Author: The Author

Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 short novel (and 1962 film) was called ‘The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner’. There is little doubt that an ambitious runner will find that training and racing for middle and long distances will involve a lot of solo endeavour, developing determination, stamina, speed, racing tactics, stress-management and confidence.    However, one way of making improvement more likely is to join a running club, train once or twice a week with like-minded athletes and to compete in team competition, for example road and cross-country races and relays. [In retrospect, relays (over distances from 2 and a half miles up to five or even seven miles) may be most effective, in terms of character-building well-paced maximum effort and team-bonding.]

Once fitness has developed, the aim might be to make the first team.   Then to enjoy decent performances which contribute to team success. Events may include contests against other schools, universities and clubs.   Team wins will become more likely as runners develop – and post-race celebrations may be enjoyed even more.

Perhaps a runner may become a club ‘star’. More prestigious team wins may occur. With luck, these victories may continue for several years. But then, age and physical niggles will slow you down and others will replace you as a fast club member. You will be content to remain a team counter.

This whole process will repeat during each five-year veteran age-group! Eventually, you will no  longer feature in first or any teams but will hope to keep active through jogging, cycling, walking. Maybe all you can do is chat with younger club friends and applaud their successes on Facebook! So it goes: but you will have good memories of racing – both individual and team experiences.

During most of my time as a ‘serious amateur’ distance runner, men’s races were almost entirely separate (in location and date) from women’s races. Nowadays this has all changed, thank goodness, and we can all train together, enjoy events like mass road races and watch men and women race on track and cross-country.

Looking back at a long list of team wins in the increasingly distant past, I am very aware that top Scottish stars like Allister Hutton, John Robson, Fraser Clyne and Graham Laing were chiefly responsible for success. Perhaps, eventually, nearly every runner will beat nearly any other runner at least once, but these fast, talented men were key. Yet it was good to contribute to team success and gain respect and friendship for running as hard as possible on the day.

It is certainly not all about wins! My last senior team medal was gained in January 2002 at Livingston: the East District Cross-Country Championships. Metro Aberdeen secured team silver: Nick Milovsorov, Keith Varney, Keith Farquhar, Fraser Clyne, Bruce Moroney, Colin Youngson (aged 54).

                                                                           Derry 2017: Stewart, Colin, Norman and  Bobby

My last international medal was obtained in November 2017 at Derry, Northern Ireland. In the British and Irish Masters Cross-Country International, the  Scottish Masters M70 team (Norman Baillie, Colin Youngson, Bobby Young, Stewart McCrae) won silver behind England but in front of Northern Ireland, Ireland and Wales – and I enjoyed this success almost as much as any ancient victory!

,

          The Elkington Shield, presented to the First Team at the Scottish Men’s Senior National Cross Country Championships

TEAM WINS AND TEAM-MATES

ROAD

Nairn to Inverness 4-Man Relay: September

1969 – Aberdeen University Hare & Hounds won: Colin Youngson, Charlie Macaulay, Donald Ritchie, Robin Orr.

1970 – AU won: Colin Youngson, Charlie Macaulay, Donald Macintosh, Donald Ritchie

Edinburgh Southern Harriers Relay, Fernieside: September

1972 – Victoria Park AC won: Davie McMeekin, Hugh Barrow, Colin Youngson (11.53 fastest of the day), Pat Maclagan.

1974 – ESH won: Colin Youngson (11.43 fastest of the day), Donald Macgregor, Martin Craven, Craig Douglas.

Kingsway Road Relay, Dundee: October

1972 – Vicky Park second to ESH but Colin Youngson fastest of the day.

1975 – ESH won: Craig Douglas, Donald Macgregor, Alistair Blamire, Colin Youngson.

McAndrew Road Relay, Scotstoun, Glasgow: October

1975 – ESH won:  Ian Elliot, Colin Youngson, Dave Logue, Gareth Bryan-Jones.

Allan Scally Road Relay, Baillieston, Glasgow: November

1975 – ESH won: Ian Elliot, Colin Youngson, Dave Logue, Alistair Blamire. Event record.

1978 – ESH won: Martin Craven, Colin Youngson, John Robson, Allister Hutton.

1981 – Aberdeen AAC won: Davie Lang, Fraser Clyne, Graham Laing, Colin Youngson.

Scottish Six-Stage Road Relay: at Strathclyde Park, Motherwell: March

1979 – ESH won: Colin Hume, Colin Youngson, Martin Craven, Dave Logue, Alex Robertson, Allister Hutton.

1980 – ESH won: Martin Craven, Colin Youngson, Colin Hume, Evan Cameron, Alex Robertson, Allister Hutton.

1981 – ESH won: John Gladwin, Colin Youngson, Colin Hume, Evan Cameron, Ian Elliot, Allister Hutton.

English 12-Stage Road Relay, Sutton Park, Birmingham: 1975 – ESH second to Brendan Foster’s Gateshead Harriers. ESH: Nigel Bailey, John Robson, Donald Macgregor, Fergus Murray, Gareth Bryan-Jones, Colin Youngson, Craig Douglas, Alistair Blamire, Dave Logue, Ray Weatherburn,  Allister Hutton, Ian Elliot.

                  1967  Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, end of Stage 4: Dave Logue (Edinburgh University – the winners) to Ian Y0ung

Edinburgh to Glasgow 8-Man Road Relay: November

1974 – ESH won: Colin Youngson (fastest Stage 1), Donald Macgregor, Craig Douglas, Alistair Blamire, Martin Craven, Dave Logue, Allister Hutton, Gareth Bryan-Jones.

1975 – ESH won: Colin Youngson (fastest and record Stage 1), Alistair Blamire, Martin Craven, Ian Elliot, Allister Hutton, Dave Logue, Fergus Murray, Gareth Bryan-Jones. Event record.

1977 – ESH won: Fergus Murray, Ian Orton, Colin Youngson (record Stage 3), Ian Elliot, John Robson, Dave Logue, Alex Robertson, Martin Craven. No Hutton!

1978 – ESH won: Martin Craven, Ian Elliot, Colin Hume, John Robson, Colin Youngson, Allister Hutton, Alex Robertson, Ian Orton.

1983 – Aberdeen AAC won: Graham Milne, Graham Laing, Ian Matheson, Craig Ross, Peter Wilson, Fraser Clyne, Mike Murray, Colin Youngson.

1986 – AAAC won: Chris Hall, Simon Axon, Jim Doig, Ray Cresswell, Graham Laing, Fraser Clyne, Mike Murray, Colin Youngson (fastest Stage 8).

1988 – AAAC won: Ian Matheson, Chris Hall, Ray Cresswell, Dave Duguid, Graham Laing, Fraser Clyne, Simon Axon, Colin Youngson.

                                                                                              Fraser Clyne: E to G 1986, Stage 6

Scottish Veteran 8-Man Relay: March

April 1991: Alloa-Bishopbriggs, 1: AAAC won: Bill Adams, Colin Youngson (broke Stage 2 record), Charlie Noble, Ed Butler, Dave Armitage, George Sim, Mel Edwards, Rod MacFarquhar.

March 1992, Alloa—Twechar,  AAAC won: Bill Adams, Ed Butler, Graham Milne, Charlie Noble, Ben Preece, George Sim, Colin Youngson (fastest on Stage 7), Francie Duguid. Broke the event record.

John o’Groats to Land’s End 10-Man Relay: April

AAAC broke the record twice:

1973: Pete Duffy, Derek Bisset, Alistair Neaves, Martin Walsh, Alastair Wood, Rab Heron, Steve Taylor, Colin Youngson, Innis Mitchell, Joe Clare.

1982: Fraser Clyne, Peter Wilson, Graham Laing, Graham Milne, Mike Murray, Alastair Wood, Donald Ritchie, Colin Youngson, George Reynolds, John Robertson.

1984, June. AAAC won the Meadowbank to George Square (E to G) 50 miles ultra: Donald Ritchie 1^st, Colin Youngson 3^rd.

CROSS-COUNTRY

Dunbartonshire 4-Man Relay: October 1972, Victoria Park AC won:  Colin Youngson, Innis Mitchell, Davie McMeekin, Hugh Barrow.

Midland District Relay: November 1972, Vicky Park won: 1, at Lochinch. Davie McMeekin, Hugh Barrow, Pat Maclagan, Colin Youngson.

East District Relay:

1977, November, at Livingston. ESH won: John Robson, Colin Youngson, Martin Craven, Ian Elliot.

Scottish Cross-Country  Relay Championships:

1978, October, at Irvine. ESH won: Ian Orton, Allister Hutton, Colin Youngson, Ian Elliot.

Scottish Veteran Relay Championships:

Metro Aberdeen Running Club won:

1995, October, Prestonpans: Paul Graham, Colin Youngson, Fraser Clyne, Keith Varney.

1997, October, at Caird Park, Dundee: Jackie Stewart, Keith Varney, Fraser Clyne, Colin Youngson.

East District Championships:

ESH won:

1975, January, at Fernieside, Edinburgh: Allister Hutton (1^st), Colin Youngson (4^th), Nigel Bailey, Craig Douglas, Martin Craven, Alistair Blamire.

1979, January, at Balgownie, Aberdeen: Ian Elliot (1^st), Ian Orton, Colin Youngson, Evan Cameron, Martin Craven, Alex Robertson.

