December 8, 2025 | Paul Stimpson
The memory of England international and World Championship medallist Bernard Crouch is enshrined in a plaque marking the railway disaster which tragically ended his and 12 other lives.
The plaque was unveiled last week at Barnes railway station 70 years to the day after the disaster on the night of 2 December, 1955.
Members of Bernardâ€s family attended the ceremony, which was organised by South Western Railway following a campaign by Barnes & Mortlake History Society to honour the victims.
Local MP Sarah Olney was also there, while Table Tennis England were represented by President Jill Parker MBE and her husband and TTE director Don.
Railway Chaplain Christopher Henley led a service, with the unveiling of the plaque performed by Bernardâ€s nephew David Crouch and niece Kathy Streater, who remember Bernard from when they were children.
A one-minute silence was held at 11.28am, mirroring the time of the crash at 11.28pm.
Bernard was a Senior International who was in the England team which won bronze in the Swaythling Cup at the 1950 World Championships in Budapest, gaining his first international cap at the championships, against Brazil. His team-mates were Richard Bergmann, Johnny Leach, Aubrey Simons and Harry Venner – some of the iconic names of English table tennis.
Bernard also played in the World Championships in 1948 and 1954. Like many other top-class players of the era, he was also an excellent tennis player and played at Wimbledon on several occasions.
His nephew David, who also spoke at the unveiling ceremony, said: “We were fortunate enough to have a very good record of his achievements, which Kathy and I have been looking at over the years. And we’re able to get a very, very good picture of us of what he did sporting wise.
“Table tennis was obviously a fantastic love of his. He was obviously extremely good, he played in Staines for the club, and county level, and for England, especially at the world championships in Hungary where actually they got the bronze medal.
“He was involved in a lot of coaching as well and he was actually coming home from coaching in London, after 11 oâ€clock, when the accident happened, so he had been playing table tennis.
“We’re very proud of his achievements and what he did sporting wise.â€
His niece Kathy added: “His influence has spread throughout the family because his father, and his brother were all very keen on table tennis and when we were children, we had a table tennis table at home and all the grandchildren, play tennis, play table tennis.
“I donâ€t think there’s many times when people are playing table tennis in the family that we don’t think of Uncle Bernard. He’s a bit of an icon in the family.â€
Bernardâ€s great-nephew Rob said: “It’s just fantastic to actually have something physical to go to which marks the event and the people who were in it, so it’s a great thing that South Western Railway have done today to commemorate it – it means quite a lot to the families and people involved in it.â€
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