The Club Newsletter Archive (A Pack Of Whippets)

Introduction

Here we present, what we hope, will become a full archive of all the various club magazines and newsletters that the club has produced over their history. It was not until the club was nearly 30 years old that we can trace copies of a regular attempt at a newsletter.

1930's

The first club newsletter we have dates from the late 1930's. The editors were firstly "T Kelly" & "H A Carless" and then "T Kelly" combined with "H M Hughes".

We have examples of these from 1938 which were then called the "Gazette". It ran to at least seventeen editions. We are grateful to Brian Boyce for these examples.

Year Volume Number Date/Reference Cover Contents Link Notes
1938 N/A 1       Missing - Copy Needed
1938 N/A 2 February   PDF  
1938 N/A 3       Missing - Copy Needed 
1938 N/A 4       Missing - Copy Needed 
1938 N/A 5       Missing - Copy Needed 
1938 N/A 6 June   PDF  
1938 N/A 7       Missing - Copy Needed 
1938 N/A 8       Missing - Copy Needed 
1938 N/A 9 September   PDF  
1938 N/A 10 October   PDF  
1938 N/A 11 November   PDF   
1938 N/A 12       Missing - Copy Needed 
1939 N/A 13       Missing - Copy Needed
1939 N/A 14       Missing - Copy Needed
1939 N/A 15       Missing - Copy Needed
1939 N/A 16       Missing - Copy Needed
1939 N/A 17 May   PDF  

1960's

Efforts were made again in 1965 when another regular club newsletter appeared. From this point onwards it was named "The Whippet". The name, "The Whippet", coming from the dog that has been the emblem on club badge since formation in 1910.The first editor was Alan Whittle who then, in September 1967, handed over to Dave Denton.

Year Volume Number Date/Reference Cover Contents Link Notes
1965 N/A 1 January 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 2 February 1965  Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 3 March 1965  Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 4 April 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 5 May 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 6 June 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 7 July 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 8 August 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 9 September 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 10 October 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 11 November 1965 Typed PDF  
1965 N/A 12 December 1965 Typed PDF  
1966 N/A 13 January 1966 Typed PDF  
1966 N/A 14 February 1966 Typed PDF  
1966 N/A 15 February 1966 Typed PDF  
1966 N/A 16       Missing - Copy Needed
1966 N/A  17 April 1966 Typed PDF  
1966 N/A  18 May & June 1966 Typed PDF  
1966 N/A  19 July & August 1966  Typed PDF  
1966 N/A  20 September & October 1966 Typed PDF Cover carries January 1967
1967 N/A  21 April 1967 Typed PDF  
1967 N/A  22 September 1967 Typed PDF  
1967 N/A  23 October 1967  Typed PDF  
1967 N/A  24 December 1967 Typed PDF  
1968 N/A  25       Missing - Copy Needed
1968 N/A  26 April 1968 Typed PDF  
1968 N/A  27 May 1968 Typed PDF  
1968 N/A  28 June & July 1968  Typed PDF  

1970's

We  have a small number of "Whippet" newsletters that were produced under the editorship of Doug Fownes.

Year Volume Number Date/Reference Cover Contents Link Notes
1973 N/A N/A November   PDF  
1973 N/A N/A Christmas   PDF  
1974 N/A N/A February   PDF  

1980's

The early 1980's saw the editorial talents of Pete "Geno" Griffiths & Andy Holden come to the fore. Both Pete & Andy had been Editor of the University of Birmingham's student newspaper ("Redbrick") during their university days.

Year Volume Number Date/Reference Cover Contents Link Notes
1982 N/A N/A October   PDF  
1983 3 No. 1     PDF  
1983 3 No. 2     PDF  
1983 3 No.3     PDF  
1983 3 No. 4     PDF  
1983 3 No. 5 September-October   PDF  
1983 3 No. 6 November   PDF  
1983 3 No. 7 December   PDF  
1984 4 No. 1 February   PDF  
1984 4 No. 2 April   PDF  
1984 4 No. 3 May   PDF  
1984 4 No. 4 July   PDF  
1984 4 No. 5 October   PDF  
1984 4 No. 6 November   PDF  
1984 4 No. 7 December   PDF  
1985 5 No. 1     PDF  
1985 5 No. 2       Missing - Copy Needed
1985 5 No. 3 May   PDF  
1985 5 No. 4 July-August   PDF  
1985 5 No. 5     PDF  
1985 5 No. 6 Christmas   PDF  
1986 6 No. 1       Missing - Copy Needed
1986 6 No. 2 May   PDF  
1986 6 No. 3 July   PDF  
1986 6 No. 4       Missing - Copy Needed
1986 6 No. 5 November   PDF  
1986 6 No. 6 Christmas   PDF  
1986 7 No. 1     PDF  
1987     September-October   PDF Newsletter

1990’s

After another break the early 1990's saw the production and inspiration for "The Whippet" head to Smethwick with Bryan & Pat Clifton shouldering the bulk of the work. An early attempt at providing a website was made in 1999. This was called "The Web Whippet".