1980, January, at Falkirk: John Robson (1^st),  Ian Elliot, John Gladwin, Evan Cameron, Colin Youngson, Alex Robertson.

1981, January, at Livingston: Colin Youngson (2^nd), Evan Cameron, John Gladwin, Alex Robertson, Craig Hunter, Martin Craven.

Aberdeen AAC won:

1982, January, at Dundee: Graham Laing and Fraser Clyne (1^st =), Graham Milne, Colin Youngson, Ross Arbuckle, Peter Wilson.

1983, January, at Livingston: Graham Laing, Fraser Clyne, Colin Youngson, Graham Milne, Peter Wilson, Ray Cresswell.

                                                               Start of the 1983 Senior National  Cross Country Championships

Scottish Senior National Championships:

ESH won:

1979, February, at Livingston: Ian Elliot, Dave Logue, Ian Orton, Allister Hutton, Colin Youngson, Martin Craven.

1980, February, at Irvine: John Robson, Allister Hutton, Ian Elliot, Colin Youngson, Martin Craven, Evan Cameron. Captain Colin collected the venerable team trophy.

Scottish Veteran Championships:

AAAC won:

1988, February, at Clydebank: Colin Youngson (1^st), Graham Milne, Mel Edwards, Rod MacFarquhar.

1989, February, at Balgownie: Colin Youngson (1^st), Graham Milne, Rod MacFarquhar, Mel Edwards.

1990, February, at Dumfries: Colin Youngson (2^nd), George Sim, Ben Preece, Graham Milne.

1992, February, at Troon: Colin Youngson (2^nd), George Sim, Graham Milne, Francie Duguid.

                                                                                            Colin Youngson: E to G 1986, Stage 8

INTERNATIONAL

In August 1975, at Reykjavik, Scotland beat Iceland in an International Athletics match. 10,000 metres: Allister Hutton 1^st, Colin Youngson 2^nd. (Allan Wells did long jump and 4x400m relay).

GB 2-Man team won the October 1975 Berchem International Marathon (Antwerp, Belgium: Colin Youngson (2^nd), Max Coleby (3^rd) – beat Ireland and several Continental outfits.

Scotland won the October 1981 Glasgow International Marathon: Colin Youngson (4^th), Des Austin (5^th), Alastair Macfarlane (6^th) – beat Wales, Eire, Northern Ireland.

Scotland won the September 1983 Glasgow Marathon: Peter Fleming (1^st), Colin Youngson (4^th), Andy Daly (6^th) – beat Wales, England and several other teams.

Scotland won the May 1988 Aberdeen Marathon: Hammy Cox (1^st), Frank Harper, Doug Cowie, Colin Youngson – beat Wales and England.

Scottish Veterans M45 Cross-Country team, won the October 31st 1992 British and Irish Cross-Country International near Belfast – beating England, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland: Colin Youngson (1^st M45), Terry Dolan, Colin Martin, Bill Adams, Bobby Young, Davie Fairweather.

                                                                                           Belfast, British and Irish start 1992

GB Masters M50 Cross-Country team, won the July 1999 World Masters Championship near Gateshead: Harry Matthews, Brian Hilton, Colin Youngson.

Every sportsman has significant periods is their career: moments of triumph, moments from which they drew great pleasure (not always when they ran fastest as it happens), moments away from the competitive arena that have a significance for them and significant for  many other reasons.  What we have here are moments of significance for John Hepburn, captured in photographs.   We start with the first period of significance for any athlete – where they began in the sport.    John began with Dundee Hawkhill Harriers and we have two pictrures from that period.   

.Young John Hepburn (second left) with three fellow Hawks including Charlie Haskett on the right.

John (673) ran for Hawkhill on the track, Alex Agnew of Livingstonis 824 and James Austin Clydesdale is 34.   Alex’s brother is in the distance..

.. and on the roads

.  SAL National 10K Road Champs of 1997, fairly near the finish,  24th H.McKay (151) 25th, A.Chalmers (373), 26th J.Hepburn (94) 27th I Taylor, 8 seconds between them all in the results 

His early sporting achievements were honoured too, this one apparently by the Royal Navy.

A great moment for any athlete is when he represents his country and John is with the Wcottish at the world mountain running championship.   He is seen in the race below (friend Denis Bell on the right in the foreground)

Below: John at the start of the Glen Clova race

But for all the wonderful races and events in which he took part, most would agree that his greatest moments came when he ran in and completed his 21st Ben Nevis race in 2018 and we have several photographs of the momentous occasion.

By now he was a well established member of the Lochaber Athletic Club and he’s wearing number 312.   Comparatively early on we see him above, below he’s concentrating hard on his way back down

John with his award for completing his 21st Ben Nevis

John with wife Jackie and son Andrew after the race.

Like many a hill runner, John just loved the outdoors and was involved in many aspects of that life.   The photographs below indicate the range of his activities.   

At the helm 

On Two wheels in Bavaria

On a trek in the Dolomites

With Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team: John does not just use the mountains for pleasure – he works with the MRT giving assistance to mountaineers in difficulties.

..

The chap above looking like a journalist checking his story, started the website at the end of 2004 under the title of ardbruach.co.uk and used the Microsoft FrontPage disc.   It was all on the disc, now it’s WordPress, and it has grown from there.   Colin Youngson came on board after it changed to the current name and format.   Reason for the change was that Microsoft stopped supporting an excellent format that was simplicity itself.   The first two pages that Colin helped with were the Edinburgh to Glasgow and the Marathon Stars pages.   

I had come from a background of club athletics that had started in 1957 and incorporated competing, officiating, administering and coaching and you can read about that at these links.   

www.anentscottishrunning.com/brian-mcausland                             and                         www.anentscottishrunning.com/brian-mcausland-and-afterwards

I gained so much from the sport that it seemed obvious that I put something back and the two websites were started.      The idea was to give a picture of what Scottish endurance running was like between 1945 and 1990 because it had changed so swiftly and so drastically after the SAAA became the SAF and I felt that it should be documented.   Hence the coverage of races, venues, clubs, personalities, etc.   

But the website would not exist without the work put in by several friends across the country.   I would like to thank them publicly for the work that they have been, and are doing, for us all.   First there is Colin Youngson whose history as an athlete is well known – 10 Scottish marathon medals, three of them gold, medals of all colours from the Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay, which he ran 30 times with five different clubs, many other fastest times and race victories, and a man who raced in Britain, Europe, USA and Australia.  Colin, a retired teacher of English with an interest in history and a love of running, has done sterling work for many years on profiles, race descriptions and in fact in most subject areas, using expertise gained from a racing career between 1963 and 2020.

                                                              Colin running the last stage of the 1986 E to G for the winning Aberdeen AAC team

Joe Small of Monkland Harriers and Clyde Valley AC, (running third below in the Nigel Barge Road Race) has written several very good pieces on events (the Glasgow Marathon for instance) and several other items covering clubs and international racing.    Joe has run in all the major races on the Scottish calendar – track, road, and cross-country.

Hamish Telfer, West of Scotland Harriers, is a highly respected coach and administrator but also an enthusiastic athletics historian with several published works to his name.   On this site there is an affectionate look back at the Stanalane Track on Glasgow’s south side but he has several fascinating articles on the anentscottishrunning.com website on the history of the sport, mainly cross-country running http://www.anentscottishrunning.com/hamish-telfers-scottish-harriers-histories/   

Denis Bell, Haddington East Lothian Pacemakers (leading in the photograph below), is a ‘new boy’ who is an international hill runner and is our hill running expert with several articles, such as the detailed profiles of Angela Mudge and Finlay Wild.

Alex Wilson, Fife Southern Harriers, below,  is a genuine enthusiast for Scottish endurance history.   He knows all that there is to know about endurance running by Scots from the days of the peds, the six-day wobbles right up to the present with a marvellous collection of photographs and illustrations.   You can get a real flavour of his work from the profiles on this site of Paddy Cannon, Jock Duffy and Norman Nelson but for an overview of his work go to 

Alex Wilson’s Gallery: 1 Half Milers – Anent Scottish Running

and   have a look at some of the links.

These are the main workers – all writers – but there are others, some mentioned below, who have contributes to the two websites.

There are lots of others who have given us information – guys like Alex Jackson, the wise man of the East who is a real fount of information, Hugh Barrow, who has passed on information and photographs for many items through the years and through the websites,  Alastair Macfarlane gave us information on marathons, on people and on professional running,  John Mackay,  Graham McDonald in Pitreavie (below),   and    

Bobby Young, Palm Gunstone (above) and Sandra Branney with information and photographs and many others. Of course the Daddy of Then All for photographs is Graham MacIndoe (below) with superb quality pictures of the sport in the 1980’s – men, women, road, country, hills and track races with some very good training photographs in there too.   And of course all those who helped with their own profiles.   Thanks to them all. 

‘The History of Edinburgh Southern Harriers’ (published 1996) tells the tale.

After the Second World War, club members returned from the armed forces to take up their sport – but it was to a clubroom in Causewayside shared with the Melville Motor Club.

There were no proper washing facilities in the rooms above a row of garage lock-ups – and runners returning from training were hosed down with cold water (even in the depths of winter). Both track and field events were held a considerable distance away at New Meadowbank, which was then a cinder track wide open to the elements.

In the 1950s, approaches were made to the old Edinburgh Corporation parks department, inquiring about the possibility of taking over one of several tracks to be built in the city – and the club settled on what was seen as the ideal location at Fernieside, on the southern outskirts of Scotland’s capital city.

