{"id":12970,"date":"2026-10-04T09:50:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-04T08:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/?p=12970"},"modified":"2026-10-06T00:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T23:42:59","slug":"revered-swimming-official-ann-van-beukelen-dies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/?p=12970","title":{"rendered":"Revered swimming official Ann van Beukelen dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veteran county swimming official, mentor and committee member Ann van Beukelen has died aged 90.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ann joined Kingston Royals SC in 1985 and quickly established herself as a dedicated, dependable and conscientious official.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the years she became a familiar and trusted presence on poolside, volunteering her time and expertise to help ensure competitions ran smoothly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Kind, personable and matron-like in stature, she would often be seen blowing her referee\u2019s whistle at county, district, regional and national events.<\/span><\/p>\n

She also regularly supported club open meets, inter-services and school galas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surrey Schools\u2019 Swimming Association treasurer Carole Chaplin said: \u201cAnn had always been a much-respected referee in my eyes and one of the stalwarts and backbone of Surrey officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe was extremely reliable, always putting herself out to be at all the galas she was asked to attend.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ann played an important role in the development of officials, helping to mentor a great many of them through training across the county and wider area.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diane Gamble, chair of Surrey County ASA, said Ann had been a friend and mentor for many years, dubbing her \u201cMrs Swimming\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSwimming had been her life. Her blood was made up of chlorine,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ann was recognised with a number of accolades over her long involvement, including a Surrey County ASA honorary life vice-presidency for distinguished service.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2003 she and her husband, Wim, were awarded the president\u2019s plate for outstanding service to the county.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surrey masters club King\u2019s Cormorants have a trophy in Wim and Ann\u2019s honour, which they award annually to their most improved breaststroker.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2008 she was the recipient of the Alfred H Turner award, presented nationally to an organisation or individual who makes an exceptional contribution to aquatics at any level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ann had been a London Region licensing panel member for many years and was also a representative on the national swimming officials\u2019 group. In 2017 ASA London Region awarded her a silver pin for 10 years\u2019 service.<\/span><\/p>\n

She served on both the Surrey management and swimming committees, where she provided invaluable support and guidance, bringing a wealth of knowledge and insight to her roles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her commitment, reliability and willingness to share her experience were greatly appreciated \u2013 and she made a valuable contribution to the work of both committees.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was in her early 80s when she finally hung up her whistle and whites and stepped down from officiating and committees.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born on 9 July 1936, she died from complications associated with dementia on 23 September 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

The funeral will take place at 2.20pm on Thursday 22 October at Kingston Crematorium<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Highly respected Surrey official who gave decades of service to swimming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[15,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12970"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12973,"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12970\/revisions\/12973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surreyswimming.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}