Joe Swindells

Although educated at New Mills Grammar School in north Derbyshire, close to the lacrosse “hot-spot” of Stockport, Joe Swindells’ job as a construction engineer took him around the country, and consequently he played for lacrosse teams in both the Northern and Southern Leagues. Before World War II, he played for London side Willoughby, and in 1937, made the first of several appearances in the annual South versus North match. That same year he was in the Middlesex side beaten by Cheshire in the County Championship final. The following year, Swindells scored six goals for Willoughby as they beat Surbiton 19-3 in the Southern Flags final. Unfortunately, Willoughby lost 12-2 to Old Waconians in the Iroquois Cup.

After the War, Swindells played for Hampstead, and was again on the losing side in the Iroquois Cup, after his new team lost, again, to Old Waconians. In 1949 he played for The South against The North. The game ended 9-9, and was the first time since 1908 that The North had failed to win. Later that year, after moving to Birmingham to work, Swindells played for both the Birmingham and Leicester lacrosse clubs. He ended his career with the Yorkshire side Old Grovians, in the third division of the North of England Lacrosse Association, leaving them midway through the 1954/55 season to work and live abroad.

A one-time assistant secretary of the South of England Lacrosse Association, Swindells, whilst serving as a lieutenant with the Royal Engineers in October 1945, became one of a small handful of mountaineers to have climbed the 18,500 ft Mount Damavand in Tehran. He made the climb accompanied by two other men.

Swindells later retired to Cyprus in 1974 where he lived in Kyrenia with his wife. He was found dead at his home in April 2005 aged 92, apparently strangled and beaten by an intruder. In late May 2005, Turkish Cypriot Yalçın Hüseyin Solat, 42, who previously spent time in prison for the murder of his neighbour in 1998, was arrested for Swindells’ murder, and reportedly later confessed upon interrogation by authorities. He was sentenced to life in prison after a trial in 2008.