The city was responsible for building and maintaining the track and field facilities, and Edinburgh Southern arranged to build the clubroom, largely through voluntary efforts of the members. Jim Smart convened a fund-raising committee and John (Jock) Reid, master of works, headed the building committee and supervised the work himself. Hearts came to the aid of the Southern and manager Tommy Walker helped to arrange a collection outside Tynecastle on the day of a local Derby with Hibs.

Tommy Walker, ever generous, provided the collecting cans and more than £600 was raised by volunteer bands of both male and female ESH members. Jock Reid and his team of tradesmen and helpers completed the clubrooms in 1955 and the official opening was conducted by Lord Milligan, honorary president of the Scottish Amateur Athletics Association, whose son Jim was later to become a Southern member – and to succeed his father (Lord Advocate) on the Scottish bench.

For the next 20 years, the Fernieside clubhouse and track were to provide a worthy community service to the surrounding areas of Gilmerton, Fernieside and Danderhall.

The premises were later sold to a local businessman, who demolished the clubrooms and replaced them with private housing – a small terrace now known as “The Harriers”.

The first cross-country race from the clubhouse was 1956. The building was not fully finished and there was no hot water or flooring in the dressing rooms. The main hall was usable.

The official opening of the Edinburgh Southern Harriers Clubhouse took place at 3 pm on Saturday 13^th October 1956. Tea was served to invited guests. Transport advice was to board the 33 bus! In 1957 the club’s Diamond Jubilee Dinner took place at the Adelphi Hotel.

The ESH History continues: A winding street in a city housing scheme was the unlikely focus of Edinburgh Southern Harriers’ greatest years. Two lads who lived a few doors apart in Fernieside Crescen pressed their faces against the fence just round the corner from their homes, watching the Southern in training in the 1960s – an interest which later led to the Olympic triumphs of sprinter Allan Wells and his childhood pal Chris Black.  It was history indeed for a street to produce one Olympian, but to produce two was a global feat.

Who will ever forget the day that the Southern’s greatest athlete, Allan Wells, had the narrowest of wins in the Moscow Olympics 100 metres championship in 1980?

Or the excited cries of his wife Margo, herself a 100 metres Scottish champion, as she shouted, “Come on, Allan!” in her broad Fife accent.

Four years earlier, Chris Black had been in the Olympic hammer throwing final at Montreal, and he too appeared at Moscow, failing to win a medal but bringing great credit to his club as its one and only field events finalist in the world’s top competition.

The two were typical of the youngsters who took up athletic careers as a result of living near the community-based Fernieside headquarters of ESH. Local talent, recruited from the surrounding area, played a significant part in the development of the club.

Fernieside is mentioned in the above article from 1956. An excerpt states: “Whatever happens, the Southern Harriers have a nice little niche at Fernieside, near Moredun housing scheme, where a four-lane track has had a bite or two from the bulldozer. There will be a ‘straight’ of 140 yards at this new ESH home.

Benefitting from the experience of another athletic club, the Southern have made a pavilion of 40 feet by 20. Grants from the Playing Fields Association and the Education Authority were received but the estimated cost of £1500 will largely be forthcoming from the club members.

Architect for the building was M. G. Armour, a club member noted for field event prowess; Convener is Ian Ross, who served the Southern well in cross-country and track racing; D. B. Henderson, in charge of plumbing work, was inter-works senior champion in 1930; Alex Fraser, who is best described as the club’s ‘talent-spotter’ is ‘man-of-all-jobs; and A. A. Bowman, secretary for 29 years, keeps a watchful eye on all that is going on. Alex has 200 male and 60 female athletes on his roll.

In the main hall of the pavilion, there will be seating accommodation for 60, two changing rooms, sprays and a kitchen – complete, of course, with electric light.

Adverse weather has held up completion of the job, but it is hoped to have the pavilion ready before the start of the cross-country season in November. The track, however, will not be in use until the spring of next year (1957).”

Ian McKenzie (runner; an extremely successful ESH team manager; and President) wrote:

Fernieside – a brief history. Prior to 1950 all of the Edinburgh athletic clubs trained at New Meadowbank or Saughton, in the early 1950s the Council agreed to lay new tracks at Fernieside and Wauchope estate which meant each club had a home base: ESH at Fernieside, Edinburgh Northern at Meadowbank, Edinburgh Eastern at Wauchope, Edinburgh Harriers and Braidburn at Saughton.

Although each had a track there were no clubrooms at Fernieside or Wauchope. Southern were given a 100-year lease on a plot of land on which they could build a clubhouse. As no funding was granted, this meant that the Club had to set about raising the capital required to build the clubhouse. Over a period of about 2 years the members set about acquiring the cash needed, Fortunately, many members had the necessary skills and trades needed to construct the building and a self-build project was started. This meant that every Sunday over a period of 2/3 years the members completed the building, the clubhouse was ready for use by 1956. The first race from the clubhouse was the 2.5-mile cross country handicap in which virtually every member took part: sprinters, throwers and middle-distance runners. As it was a handicap from your mark, everyone was able to enjoy their run, some probably more than others. As there was no age limit, it was the first time that I, as a fifteen-year-old, competed in an open race. Because the building was on the edge of the city it meant that cross country and road races could be held as well as track and field. However, apart from the 100 yards, Fernieside was not a great track to run on, since it was like a beach at one end and seemed uphill on the back straight!

Hamish Robertson, who served the club well as runner, Secretary and President, said that the track was used for training, but also had almost the full range of club championships (including  all field events and hurdles, apart from a steeplechase). Occasionally, there would be an inter-club match, against local rivals like Octavians.

Alistair Blamire (British and Scottish International steeplechaser and Scottish International cross-country runner) recalls that “Fernieside had a five-laps-to-the-mile cinder track and the clubrooms were big enough to hold parties, including one after the Edinburgh Highland Games (at Murrayfield) each year.”

Alistair Matson, a good road runner who was part of the ESH team that finished third in the 1968 E to G, finished second in the Club Championship 6 Miles Track race in 1969. That would have been 30 laps!

All Octavians. Back row, left to right: Tom Tait, Frank Dick (future Scottish National Coach), Fraser Provan, Dougie McNish, ?. Front row: John Macdonald, Bob Hay, ?, Norrie Paterson.                          

In 1967 (according to the ‘Scottish Athletics 1968’ booklet), several athletes recorded seasonal bests at Fernieside. Events mentioned included: 100 yards, 6 Miles, High Jump, Triple Jump, Shot Putt, Hammer, Javelin and 4×110 yards relay. These feats took place in April, June, July or August.

Notable ESH members mentioned included: Gareth Bryan-Jones (won 6 Miles); and Chris Black. At this time, Chris was a first year Junior, who won the Scottish Junior Hammer Championship by a wide margin at Craiglockhart; as well as winning the event on his home track. John Keddie finished first in a Triple Jump. In 1983, John published his excellent ‘Scottish Athletics 1883-1983’, the official centenary publication of the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association.

In June, a sprint relay team from Edinburgh Athletic club won on the Fernieside track – presumably beating ESH.

Alex Jackson (Statistician and Official)) wrote:
In April 2021 during lockdown I went to where the Fernieside clubhouse used to be and took two photos (below). (Above) is a photo of the clubhouse being built – this was in Ian Ross’s scrapbook and Colin Youngson has included it in his good piece on Ian in the Anent Scottish Running website.

In that photo, Ian Ross is standing in the doorway. He had a Joinery business and was Clerk of Works on the building.

I posted all three photos to a Lost Edinburgh Facebook group in April 2021 with the comment:
“Edinburgh Southern Harriers clubhouse at Fernieside being built by club members in the 1950s. It was eventually demolished and was replace by 6 houses in 1994. As a nod to the previous building, stonework with “The Harriers 1994″ is on the middle house”

The former cross-country courses close by are all now houses and a hospital.

Colin Youngson wrote: Saturday 30^th September 1972. My team – Victoria Park AC – won the Edinburgh Southern Harriers four-man road relay at Fernieside, Edinburgh. ESH finished second team. I set the fastest stage time – 11 minutes 53 seconds.  (The course record was 11.39). The Vicky Park runners were: Davie McMeekin, Hugh Barrow, Colin Youngson and Pat Maclagan (11.58).   Donald Macgregor, who had been a superb 7^th in the recent Munich Olympic Marathon, ran 11.59. I still have the ‘Fastest Time Senior’ pennant.

After racing in Sweden for ten months (1973-1974), I began teaching English at Craigmount Academy in Edinburgh and joined ESH. My first team race for this top club was on Saturday 28th September 1974. We won our own Fernieside Road Relays and I posted the fastest time (11.43 – by now Adrian Weatherhead’s record was 11.30). It was the only occasion that my brilliant young clubmate Allister Hutton (second ESH team that day) let me finish (six seconds) in front of him. Running the first stage, we were leading together when we reached the start of the brutally-steep final hill. I sprinted flat out, Allister complained “For God’s sake, Colin!” and I hung on with difficulty during the flat last 200 yards to the line, before sagging exhausted into the comforting embrace of a friendly hedge. Other runners in our winning outfit may have been Donald Macgregor, Martin Craven and Craig Douglas. (Between September 1974 and November 1975, I was fortunate to be part of winning ESH teams in all the main Scottish Road Relays – Fernieside in Edinburgh, The Kingsway in Dundee, The McAndrew and The Allan Scally in Glasgow and The Edinburgh to Glasgow 8-Man Relay. We broke course records for the Scally and E to G, as well as finishing second to Brendan Foster’s Gateshead Harriers in the 1975 English 12-Stage Relay.) The inaugural Scottish  6-Stage Road Relay was added in 1979. 

