Fiona Newnham pictured in front of Ventnor's Steephill pavilion.
For many years Fiona Newnham has been scoring for Ventnor Cricket Club and is currently the first team manager. She has sat in score boxes all around the south of England and even at Lords. It would be fascinating to know how many opposition scorers actually realised they were sat next to a former world record holder ?
John Hannam, the Isle of Wight’s highly respected writer and broadcaster, takes up the story …
Fiona Brothers, on water, was once the fastest woman on earth in her inshore powerboat. Her top speed was 130 mph.
When I first met Fiona, back in 1992, I quickly realised how lucky I was to be even in her company. She'd had an horrendous accident at Bodymoor Heath Water, near Birmingham, in 1983 and was so lucky not to lose her life. It was a dangerous sport and six of her contemporaries did not have the same good fortune.
Inshore powerboat racing all began when Fiona and her younger brother Chris bought a class 3 boat with an 850cc engine for weekend fun in their home county of Gloucestershire, away from their stressful day jobs in London.
They entered local competitions just for the pure enjoyment of it all. At the end of that season they had both qualified for licenses to race anywhere in Britain. That did create one major problem, as Fiona explained.
"It was really crunch time and we couldn't afford two boats. He could never go quite as fast as I could. Mainly because he was heavier than me and that makes quite a difference. He'd also just got married."
That was in 1979 and the following year she raced in the intermediate class. In 1981 Fiona was racing on the world F1 circuit.
Was she a natural racer? "No not really but I was quite logical and could work things out. When you got into it there was no doubt it was mostly seat of pants time. You also raced by instinct and that was the only way you could win."
Fierce competitor
Fiona could often beat the opposition before they even got on to the water. She was gifted at being able to psyche the others up and was such a fierce competitor. Often the boats were just a few feet apart, unlike the seagoing variety.
It was not a glamorous sport and finding sponsors was such a necessity and she did have some luck with major companies. After a racing weekend, it was back to being a food buyer for Marks and Spencer’s head office. She bought dairy produce and fresh meat and at one time had a weekly budget of £1 million for nationwide distribution.
John Hannam, the Isle of Wight’s highly respected writer and broadcaster, takes up the story …
Fiona Brothers, on water, was once the fastest woman on earth in her inshore powerboat. Her top speed was 130 mph.
When I first met Fiona, back in 1992, I quickly realised how lucky I was to be even in her company. She'd had an horrendous accident at Bodymoor Heath Water, near Birmingham, in 1983 and was so lucky not to lose her life. It was a dangerous sport and six of her contemporaries did not have the same good fortune.
Inshore powerboat racing all began when Fiona and her younger brother Chris bought a class 3 boat with an 850cc engine for weekend fun in their home county of Gloucestershire, away from their stressful day jobs in London.
They entered local competitions just for the pure enjoyment of it all. At the end of that season they had both qualified for licenses to race anywhere in Britain. That did create one major problem, as Fiona explained.
"It was really crunch time and we couldn't afford two boats. He could never go quite as fast as I could. Mainly because he was heavier than me and that makes quite a difference. He'd also just got married."
That was in 1979 and the following year she raced in the intermediate class. In 1981 Fiona was racing on the world F1 circuit.
Was she a natural racer? "No not really but I was quite logical and could work things out. When you got into it there was no doubt it was mostly seat of pants time. You also raced by instinct and that was the only way you could win."
Fierce competitor
Fiona could often beat the opposition before they even got on to the water. She was gifted at being able to psyche the others up and was such a fierce competitor. Often the boats were just a few feet apart, unlike the seagoing variety.
It was not a glamorous sport and finding sponsors was such a necessity and she did have some luck with major companies. After a racing weekend, it was back to being a food buyer for Marks and Spencer’s head office. She bought dairy produce and fresh meat and at one time had a weekly budget of £1 million for nationwide distribution.
The year of 1981 was especially memorable for Fiona because she set a world record on a stretch of water near Nottingham. She was representing England that weekend and the racing finished on the Bank Holiday Monday.
The other competitors went out for drinks to celebrate but she went to bed early, as the following morning at 5am she was going for a world record. She broke it with an average speed of 116.72mph. This went unbroken for ten years and even Sir Donald Campbell's daughter, Gina, failed in several attempts.
The following year Fiona, who was the only lady qualified to race in F1 world inshore powerboat racing, was in with a real chance of becoming the world champion. Four of them were in the running. I think she fancied her chances against the three men. It was on the Seine in Paris. The winner would clinch it. She was going well in the heats in the last event of the season. It was not to be and a breakdown put her out of the competition.
It was still a great year and she had the bonus of marrying an Islander. She had known Keith Newnham many years earlier but they met up again in 1981, on the Island. Sadly, Keith, one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet, died in 2018. He did such a lot for both Ventnor Cricket Club and Ventnor Football Club.
Pancake roll
In 1983 at Bodymoor Heath she won the first heat of the championship but had a slow start to the second race.
