Tim Clements (right) with the Hird/Watson jumper he just bought for $1,000. All money will be donated to Swim Vietnam. Dave Kainey, left, ferried the jumper from Singapore to Hanoi.

On Vietnam Veterans’ Day last year, 18 August 2011, a Brisbane Lions jumper, signed by Jason Akermanis was auctioned off at Tommy’s Bar (a Club Sponsor) in Vung Tau for $520.

The jumper was donated by Doc and Deb Watson and the money raised was donated to Swim Vietnam. The jumper was bought by Chris Doullis from VIP Cabs Australia (who subsequently became a Club Sponsor).  The jumper now hangs in Tommy’s Bar.

Last month, Doc, who is currently based in Singapore, emailed the Vietnam Swans to advise that:

“I have picked up another donation, this time a signed Essendon jumper, with Hird and Jobe Watson’s signatures. I also got Dean Bailey and John Barnes to sign the back of the jumper. It’s not framed, so easy to transport. Picked it up at the Singapore Wombats’ GF function for a snap, so would like to donate towards Swim Vietnam.”

Given that Club Legend, Dave Kainey is also based in Singapore and was coming to last weekend’s Indochina Cup in Hanoi, he organised to pick up the Essendon jumper and bring it with him.

Timmay Clements, a Swannie and Essendon-nut who is now living in Hong Kong had also flown in to Hanoi for the Indochina Cup. When he found out about the jumper, Timmay said, “I want that! Here’s a thousand cold, hard U’ees (USD).” And so the deal was done.

Jo Stewart from Swim Vietnam, upon hearing of the $1,000 donation, wrote:

“Many thanks to you all for this. This is wonderful. The level of support we get from all the Swannies never fails to amaze me.

“I am currently doing the analysis on how Swim Vietnam did over the summer. Still to finalise the data but it looks as if we taught over 1,700 kids this year (we had projected at the beginning of the year that we would teach over 1,500 so I am pretty pleased with this!). So this means that since inception of the program, we have successfully taught over 4,000 kids to swim. More details to follow, but a huge thanks again from everyone at Swim Vietnam.”

From all the Swannies, thank you very much to Doc Watson (the donor), Dave Kainey (the courier), Tim Clements (the purchaser) and Swim Vietnam, the organisation which teaches kids how to thrive and survive along Vietnam’s extensive coastline and in her extensive network of internal waterways.