In those events, in alphabetical order, my marvellous winning team-mates were: Nigel Bailey, Alistair Blamire, Gareth Bryan-Jones, Martin Craven, Craig Douglas, Ian Elliot, Colin Hume, Allister Hutton, Dave Logue, Donald Macgregor, Fergus Murray, Alex Robertson, John Robson and Ray Weatherburn.

Once A Runner, indeed. Those were the days!

Later in the 1970s, the ESH Club 10 Miles Road Championship started and finished at Fernieside. I remember managing to get away from Alex Robertson to win on one occasion.

Alex Robertson, (son of Hamish) was part of several ESH Scottish Championship winning teams in the late 1970s and 1980s. He wrote:

My first memory of going to Fernieside was as an 8-or-9-year-old, when I was taken out to run round Fernieside with Stuart Miller. The first group of boys I ran with included: A Henderson, Brian Kerr, and Andy and Allan Waters It was Tuesday night training; I think we may have gone on a Thursday as well.

The first track race I watched there had Fergus Murray winning the 3000m. Athletes I remember training there included: Allister Hutton, Chris Black, Allan Wells and Helen Golden (all Scottish and British Internationals).

 Tuesday night was a good group session. As I got older, John Gladwin, Kenny Harkness, Craig Hunter, Dougie Macdonald, Norman Sweeney and Kirk Smith joined in. We ran various routes from the club room. One route was up to The Meadows, then back to Fernieside.  Sometimes this turned out to be a burn-up on the way back! In those early days we went out older runners like Ian Mackenzie, George Brown and Norrie Ross.

 Fernieside was also the venue of a team trial for the last places in the 1975 English 12-stage Road Relay. Ray Weatherburn turned up to claim the last place from Fergus and myself.

Fernieside was the first place I saw (1980 Olympic 100m Champion) Allan Wells training with the speedball. It was also the first place where I came face-to-face with Nat Muir (Scottish and British International) at the Fernieside road relays.  ESH also held the cross-country club championship race round the field near the clubrooms. These courses were all set by Stuart Miller.

Fernieside was the venue for the East District Cross Country Championships on at least two occasions: 24^th January 1959 (organised by the National Cross Country Union of Scotland); and 18^th January 1975 (organised by the Scottish Cross Country Union).

In 1959, the race was won by Adrian Jackson (Edinburgh University) from John Linaker (Pitreavie). Both were prominent Scottish Internationals. ESH won the team title (Norman Ross 3^rd, Alastair Ross 4^th, Graham Stark 6^th, Jack White 7^th, Jackie Foster 11^th, Ron McAllister 12^th).

In 1975, ESH also finished first team (Allister Hutton 1^st, Colin Youngson 4^th, Nigel Bailey 7^th, Craig Douglas 8^th, Martin Craven 9^th, Alistair Blamire 11th and Ian Elliot 12th). Hutton had a close battle with Paul Kenney of Dundee University and Jim Dingwall (Falkirk Victoria) was 3^rd. Youngson’s running diary noted: “Bumpy, muddy, fast start – nasty stony path – corn stubble field – slippery path uphill then downhill – field and then right round the lap again.”

Alex Robertson wrote: The road relays started at the clubrooms, went uphill to Moredun Park Road up to Gilmerton Road, then right hand turn down to Kingston Avenue, right hand turn to Old Dalkeith Road, up the hill to the clubrooms. The Boys’ race went down Moredun Vale Road then up Dalkeith Road. The 10 miles road race started at the clubrooms, went on to Old Dalkeith Road, down towards Dalkeith, up the hill into Dalkeith, right hand turn to Bonnyrigg to a traffic light, right hand turn heading to Lasswade, then from Lasswade up to Station Road into Gilmerton, down Gilmerton Road to Fernieside Road and back to the clubrooms Other training runs were done round Drum Estate. Another was up to the Pentland Hills, up to the top of the ski slope, then back to the clubrooms.

When many of us came into the sport we took changing accommodation for granted.   Not just the presence of such at every event and recreation ground (and nowadays there are many races at venues without dressing rooms) but the fact that they were more than just functional boxes but almost works of art.   This page will have pictures of some of these pavilions that we took for granted.

Knightswood Pavilion: Dating from 1929, it is described officially as – The pavilion at Knightswood Park, serving both the bowling green in the foreground and the tennis courts in the background, 1947.   Provision of amenities for leisure and recreation often lagged behind the building of houses in Glasgow housing schemes, but Knightswood fared better than most areas. The Corporation acquired 148 acres for Knightswood Park in 1929. In addition to the two bowling greens and four tennis courts, the park included a golf course, pitch and putt course, boating pond, running track and cricket pitch.

The running track was short and almost circular but was used for sports meetings and inter club fixtures pre- and post-war.    

Kings College Aberdeen: You can read about it at this link

Westerlands, Glasgow: Read about it here

Garscadden Pavilion – In 1933 Glasgow University purchased ground at Garscadden for the construction of a sports pavilion. In 1936 the Garscadden Sports Pavilion was designed by T. Harold Hughes in an Art Deco style, the same year that he won the competition to design the University’s Chemistry building (now the Joseph Black Building).   The pavilion was extended in 1958 by Alexander Wright & Kay.

Craiglockhart, Edinburgh: read about it at this link   

Myreside, Edinburgh

Bruce Street Baths, Clydebank

This is a good example of a now rare building type of public baths with an adjoining swimming pool complex. Once a relatively common building type in urban Scotland, public baths have become obsolete and modern leisure centres have largely replaced traditional swimming pools. It is an important streetscape feature and it was purposefully designed to match the style of the earlier, 1902 Municipal Buildings in Dumbarton Roadby the Glasgow architect James Miller. Together, the buildings form the major part of a complete block and form a coherent civic heart in Clydebank Public baths and swimming pools grew in popularity particularly in the second half of the 19th century and most of the surviving ones date from this period; some with intricately decorated interiors. Many people had no access to running water in the home and public health was becoming an increasingly important issue. In 1846, the Act to Encourage the Establishment of Public Baths was passed and the majority of public baths began to be built after this time. Built in the 1930s, this is a relatively late example and probably indicates that there were still a significant number of homes in Clydebank at this time with no bathing facilities. The Bruce Street Baths was designed to replace the nearby Hall Street Baths (now demolished) which were becoming too small. The plans were approved by the Council in 1929 and the baths were opened in 1932. It originally had a variety of facilities, including Turkish Baths, Russian Vapour Baths, a laundry and a massage room. (Historic Scotland)

The Baths are no more.  The headquarters of Clydesdale Harriers from the time they opened to their closure, they were described as one of the best winter headquarters in Scotland.   Many events used the Baths as their HQ.   Only this side wall remains. 

Whiteinch Baths, Glasgow – “Whiteinch Public Baths was built between 1923 and 1926 by the Office of Public Works. Currently in 1999 it is Category B listed.” This page goes on to describe the smaller pool as being “in a room with arched ceiling and cubicles to either side. The doors of the cubicles are painted with cartoon characters. This is a smaller, shallower pool for learners. It has a frieze on the rear wall depicting children at a beach. This room also has a blue and white colour scheme. ”   Whiteinch Baths was for several decades the winter headquarters of Victoria Park Harriers and prior to that it was used by the local section of Clydesdale Harriers.   The original McAndrew Relays were run from these Baths.   

Mountblow, Clydebank: A sports pavilion that is now simply a really neglected football pavilion.   It was for decades the home of Clydesdale Harriers and used by runners from many other clubs – eg the Victoria Park cross-country team of the 1950’s trained there on Sundays.  The Clydebank Cricket Club and the Singer Factory Cricket Club played there and it was a genuine local sports facility.

It was officially described as – A rare example of Modern Movement sports pavilion surviving largely unaltered and occupying original recreation ground setting. 2-storey and raised basement, 5-bay, rectangular-plan on sloping site with cantilevered balcony, oversailing flat roof and tall off-centre curved stair tower with vertical glazing breaking eaves. 2 flights of steps to walkway above basement. Rendered brick. Horizontal-pane glazing in metal-framed casements, predominantly tripartite and bipartite, now with later metal grilles to exterior. Later metal roller shutters to entrance doors. INTERIOR: largely intact floor plan. Ground and first floors similar with concrete floors. Changing rooms lead off central corridor, each floor with bathroom with showers. Some early timber benches and coat hooks. Stair with horizontal metal banisters.

Goldenacre, Edinburgh

The map above shows how isolated Milton of Campsie and Lennoxtown are in 2020.   It was much more so in the late 1940’s.   Kirkintilloch was the nearest town of any size and there was no running track, the only pavilions were for a couple of football teams, and yet some of the best international athletes in the world – sprint hurdlers, middle distance runners (at least one a world record holder), throwers and jumpers all travelled to this rural spot on the edge of the Campsie Fells to compete.   See the photograph below for the quality men who took part in what was the best ever in the area.

