Roy Langford - Article No.44 (11/05/2015)

It’s again at this point of my story that I take another brief insight into the working structure of Tipton Harriers in 1963, and cover the yearly ritual of the Annual General Meeting on Friday May 17th of that year and pay my humble tributes to those dedicated Tipton Harrier officials who kept this great club on an even keel, and who unselfishly gave endless hours of their free time working on behalf of athletes like myself, who never really understood the great commitment each individual official had undertaken without any form of financial payment. The first name out of the hat for praise is Ken Rickhuss our club captain who was a great sporting ambassador and inspiration to one and all on and off the athletic track, next name up and treading closely in Ken’s well worn footsteps is Jim Bedford whose forte during his active running career was cross country and road running to top county standards, and who for the past 11 years has been a radiant light as the club’s Honorary General Secretary and there was no prouder man than Jim to have worn the green and white Tipton vest when it came to singing the praises to one and all about his connections with Tipton Harriers.

Next on my praiseworthy list is Len Myerscough our club Treasurer and Team Manager and another former club athlete who now in middle age travelled the length and breadth of the country supporting his beloved road and cross country teams a true Tipton legend from my point of view anyway.

My third Tipton colleague to earn my praises is Joe Gripton our trustworthy Financial Secretary, who had the unenviable task of making sure the club was stable at the end of each financial year, and Joe had the right credentials for this undertaking because he was in some high managerial position at the well known local manufacturing company of Wellington Tube in Great Bridge, and to top it all Joe was still a very active talented member of the cross country and road running teams, and again another true gentlemen of this great club.

The fourth person I sing the praises about is Allan Whittle who was lured away from his old club West Bromwich Harriers a few years ago and soon fitted well into club life at Tipton, being and outstanding addition to the club’s track and road running teams and over the past 18 months he had taken on the roll as Press Secretary and put his undoubted journalistic flair to good use by reporting on the diverse running performances of himself and his fellow team mates in the sporting columns of the local newspapers.

‘The Caretakers Job’

I have again left till last one of the most important jobs at any clubhouse ‘The Caretakers Job’ and that position for the past 16 months had been in the capable hands of Mr Jim Brimble (John’s Dad) he had taken to the job like a duck does to water, in this diverse job he had to be a jack of all trades, but from a sweaty athlete’s point of view his most important task was stoking up the boilers for those hot baths after the lads had finished training, his astronomical pay ha! ha! for being caretaker was £16.8 shillings per annum.

The Financial Side of Tipton Harriers 1963

I suppose one question anyone might ask with a bit of curiosity is how much financial backing did the Harriers get to run the club, well very little. Again in 1963, and one blessing was that the club’s annual ground rent of two shillings and sixpence was one good reason to be ever thankful because this yearly sum was set for perpetuity by the very kind benefactor of the club Mr Henry Palethorpe in 1936 when the then new clubhouse opened its doors in Sedgley Road East, Tipton.

The main source of income to pay the coke, gas and electricity bills came through the honest endeavour of the athletes themselves, through the weekly sale of football sweep tickets, this welcome income brought in £257.8 shillings during the club’s trading year from March 1962 to March 1963.

The Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the club was held at our club headquarters, Sedgley Road East, Tipton on Friday 17th May 1963 at 7.30 pm prompt, with a full club house yet again gathered to attend this yearly function to hear the why’s and wherefores of prize winners and the financial ups and downs of our club, the meeting got underway with our club chairman Mr Jim Timmins reading out the minutes of the last year’s A.G.M. It baffled me to why we needed to know those details, but I’m told its protocol and make the proceedings legal and binding.

Secretary’s Report by Jim Bedford
(a transcript of Jim’s speech)

‘Fellow members it gives me great pleasure to present to you our 53rd Annual Report.

Once again I have to say that we, as a club have suffered a grievous loss in the passing of our dear friend George Law on February 14th 1963.

His sporting and friendly attitude endeared him to all of us. He will be sadly missed as only we know how, but his character stands us in good stead to further endeavour.

Now I take this opportunity of thanking the small band of officials who have given us unstinted service during the past year; surely our present day team deserves a greater help to maintain the prestige of the club. We can find it just as essential to have a big band of officials as a great number of athletes; more of these can help to have more activities. So come on, which way do we go? It’s no good kidding ourselves that we can live on the past laurels, or even stand still, if we do this we could become a second class club; can we let this happen, so more members please. This can help athletics in general. If Tipton Harriers is strong in officials as well as runners we can have more say in the County and Midland affairs. I would say this is an essential need. I’m hoping to give more attention to those bodies in the near future. I have been handicapped from this by nature of my work, but there is a possible hope of a change in this matter, so that I will be able to take a more active part other than for our own club, so I myself will be able to give a better lead.