"I had to quickly overtake the rest of the field and was very close to the speeding boat of Jonathan Jones, who later became a world champion. His boat started to lift and cartwheel and once that happens all the air around your boat gets displaced and mine went after him. I did a pancake roll and the boat landed upside down with me in it. That's all I could remember."
Fiona fractured her skull and fragments of the bone cut the nerves to her face. She was unconscious for 36 hours. Luckily, she was treated by a specialist in nerve disorders in Zurich and, eventually, made a good recovery and overcame speech problems. She was back racing four months later but now, in hindsight, she admits it was too soon. She did go for one more season before deciding to retire.
The other competitors went out for drinks to celebrate but she went to bed early, as the following morning at 5am she was going for a world record. She broke it with an average speed of 116.72mph. This went unbroken for ten years and even Sir Donald Campbell's daughter, Gina, failed in several attempts.
The following year Fiona, who was the only lady qualified to race in F1 world inshore powerboat racing, was in with a real chance of becoming the world champion. Four of them were in the running. I think she fancied her chances against the three men. It was on the Seine in Paris. The winner would clinch it. She was going well in the heats in the last event of the season. It was not to be and a breakdown put her out of the competition.
It was still a great year and she had the bonus of marrying an Islander. She had known Keith Newnham many years earlier but they met up again in 1981, on the Island. Sadly, Keith, one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet, died in 2018. He did such a lot for both Ventnor Cricket Club and Ventnor Football Club.
Pancake roll
In 1983 at Bodymoor Heath she won the first heat of the championship but had a slow start to the second race.
"I had to quickly overtake the rest of the field and was very close to the speeding boat of Jonathan Jones, who later became a world champion. His boat started to lift and cartwheel and once that happens all the air around your boat gets displaced and mine went after him. I did a pancake roll and the boat landed upside down with me in it. That's all I could remember."
Fiona fractured her skull and fragments of the bone cut the nerves to her face. She was unconscious for 36 hours. Luckily, she was treated by a specialist in nerve disorders in Zurich and, eventually, made a good recovery and overcame speech problems. She was back racing four months later but now, in hindsight, she admits it was too soon. She did go for one more season before deciding to retire.
 |  2 September 2002. A memorable day as Fiona is selected to score for South Africa in a One Day International against England at Lord's. Left, Fiona is pictured with MCC Scorer Manager Andy Scarlett and, above, her name up in lights on the Lord's scoreboard. |
In more recent years she has become famous as a cricket scorer. The highlight being when she scored for South Africa at Lord’s in a one-day international with England in September 2002.
“It was a truly memorable day,” Fiona recalls. “There were seven officials in the scorer’s room, the people who ran the text details on the rolling screens, computer records and scorebook input.
“We had lunch alongside Graham Smith, the towering captain of South Africa, and with ICC umpires Simon Taufel and Richard Illingworth.”
Tutoring
Being a man, obviously, I can't multi-task. Once when I was watching Ventnor play a Southern League match at Newclose I just marvelled at her skills.
Fiona found time to beautifully record the details in the scorebook, acknowledge the umpire's signals, update the ground's electronic scoreboard, answer phone calls from the press and update the scores on the Ventnor website.
She also assesses umpires and scorers at national level, besides tutoring for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
I was once told when she was driving the Ventnor team minibus she drove over her precious laptop. I've never been brave enough to ask her if this was true. I do know she drives rather quickly when trying to get the Red Funnel car ferry back after a mainland match.
Apparently Fiona, who retired from the Island's NHS Trust in 2019, has had to learn all about gardening, since Keith died. Just between us, she thought she had a lovely gladioli in her newly weeded flower bed - only to find out it was a wild onion !
This article is reproduced by kind permission of the Isle of Wight County Press.
“It was a truly memorable day,” Fiona recalls. “There were seven officials in the scorer’s room, the people who ran the text details on the rolling screens, computer records and scorebook input.
“We had lunch alongside Graham Smith, the towering captain of South Africa, and with ICC umpires Simon Taufel and Richard Illingworth.”
Tutoring
Being a man, obviously, I can't multi-task. Once when I was watching Ventnor play a Southern League match at Newclose I just marvelled at her skills.
Fiona found time to beautifully record the details in the scorebook, acknowledge the umpire's signals, update the ground's electronic scoreboard, answer phone calls from the press and update the scores on the Ventnor website.
She also assesses umpires and scorers at national level, besides tutoring for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
I was once told when she was driving the Ventnor team minibus she drove over her precious laptop. I've never been brave enough to ask her if this was true. I do know she drives rather quickly when trying to get the Red Funnel car ferry back after a mainland match.
Apparently Fiona, who retired from the Island's NHS Trust in 2019, has had to learn all about gardening, since Keith died. Just between us, she thought she had a lovely gladioli in her newly weeded flower bed - only to find out it was a wild onion !
This article is reproduced by kind permission of the Isle of Wight County Press.