Back Row:  Dick O’Rafferty, Dave Guiney (1948 Olympian), Jim Reardon (1948 Olympian), John Joe Barry, Jack Gregory (GB Olympian, 1948 and 1952), Paul Dolan (1952 Olympian), Ulick O’Connor, Con Sheehan.

Front Row: Prince Adedoyin (1948 Olympian), Canon Denis O’Connell, Charlie McManus , Liam Brown

The answer is sitting second from the left in the front row.   Canon O’Connor was a young live-wire Catholic priest who went to Lennoxtown and let his love of sport shine through to change the attitudes of the population who mainly thought of football when the word sport was uttered.    Ordained as a priest in Ireland in 1941, he then spent all of his life in Scotland.   St Machan’s and Lennoxtown where he was  assistant priest.   During this time Fr O’Connell’s ;ife-long love of athletics was to come to the fore as he organised Community Games.   During his early years in Scotland he was alarmed at the sectarian divide in the West of Scotland perpetuated through football, and set about using athletics as a means to bring different religious communities together.   He initiated a series of Community Games where athletes of all backgrounds could compete freely regardless of background or religious belief.  He moved to St Agatha’s in Methil in 1949.   

Right from the start there was sporting action at St Machan’s Boys Guild.   Fortunately much of it was covered by the local Press and so we have first hand information about a lot of it.   Where possible we will let the Press of the time tell the story.

The Boys Guild competed in a host of events all through the summer and won pretty well all of them and were referred to in one article in late August as ‘the District cracks’.   On 22nd August for instance they won the Inter Parish Boys Guild Championships at Adamslie Park to win the trophy donated by Tommy Lorne, the famous comedian.   On 30th September 1942 the following article appeared in the Kirkintilloch Herald.

It had been a good year and it was to be followed by another successful season.   On 23rd June, 1943 the notice below appeared in the ‘Kirkintilloch Herald’ 

The following week it was announced that there would be an inter-youth team contest including St Mary’s Guild, Pollockshaws (Glasgow Boys Club Champions) and St Machan’s BG at Lennoxtown as one of the star attractions of the meeting.   There were many meetings in which the boys took part – eg at the Catholic Youths Welfare Sports at St Moan’s, St Machan’s were easy winners of the various championships and went home with four cups and a shield.   On 13th July the club sports trophies were presented by Father Wheelan at a function presided over by Rev Father O’Connell.   The Boys Guild was firing on all cylinders and at the start of September this notice appeared:

And the famous name was revealed in the issue of 20th September – 

*

The 1944 season started with an open meeting in May at Wishaw organised by the local St Ignatius Club, where they performed well.   At the end of June they were only beaten by that year’s champions, Wishaw Boys Club, because there were two field events – junior and senior high jump involved.   Had it been only track events, they would have won.    By now there was a St Machan’s AC and the Press on 30th August, 1944 reported under the heading ‘Outstanding Sports meeting at Lennoxtown’ that “St Machan’s Athletic Club held their second annual sports meeting on Saturday at Lennoxtown Playing Fields before a good attendance.   Competitors included nearly all the leading Scottish champiopns and a small but notable support from English runners.   Among the foreign competitors were a team from Norway and two coloured runners from British Honduras.   The highlight of the sports was undoubtedly the magnificent performance of JC Corfield of Tipton Harriers and W Donaldson, RAF, in the two miles team race.   Donaldson led most of the way until about two laps to go, then Corfield put in his effort, going on to win by about 12 yards.   JE Farrell, Scottish cross-country champion and track ten mile champion was third.   The race was easily the fastest two miles run in Scotland this year.   Dunky Wright again got on the winning road in the 15 miles road race in the good time of 1 hr 28 min 16 sec, from his clubmate G Porteous of Maryhill Harriers, 1 hr 31 min 33 sec.   Porteous it will be remembered won the steeplechase at Rangers Sports.”

The report went on to describe almost all the events and the standard was high.   The report ended with the following –

Father O’Connell was being noticed.

*

Better known as a track club, the club also competed cross-country although there were at that time no events for Under 15 or Under 13 Boys.   Their Youths division did well and one of the highlights was on the first Saturday in March.

The club had a good summer competition and then the big meeting of 1945 was introduced by the following lead in to the event in the local Press:

Unfortunately, the weather did not do its bit to make the event a success – the start to the report indicates this.

Competitors on this dismal day included Alan Paterson who could only manage 6’0 in the conditions while TD McKie of Glasgpw Police, with an 8″ handicap took first prize.  The two Irishmen Dave Guiney and Tom Wall gave a demonstration of the shot putt and high jump respectively.    

The 1946 programme, courtesy of John Mackay of Shettleston Harriers, can be seen  here

The article in the “Kirkintilloch Herald” of Wednesday 14th August, 1946, indicated a club of some strength.   Read this one.

There was more coverage over the summer but the range of meetings listed above gives some indication of the club’s activities.   

The first notice of the Campsie Highland Games was in the Kirkintilloch Herald of Wednesday 4th September, 1946, under the heading ‘World’s Champion for Campsie’.   The article started:

The review then went on to list the Irish runners and their achievements: they were led by L ieut Con Sheehan “who excelled himself recently at the Clonliffe diamond jubilee sports, when in receipt of one and a half yards, he showed a clean pair of heels to the brown bullet,  MacDonald Bailey,  On this form Sheehan is in Britain’s top flight of sprinters.”  The other relay runners were Paul Dolan (220 yards), Jimmy Reardon (440 yards) and Liam Browne (half mile).   Dick O’Rafferty was a 6′ 4″ high jumper who led the field eventers.   Were the Games a success?   Emmet Farrell in his ‘Running Commentary’ in the Scots Athlete of October, 1946 reported thus:

The locals were more direct about the weather: “”When is Namcy Riach due to appear?” queried a competitor at Lennixtown’s High Games on Saturday shortly before the programme opened.   The reference to Scotland’s swimmer was most appropriate for the day was more suitable for an aquatic display than an athletics match. Viewed from the heights of the playing field pavilion balcony the sports arena had the appearance of a giant paddling pond, its surface being dotted all over with pools, some of them ankle deep with more moisture coming down every minute.   Our sympathies at this stage were with the St Machan’s AAC committee and particularly with the convener, Father O’Connell, Lennoxtown’s young priest and sportsman, who had worked with might and main to build a bill of champions the likes of which has seldom been seen outside the confines of London, Ibrox or Cowal.   The meeting had a decided international flavour for competing were the pick of Scotland’s athletes, a strong team of challengers from Eire, stalwart sons of Poland and a big personality in Prince AE Adedoyin.”   

The ‘Glasgow Herald’ simply said that  “Good performances were discounted at St Amachan’s Sports where conditions were the worst possible for the many notable Irish, Scottish and Colonial competitors, but D Guiney (Dublin) putted the shot 44 ft 5 1/2 inches, the best performance in this event in Scotland this season.   Prince Adedoyin (Queen’s University Belfast, won the broad jump and hop, skip and leap, and was placed second in the high jump handicap with 5′ 10″

A word about some of the competitors mentioned might be in order here.   

*Prince Adedoyin was the son of the king of Ijebu Remo in Southern Nigeria who came to study medicine at Queen’s University, where he took up sport.   He won the high jump at the AAA’s championships in 1947 with a 1.93m clearance.   He competed for GB in the 1948 Games at high jump and long jump.   There were also several appearances in international matches.

*Dave Guiney was an all-round sportsman who played Gaelic football, hurling and rugby union as well as winning 30 Irish titles as a sprinter, long jumper and weight thrower.   He competed in the shot putt at the 1948 Olympic Games.

* Paul Dolan was an Irish sprinter who went on to compete in the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki.

*Ulick O’Connor was world famous as a talented sportsman, writer, poet, historian and critic who competed regularly in Scotland at many highland games such as Bute and Cowal.

*Jack Gregory competed for GB in the 1948 Olympics where he was part of the silver medal winning team with Alistair McCorquodale, Jack Arthur and Kenneth Jones.   

These are just a few of the athletes competing at Campsie in 1946.   Like all the best Sports of the era, there were open events and the locals in Campsie were out representing the local St Machan’s Harriers and their representatives won both Senior and Youths sprints.   There was maybe some evidence of Canon O’Donnell’s practical athletic talents there.   The club affiliated to the SAAA and to the SCCU was called the St Machan’s Boys Guild AC and competed in the National Cross-Country Championships in 1946/47 when they finished 6th, counting runners placed 10, 16, 33, 35.   In 1947/48 the team failed to close in but there were three runners as individuals – W Ferrie 20th, F Kearney 60th and G Ferrie 112th.   There was no St Machan’s representation in 1948/49.   The pattern was similar in the District Championships with a complete team only finishing in 1946/47 in equal sixth with St Modan’s.   

But if the Games of 1946 was good, 1947 was even better.

Community Sports and Games were held as usual through the year and then the following summer saw this notice in local, national papers as well as in the ‘Scots Athlete’.   Maybe the weather the previous year, see the photograph above, had something to do with it but the event this time was to be held in July rather than September.   

The date was significant because it came just 7 days after the AAA’s championships in London where several of the invited athletes were competing.  Nevertheless this preview appeared in the Kirkintilloch Herald ten days before Campsie Games.   Note the enhanced status of Price Adedoyen.   Note too from the handbill above the increased number of star runners including John Joe Barry (the Ballycurran Hare) and Steve McCooke.