To our athletes, thanks a lot for what you have done.

To friends of Palethorpes and Vono Ltd, I say thanks, also to the local press for publicity; we need all your help.’

Yours faithfully, Jim Bedford

Wow what a stirring speech by Jim.

Team Manager’s Report by Len Myerscough

Track season

Len’s speech went along the lines of i.e. again we had quite a good track season with many team and individual successes. Our sprinters and relay teams figured well to the fore, while our middle distance men, particularly in the Stourbridge and Wordsley District Tract League generally excelled themselves, with Andy Fereday showing outstanding form and should develop into a fine half miler, John Brimble too showed some fine sprinting form, along with another young talented sprinter Ken Rock who also had a great track league season.

Cross Country Report

Len goes on to say:

‘We started the season full of high hopes but, unfortunately owing to a spate of injuries all occurring at the wrong time, we failed to achieve the success we had hoped for.

The abnormally bad weather also contributed to our difficulties. Nevertheless the club put up some very fine performances, with the valiant Youth and Junior section of the club slipping and sliding their way to victory in the Staffordshire County Cross Country Championship at their respective venues at Trentham and Stourbridge in January, not be outdone in the Staffordshire Senior Cross Country Championship also at Trentham in Stoke, our talented lads put up a spirited performance to finish runners up to North Staffs and Stone Harriers, our team placing in that race where i.e. 6th Doug Fownes, 7th Allan Whittle, 9th Ken Rickhuss, 12th Tony Burkitt, 15th Ron Bentley and last team counting position was Bill Carr in 16th place.

Our teams throughout the cross country season showed wonderful keenness and enthusiasm, but the most improved runner of the year was Ron Bentley currently running better than any time during his long career (what a wonderful example of club spirit and enthusiasm, grand show Ron!) and to Bill Car who by sheer hard work has come on a ton.

Road Running Report

Len went on to say that, ‘Once again our road running teams travelled the length and breadth of the country putting up some splendid performances, keeping the Clubs name in the headlines by winning the Vauxhall Motors Road Relay, at Luton and the Cambridge and Coleridge 4 x 3½ mile Road Relay Race at Cambridge against top class opposition in doing so we succeeded in boosting the Club’s reputation in that part of the country.

May I conclude by paying tribute to every member of the Club for their efforts on behalf of our great club and special thanks to our captain Ken Rickhuss for another wonderful year of service to the club.

Congratulations to Mick Powell and George Johnson for setting a Club record in being the first every to complete the full 52 mile London to Brighton Road Runners Race.’

Yours sincerely, Len Myerscough

Financial Secretary’s Report

Next on the rostrum was the calm and collective Joe Gripton the Club’s Financial Secretary to deliver his brief on the monetary affairs of the club, in his long debate Joe went into great detail about the Club’s expenditure, trading accounts, income and assets, after all that jargon the facts and figures added up to Joe announcing a meagre profit of £23.15 shillings 9 pence on the financial year.

Presentation of Annual Club Championship Trophies

The thought of the presentation of the Club’s annual championship trophies was the reason it was more palatable to be able to sit through an hour and half or so of speeches, because I knew my name was down for one of those trophies again and the man in change of the presentation was again the amicable Mr George Price our club president, and there were smiles in plenty from the five privileged recipients this evening, who each in turn received a rapturous round of applause from their fellow team mates and those lucky few were:

Club Track Champion – Ron Franklin he received the President’s Trophy and Club Plaque

Senior Club Cross Country Champion was Doug Fownes who received the Jim Partridge Trophy and Club (keepsake) Plaque

Junior Cross Country Champion was the talented Terry Fones he received the R.M. & S.B. Chilton Cup and Club Plaque.

Youth Cross Country Champion was Tony Davies he received the D.H. Hartland Cup and Club Plaque.

Boy Cross Country Champion was Dave Jones he also received a Trophy and Club Plaque.

Last but not least it was my time to step forward and received my trophy from our club president Mr Price, which was the Showell Cup which signified my great honour of being crowned ‘Tipton Harrier Sprint Champion of 1962’ and as I raised that cup above my head for the fourth year running, there was no prouder moment in my athletic career as I received rapturous applause from my fellow team mates, yes tonight made all those hard training sessions worthwhile to capture these extra special moments in time.

Yours in Sport
Roy Langford, Tividale