and the British Empire Award for services to sport in the community in 2015.

Battling Expectations 

“No, it’s for snobs”,  is what Linda remarked the first time the fencing coach suggested she try out the sport. The moment she tried on the white fencing jacket she fell in love.

During Linda’s first ever national championship, she was up against her close friend Fiona McIntosh. Having realised she had just attained her first British title; Linda gleefully shook her friends’ hand. The two could not have been any more different, Fiona was a Cambridge graduate who attended private school and Jean was from Newham who attended Stratford School. But when it came to fencing, they both wore the same uniform.

Passing on the Flame 

Linda and her husband Pierre have been running Newham Swords Fencing Club for over 15 years. The Swords girls have won every single British ranking competition at under-seventeen and under-twenty level. The club has around 90 members from mixed ethnic backgrounds. Of these, 75% are from single parent families or low-income backgrounds.

For Linda, the club is about more than winning trophies, it’s about helping children be the best version of themselves.