That Adedoyin was in great form was indicated by his performances in the Triangular international of 1947 – note the report in the Dundee Courier:

The meeting was well set up and under the heading “MANY BRILLIANT ATHLETIC PERFORMANCES” the “Glasgow Herald” reported

The performances were indeed good ones, with some being outstanding – particularly for the time and the venue.   

100 yards: I Sutherland (VPAAC) (6 yards) 10 seconds;   220 yards: I Sutherland (VPAAC) (14) 23.2 seconds

400m invitation: ES Blackadder (West of Scotland) (26) 49.4 sec; 880 yards: H Malloy (West of Scotland) 13 1/2) 2:04

One lap (Youths) D McD Balloch (Auchmountain H) (30) 34.8 sec;

1500 metres (Invitation: JJ Barry (Clonliffe H) (scr)  4 min 8.8 sec; One Mile JJ Barry (scr) 4 min 26 sec;

5000m:  A Forbes (VPAAC) (scr) 15 min 16.3;

High jump: A McLaren (St Modan’s) (9 in) 6′ 2″; Broad jump: D Davidson (St Modan’s) (3’3″) 22′  8 1/2″;

Throwing 28lb weight:  G Kordas (Nottingham U) (2′ 6″) 55′ 4″; Throwing 16lb ball: G Kordas (4′ 6″) 49′ 11″;

Throwing the Hammer: G Kordas, 172′ 8 1/2″ 

If these times, heights and distances are impressive, then it would have been even more so with the names of the unplaced athletes noted.    It also took place just three weeks after the triangular international in which Barry won the mile and Forbes and McCooke were second and third in the three miles.   

*

In July 1958 the St Machan’s boys were all competing well, winning more than they were losing in team competitions and tour of Ireland was organised with competitions against Irish athletics and boxing teams.   

The meeting in 1948 was not as big as the two previous years and the preview in the ‘Kirkintilloch Herald’ read 

but John Joe again took part and broke his own ground record for the mile.   Results for this meeting have been hard to find but the entire Herald report is below.

Into 1949 and one of the finest cross-country runs in a St Machan’s vest was that of John Joe Barry who won the Irish cross-country championships entered as JJ Barry, St Machan’s.   One of the initiatives started during the early 1940’s was a joint St Machan’s (Lennoxtown) and St Michael’s (Parkhead) international sports meeting at Helenvale in Glasgow and this went ahead again in June 1949.   John Joe again appeared as St Machan’s in Scotland although keeping his Clonliffe Harriers membership in Ireland and at this  time he really excelled himself.   See below.

You will note the commenced about Rev Fr O’Connell.   He left Campsie and Lennoxtown at some point in 1949 and moved on to Fife.   That may be why it has been impossible so far to find any trace of the Campsie Highland Games in 1949 but we will continue to look.   But if ever proof were needed that one man can change any situation, then surely the activities of Canon Denis O’Connell at St Machan’s is it.

The stand at Singer’s Recreation Ground, Clydebank

The Singers Sports was a regular fixture on the SAAA Calendar after the Second World War and was held on the first Saturday in June with some of the very best athletes in the country competing there.   Its history goes back well before the war however and the picture of the stand above, situated on the north side of the track, dates from the 1930’s.   Many factories and manufacturing firms had their own sports sections and, even as recently as the 1960’s, Babcock & Wilcox (Renfrew), Dirrans (Kilwinning) and Singers had their own sports.   Singer was a massive factory: read the following from ‘Glasgow Live’.

“The factory came into being thanks to Scots born George Ross McKenzie, who, while serving as General Manager of The Singer Sewing Machine Company, the first successful American multi-national company in the world.   …   Benefited from a location both next to a railway line and the Forth and Clyde canal, then Vice President McKenzie breaking ground on it in 1882 in a construction that lasted three years and required 20 million bricks before it opened in 1885.   Originally featuring two main buildings 800ft long and 50ft wide and 3 storeys high connected by three wings, it was designed to be fire proof with water sprinklers making it the most modern factory in Europe at that time.   And barely a decade later, the Kilbowie factory would become Singer’s flagship factory, with a workforce of over 5000 strong manufacturing 80% of the world’s sewing machines.   So big was the factory that it had its own train station (still present today), with production levels so high that two-and-a-half miles of railway track were laid to link up assembly lines, foundries, tools hops, storage and distribution centres.   And so productive was the factory that in 1905 the US Singer Company set up the Singer Manufacturing Company Ltd. as a UK registered company, with demand so high that each building in the factory  (then the world’s largest) was extended upwards to 6 storeys high.

With 11,500 workers employed at the plant at its peak, in 1913 Singer shipped 1,301,851 sewing machines from its factory doors to households and businesses around the world.”

The Singer clock was the world’s largest four faced clock, five feet bigger than Big Ben

It was a massive operation and encouraged its employees to take part in all kinds of sports – there was a football team, a cricket team, a bowls club, an athletics club and it also catered for indoor sports.   The bowlers had their own green and clubhouse and the others took place at the recreation ground.   Among the thousands of employees, were many members of Clydesdale Harriers, based in the town, many of whom were in promoted positions.   Therefore when the idea of an annual sports and gala day came up, they helped with the organisation.    

Clydebank and its environs always a sport loving community and there had been several athletics meetings held over the years.   In 1919 there had been a good one held at Old Kilpatrick with many athletes from Clydesdale Harriers as well as repr3sentatives of all the Glasgow clubs.   The first Singers Sports reported in the Glasgow Herald on 6th June 1921.   The report in its entirety is below.

The reference right at the start to ‘their annual sports’ seems to indicate that there had been similar sports previously but there is no indication for how long.   They also seem to have been exclusively for employees and local schools.   Note that the High School w as HG   which was Higher Grade (or Senior Secondary) as opposed to Dalmuir School which was a Junior Secondary School.   George McQuattie was a member of Clydesdale Harriers but the club affiliation was not given.    The Sports were always on the same weekend – the first in June.   This meant a clash with Queen’s Park FC Sports and the Scottish Universities Championships as well as several of the major schools events.   But, given that it was at this point a ‘closed’ meeting with a restricted range of events, this would not have been a factor in their calculations.

The following year, on 3rd June 1922, the events were largely the same with a Ladies Race as well as a ladies relay – women’s athletics were just starting to appear in the country and this was an interesting venture.   There were also boys races and relay.  Away from the track, there was a tennis tournament and a five a side football competition.    This was the pattern for the 20’s – confined races, races for local schools as well as tennis and the almost mandatory 5-a-sides.   The origins of the Sports – or Sports Gala as it was sometimes referred to – were not reported on at the time but the report on the 1927 meeting started by saying: “In showery weather, the twelfth annual sports gala in connection with the Singer works was held at the Recreation Ground, Dalmuir on Saturday.”   So 1915 was the first year.   Names that appeared in the results included A Gailey (later a member and treasurer of Clydesdale Harriers before he emigrated), G McQuattie and in the women’s 75 yards race the winner was Peggy Ellison who was a prominent member of the Clydesdale Harriers Ladies when it started up in 1930.   

They were always trying new ways to entertain the  crowd and in 1929, there was a children’s pageant with historical tableaux, songs and dancing, there were also gymnastics exhibitions by members of the YMCA.   The pageant would develop to the crowning of the Singer Queen with her retinue of the 1950’s.  There were also the usual athletics events and the piping was also a feature although the tennis and 5-a-side seemed to have disappeared by then.

The first sports of the new decade was on 9th June 1930 and the pageant led to the crowning of the Queen of the Fair (Margaret Pattison).   One of the other innovations during the thirties was the introduction of a relay for the school girls as well as the existing one for boys.   This was however the format until the war started in 1939.

During the War, the factory was devoted to making equipment and supplies for the war effort and there was no time or room in the year for such niceties as the Sports Gala.   During this period the factory received over 5000 government contracts, made 303 million artillery shells, shell components, shell fuses, aeroplane parts as well as grenades, rifle parts and 361,000 horseshoes.   The company labour force of 14,000 at the end of the war was 70% women.

After the war the sports started up with a difference or two.   The ‘Glasgow Herald’ report read as follows:   “Singer Recreation Club’s Sports were distinguished by the performance of Any Forbes (Victoria Park) who won one of the Mile handicaps from the small allowance of five yards to win in 4 min 24.6 sec over a course of six laps to the mile and against a strong wind.   Other winners:   100 yards  W McDonald (Clydesdale Harriers) (8 1/2) 10.9 sec; 220 yards:  J O’Kane (Garscube) (14)  23 sec; 880 yards: W McCrimmon (Vale of Leven) (44)  2 min 1 sec;  Mile B:  J Stirling (Victoria Park) (105)  4 min 34.9 sec.”   There were several points to take from that report, brief as it is.   First is the fact that there are no results of the confined events although there were still many to be seen on the day.   Second, there was a full programme of open events which were well supported and which, in the eyes of the reporter, took precedence over the confined races.

Not mentioned:  1.   The pageant was still a feature of the sports and would be there until the sports came to an end in the late 60’s.   2.  The tennis had gone altogether from the Gala and 3.  the football was held away from the meeting too.   It had in fact become a genuine open sports meeting albeit on a short grass track.   The Recreation Ground was also used by other community groups – the photograph below is of the invitation half mile race in the mid 1950’s at the Clydebank High School Sports which were held there.