Year Volume Number Date/Reference Cover Contents Link Notes
1992     January   PDF  
1992     March   PDF  
1992     April   PDF  
1992     August   PDF  
1993     August/September   PDF  
1993     October   PDF  
1993     November/December   PDF  
1994     January   PDF  
1994     February/March   PDF  
1994     April/May   PDF  
1994     Autumn   PDF  
1994     Winter   PDF  
1995     Winter   PDF  
1995     March   PDF  
1995     Spring-Summer   PDF  
1995     Mid Summer   PDF  
1995     Autumn   PDF  
1995     Christmas   PDF  
1996     February-March   PDF  
1996     May   PDF  
1996     September   PDF  
1996     December   PDF  
1997     March   PDF  
1997     May   PDF  
1997     October   PDF  
1997     Christmas   PDF  
1998     Spring   PDF  
1998     Summer   PDF  
1998     Autumn   PDF  
1999     March   PDF Newsletter 
1999     May   PDF  
1999     Autumn   PDF  

2000’s

After the sad death of both Bryan & Pat Clifton the editorship & production of "The Whippet" moved again. Bryan Mills, Chris Holloway & laterly Mike Buntin producing various paper editions. By now the use of electronic means to compose, edit and print was well established.

The "web" address www.tiptonharriers.co.uk was registered in 2001.

At the same time there was also a regular email bulletin produced called the "eWhippet". This was often circulated on a weekly or an event based basis as more of the club and it's supporters by then had email addresses. These have not been reproduced here.

Year Volume Number Date/Reference Cover Contents Link Notes
2000     January   PDF  
2000     Spring   PDF  
2000     Summer   PDF  
2000     Autumn   PDF  
2001     Winter   PDF  
2001     April   PDF  
2001     Summer   PDF  
2002     January   PDF  
2002     Spring   PDF  
2002     Autumn   PDF  

2002 Onwards

Since the end of 2002 there has been no regular production of a printed club newsletter/magazine. As the internet took off and more people had access to computers so the club's website was developed for carrying news of club activities and our performances. A growing range of historical material has also been added.

There was an early version of a website from 1999. Major updates have since happened several times, the most notable update in 2007 when it became possible to give access to content editors who could add information without requiring technical knowledge of website coding. It was not until 2007 that regular provision of information was carried using this media. In April 2014 we again upgraded the website.

Bryan Mills continues to develop and technically maintain this public aspect of the club's communication.

Prior to the time of our centenary in 2010 Tom Holden established a Tipton Harriers "facebook" group. David Payne was behind the establishment of the Tipton "Twitter" account in November 2013.

In 2014 we now have many different "social media" platforms that carry information and records on the Harriers activities - e.g. "Facebook", "Twitter" and "flickr". A far cry from monthly paperbased newsletters.

Wrinklies Review

In addition to The Gazette & The Whippet certain groups within the club drew up and published their own newsletters. One such example was "The Wrinklies Review" which appeared during the 1990's and covered the Veterans/Masters aspects of the club. Doug Fownes was involved with the editing.

The following are the ones we have in the collection. If you have any others that are not listed below please get in touch.

Year Volume Number Date/Reference Cover Contents Link Notes
1994     January   PDF  
1994     February   PDF  
1994     May   PDF  
1994     September   PDF  
1994     October   PDF  
1994     December   PDF  
1995     January   PDF  
1995     February   PDF  
1995     April   PDF  
1995     July   PDF  
1995     August   PDF  
1995     September   PDF  

Appeal

If you have a copy of any of the editions of the "Whippet", "Gazette" or "Wrinklies Review" that we are missing then please get in touch via email via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ideally we would like a digital copy of all the pages taken on a high resoloution scanner but, if not, get in touch and we will let you know where to send us a paper copy.