Photograph by Jim Young, leading above

A year later and again, it was a short report but the papers were only 6 or 8 pages long, there was a full sports programme and a local meeting was maybe fortunate to have the results printed at all.   This time the man mentioned first was George McDonald of Victoria Park who was second in both open and confined 100 yards races.   The winners of the sprints were J Wilson of Clydesdale in the 100 yards from a mark of 7 yards in 10.1 sec and the 220 by DT Clark of Garscube, also off 7 yards in 23.2 seconds.   Jim Young of Clydesdale won the 880 in 1:58.6 from 45 yards and Ben Bickerton of Shettleston took the Mile from a mark of 40 yards in 4 min 38.5.   The Junior one lap race was won by R Whitelock of Victoria Park in 36.9 from 17 yards and the Women’s 100 yards was won by I Irving (Clydesdale ) 11.3 sec from a mark of 8 yards.   

The sports were becoming a bit better known and the calibre of athlete was getting higher.  This was helped by the Guest of Honour in 1951.   Like many other local sports meetings and highland gatherings, Singer Sports and Gala Day had a guest of honour – the best known of there was Dorothy Lamour who came along a few years after this but in 1951 it was Olympic sprinter June Foulds from London.   She had come to prominence as a 16 year old and would go on to run in the 1952 and 1956 Olympics.   After opening the Sports she took part in both 100 yards races (open and invitation) with the results seen below.  Scots M Carmichael and Willie Jack were also international athletes.     

Things just continued to progress.   The meeting in 1952 provided a big shock in the women’s events where two British International athletes came face to face.  One was Pat Devine of the Q Club in Dundee who would be the first Scottish woman to compete in the Empire Games, the European Games and the Olympic Games.   She and her clubmate Elspeth Hay were the first Scottish women ever to be selected for a GB team.   Of course, the handicaps had something to do with the final results but the winners in both 100 and 220 yards were off quite short handicaps.    Wotherspoon of the YMCA would go on to become a good, medal winning, member of Shettleston Harriers.

The competition between meeting organisers on the first Saturday in June was fierce, coming as the date did a mere three weeks before the national championships and with the short track and grass surface, Singers Sports were at a disadvantage.   In 1954 for instance, they were competing against the big budget and 440 yards track at Shawfield where the Lanarkshire Police were holding their sports,    The Scottish Universities were big players in the sport in the early 50’s and they had their national championships on the same date, and on this date in 1954 the new cinder track at Caird Park was having its grand opening meeting with home girls Pat Devine and Elspeth Hay taking part and Joe McGhee of Shettleston Harriers taking on local hero Chick Robertson over 13 miles on the road.   There were many schools championships being held too     The draw at Singers however was star long distance runner Ian Binnie who was taking his chances over the half mile distance as a test of how his speed work was coming along in the run-in to the SAAA event.   As it turned out, he won his heat but could only come fourth in the final behind W Gall of Maryhill Harriers off 68 yards in 1:58.6 seconds.   Binnie had won his heat in 2:00.4.   The meeting went as well as usual but Binnie was the only star name that yea.   There is a clip of the meeting which is more of a general interest programme with the emohasois on the pageant and the Gala Queen than on the athletics  at 

   Watch Singer Sports and Gala 1954 online – BFI Player

The 50’s were good for Singers Sports Gala the 60’s were better.   The programme grew – in 1960 there were the events that we know of already – open races, schools races and confined races ,but there were also more field events, more women’s events (there were open relays as well as confined for instance) and Inter-Works competitions against such as John Brown’s shipyard.   And there was the pageant which was something that none of the other meetings of the summer could equal – if a sewing machine factory could not produce elegant dresses, who could?

In 1961 Ronnie Whitelock won his heat of the 100 yards off half a yard and was beaten by that much in the final by Gibbons of Vale of Leven who was running from 6 yards.   Whitelock’s time was 9,8 seconds.  The works relay which was won by Babcock & Wilcox was run over stages of 3 laps, 1 lap, 1 lap and 2 laps on a track that was 6 laps to the mile.   The women’s events were dominated by the Ardeer Recreation AC who won the 100 yards and the relay while Moira Carmichael took the 220 yards.

The 1963 event is summarised in the results above – top quality athletes all through the programme.   Cochrane from Beith was a superb runner who won the South Western District Cross Country championship 7 times and was a Scottish international runner, Bill Purdie who competed in open races, scratch races and invitation events all summer, every summer and the women who took the prizes above were all international or international class.   Note particularly Anne Wilson, Sheila McBeth and Georgena Buchanan.   1964 was even better, see below

And Colin Martin and Jim Brennan were not even mentioned in the report.   

John Maclachlan (4) just beats Pat Younger (2) in the confined half mile.

The 1965 meeting was certainly the one with the biggest celebrity roll call of them all –Ian McCafferty, Graeme Grant, Cyril O’Boyle, Ian Logie, Avril Beattie, Jinty Jameson, Linda Carruthers  were all winners and there were other down the field in many of the events.   Have a look at the report.    

Nearly 40 runners in the Mile on a 6 lap to the mile grass track!   This had previously been the longest race on the programme but by now there was a ‘Round the Factory’ race which was won by Cyril O’Boyle.   The pole vault was relatively new to the sports and was won by Ian Logie who was an SAAA Internationalist and championship medallist.   The entire Western Ladies team was almost certainly all international in make up.    Unfortunately it was probably the last ever.   It is the last one that we have found reports on.   

Any other sports organising committee having the success of this meeting would have been happy to keep it going –  the sport was good and the crowds were coming every year.   It was a successful community event. The factory was starting to have a hard time however – read about it on google and many cuts were being made all the way through the factory and it closed finally in 1980.    It was a pity that a factory which, true to the spirit of the time was interested in and catered for the welfare of its workers and the community in which it found itself.   The Burgh still has the Singer Bowling Green and the Singer Hall, donated by the firm, however to thank the company for in addition to all its great memories.

Were you a sportsman in the 1920’s and 1930’s the name of Ggroe would have been familiar, had you been an athlete, especially a cross country runner in the same period, it would have been very familiar.   It was a time when almost every sports writer  had a pen name – by-lines were pretty well unheard of.   Line drawings to accompany the articles were the norm.   You can see several things from the headline above: the writer’s name was above the headline.   The surrounding drawing was large enough to ensure that it was also more prominent and the drawing was appropriate to the article.   Ggroe however was none other than former international athlete, top class official and administrator George Dallas of Maryhill Harriers, and he wrote in Glasgow’s Daily Record.  

He covered many races, mainly in the West of Scotland and the two illustrations here are from his coverage of the Midlands District Cross-Country Championships.   He also covered the national championship on several occasions.    There is however no doubt that he was at this time entirely a reporter – which is what the sport needs on every Monday morning for 52 weeks of the year.    He wrote well and his race descriptions are detailed, comprehensive and accompanied with as many results as he could get into the paper.      What did a typical Ggroe report look like?   

First there was the headline which had the main information – note the top line above.   Second there was the report.   Third there was the results in depth, and four what was not there was any mention of the writer.   

The report to go with the headline above read:

“Plebeian Harriers had to relinquish their hold of the Ten Miles Midland District Relay Championship at Hamilton on Saturday to Motherwell YMCA who must be heartily congratulated on displaying great form to best the holders by 150 yards in 60 minutes 19 seconds.   WJ Gunn (Plebeian), WS Fisher (West of Scotland) and R Graham (Motherwell YMCA) were the leaders at the end of the first ciruit of two and a half miles of a very trying course in the snow.   SK Tombe, JB Tait and W Gardiner were their respective club colleagues who took over for the second lap.   Before a mile had been traversed, Gardiner for Motherwell, went into the lead, Tombe of Plebeian doing his best to hold him.   AH Blair (Maryhill) was in a favourable position.   Going for the third lap, H Maitland who took over from Gardiner, was in a practically unassailable position.   T Clark, Plebeian, could make no impression, indeed he lost ground.   Dunkey Wright, Maryhill, was given the difficult task of trying to reduce a gap of 90 yards between him and the leader.   In the end JNH Gardiner crowned a brilliant achievement for Motherwell YMCA in gaining the verdict over Plebeian in a decisive fashion.”   

That report took up just 35 lines.   The results which followed took up 66 lines for the team results, and 25 lines for the individuals.   The club results took the form of teams in order with names and times for each of the first 20 teams with places and time for the last six teams.   Reporting of the highest order.   It was of course a different era with different priorities but George had been a runner for many years, he had also been an administrator and official at many races thereafter and he knew what the athletes and their clubs wanted and needed.   His target readership was almost certainly the athletics and cross-country population.   Available space might be bigger but regardless of the space available, 62% of the available space was given over to detailed results.   

It was a typical Ggroe report.   The War ended Ggroe’s career but not George Dallas’s.

.When Walter Ross started’ The Scots Athlete’ magazine in a time when newsprint was rationed in 1946, George was one of those he turned to for support.   Issue number 4 saw a front page article by George which showed what a good writer he was.   The photograph at the head of the article is above.  Part of the item is reprinted here.

“SAAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

Reviewed by George Dallas

First of all let me congratulate the authors of this splendid periodical – a much felt want – in these days when newsprint is so limited and affecting our usual mediums of publicity which undoubtedly helps to liven our movement.   May the Editor and his able assistants succeed in staying the course and weather the uncertainty and arrive at the goal when it can be said that ‘The Scots Athlete’ is now a self-supporting organ maintained by those who have the right to sustain its lifetime.

Noe for the review of the fifty fourth championships for which I was invited to make a modest contribution.   After a lapse of seven trying years in our lifetime, the Scottish Amateur Athletic Association resumed their annual championships at Hampden Park by kind permission of Queen’s Park Football Club .   On the last occasion, in 1939, the youths series of tests were linked to this fixture.   This year, however, it was deemed advisable to separate the classes, and I think it was a wise decision, and in some respects at least, it may be said that the results have justified the steps taken.   Athletically and financially, both the Youths Championship at Edinburgh on June 8th, and the Senior fixture on June 21st and 22nd,  paid handsome dividends that exceeded expectations.   Both efforts have substantially augmented the coffers of the Association, and I would venture to say that moneys accruing therefrom may figure in the region of 70% of the total liquid assets standing in the name of the SAAA – a position never before known in the history of the movement.   

So much for my remarks on the material side of the programme.   What about the athletic analysis of the first post-war venture?   Do results suggest an early return to pre-war standards, and are the prospects bright enough to hope for the day soon when Scotland may be able to play more than an ordinary part in International Athletics?

Certainly we have one or two personalities capable of making their mark in the field of first class competition.   Undoubtedly Alan S Paterson, Victoria Park AAC, H D McD Clark, Greenock Wellpark Harriers, and John B Panton, also of Victoria Park, emerge at once as a trio qualified for the special attention of the experts looking ahead for Olympic possibles.”

Dallas then went on to look at individual events and competitors.   The above is approximately half of the  article but it serves to illustrate the quality of his writing – a bit verbose for the twenty first century perhaps, but well in keeping with the best journalistic standards of the time.

He covered several big events for Walter’s magazine but also wrote for the ‘Glasgow Herald’.   The Edinburgh to Glasgow Relay was re-started in 1949 with two runs over the course and in 1950 the report, although uncredited, was almost certainly the work of Dallas.   At a time of severely rationed newsprint, the report ran to 41 closely printed lines of which 15 were the report.  Simple arithmetic tells us that there were 26 left for the results!   Places, clubs, every individual in the club plus their individual times and the aggregate time was given for the first five clubs.   Thereafter only the sixth team was noted with its aggregate time.   There followed the fastest times on each stage for which the start and finish point of the stage was give, the distance of the stage, the name, club and time of the fastest man on that stage.   It was a pretty comprehensive result when there a serious shortage of available space.   Again, no mention of the writer, no opinions, just straight reportage.   

It is at times easy to dismiss reporting as inferior to ‘journalism’ in some way, but on a Monday morning, especially after a big race or championship, runners need these results and information.   I used to run every Sunday with a good pack and the start of every two hour run (most Sundays) was spent analysing the results from the previous day’s race.   One of our number had a good head for figures and he could recite details that the rest of us had barely noticed, if we noticed them at all.   George was an outstanding reporter at a time when the sport needed one.   Aye, and we could maybe do with one now who prioritised facts over opinion on a Monday morning.

George and Beryl 2019

All successful magazines have a driving spirit whose name is synonymous with the publication – eg “The Scots Athlete”  (1946 – 1958) and “The International Athlete” (November 1958 – 1961) with Walter Ross, and Scotland’s Runner” (1986 – 1993) had three editors in Stewart McIntosh, Allan Campbell and Doug Gillon.   George Sutherland was responsible for “Athletics in Scotland” which appeared from 1973 to 1976.   George is not as well known as the others nor as well-known as he should be.   

This is partly because he is not one for pushing himself forward.  The other magazines mentioned above had photographs, on some occasions with the “Scotland’s Runner there were cartoons, of the editors.   Unlike many producers/editors George’s own picture never appeared in the magazine.    Nor was there a ‘From the Editor’   or ‘The Editor Speaks’ article to give a clue about his own standpoint.   It was all about the sport, unfiltered, with no opinion of his own ever expressed.   

Nor did he seem to have an athletics pedigree that we could relate to – no one ever talked about their rivalry or races with him.   What was the man who was responsible for it like?   

George describes his own involvement in the sport as modest.   A pupil at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen, he was a member of the athletics team with the high spot possibly when the 15 – 17 years age group 4 x 220 yards relay team of which he was a member was second in the Scottish Schools relay in 1953.  It had been a good day for the College with the 17 – 19 team winning the relay in their age group.   There were also three more golds for them when Bobby Yuill won the 17-19 100 yards, and Bill Ferguson won both shot and discus in the 15-17 age group.    He remembers that on the day he shook the hand of Eric Liddell’s brother .   When he got home to Aberdeen that afternoon, his Father told him the story of Eric Liddell.   

The involvement in the sport continued and after leaving school he joined Aberdeen AAC.   He turned out for the club in the 440 yards and the half mile where he was a sub-2 minutes runner.   It should be noted that this was a good time for a club runner, running on a cinder track in the  1950’s.   Like many a middle distance athlete at the time his heroes included Roger Bannister and Chris Chataway, and like many others probably admired Herb Elliott and Peter Snell.  It was a time when athletics featured on the black and white television screens with races such as Chataway versus Kuts under the floodlights at the White City.   It was an inspirational time.   He was a member of Aberdeen AAC into the early 1960’s.   George was not however fixated completely on athletics, he also played rugby.   Of his involvement there he says: “I continued in athletics until about 1962.   During that period I played mediocre rugby with Gordonians (second XV) and afterwards in Edinburgh with Bruntsfield, which merged to become Murrayfield RFC where I continued at coarse rugby until 1973.”

When George was asked how the magazine came about, why did he produce it, his response was as follows: “My wife Beryl and I started the magazine to encourage as many people as possible to take part in athletics”.   It was produced entirely by George and Beryl, there were no other staff involved.   Beryl did all the typesetting.   It was a very good magazine but to think that it was run by husband and wife with no other paid or employed staff adds to the admiration.   It was packed with information – see the page below from issue number 34 as an example – at a time when such information was not easily available to the ordinary club athlete.

Why did it cease publication?   George says, when asked, that “the reason I had to stop producing the magazine was the fact that I became Managing Director of Ivanhoe Printing Co. Ltd. of Musselburgh (he was a 50% shareholder) and had to concentrate on that.”

For some further comment, we turn to Peter Hoffmann, one of the country’s best 400/800m runners, who was a friend of George’s and sheds some light on these questions when he says:

“George lived at Durham Square Portobello Edinburgh round the corner from me. I seem to recall he printed the magazine in his attic at home. He was a lovely chap, tall, bespectacled and balding.   He lived with his wife and two daughters. I was at their house on a few occasions mainly with EAC stalwart Dougie McLean who was friendly with George.   I helped to distribute and sell a few editions of the magazine. Thinking about why it stopped, I wonder whether his job and therefore home circumstances may have changed which had implications for the demise of the magazine. I mention him once or twice in my diaries.” 

*

Although it posed no threat to the mass circulation press, its success was noted in more than one quarter.   The two major dailies the country at the time were the ‘Glasgow Herald’ and the ‘Scotsman’.   They both noted the existence and success of the periodical though.  On 29th October, 1973, Ron Marshall’s article appeared in the Herald. 

That was from the Glasgow paper, the Scotsman had a much shorter piece in April 1974.   Below a mini-reproduction of the April 1974 cover featuring Ann Cherry and Ian Murray, it simply said:

Athletics in Scotland is one year old and the publisher-editor, George RF Sutherland, is to be congratulated.   The 16 page publication, which in its first year has carried thousands of results, has been run on a shoe-string Budget.   But it is viable, much of the work being done on a voluntary business.   “The purpose of this labour of love,” writes the editor, “is to encourage athletes of all ages to participate and strive for improvement in their sport.”   The venture is a sensible piece of self-help. 

What we have said so far begs the question of whether there was any direct inspiration or model in the beginning.   When asked, George says, “The format of my magazine was copied from a journal that I used to buy at the time.   This was “Athletics World” published and edited by the famous McWhirter twins, Norris and Ross, later much more famous after the huge success of their “Guinness Book of Records”.   “Athletics World” seemed to be type-written, plus bold headlines – a format which suited me.   Also they had a formidable connection with contributors world-wide.   Sadly their lives came to an end far too quickly.   They wrote to me once or twice.”   These illuminating comments add to and complete the story of the magazine

Where is George now?   He still lives in Edinburgh, he and Beryl have two daughters, three grand children and two great grandchildren.  His late brother was Lord Stewart Sutherland of Houndwood and was Principal of both London University and Edinburgh University.   

George says, ““I still take a great interest in athletics.”   We all wish him well and thank him, and his wife Beryl,  for the magazine which was the right magazine at the right time for Scottish athletics.

Bill Melville is a very good journalist indeed who is well respected.   He would have been a good journalist whatever his chosen specialism had been: we are fortunate that he chose sport rather than politics or any other subject.   But within sport he had a wide range of subjects that he wrote knowledgeably about.   

That was the writer but he was more than that. As his friend and colleague Sandy Sutherland says. “Much of what he did was a service for the sport and he was often press officer for events I attended in a professional capacity and rolled his sleeves up and obtained the result sheets for others, unlike the present generation who are solely interested in getting their story out BEFORE the few journos who are left get their turn!”

Not entirely subjectively, it is possible to say that Bill Melville is one of the better writers and one who really loves the world of sport. One of the top three in Scotland in my 60+ years in the sport.  He has never received the credit that is his due.