1920-1929
History of Newport Harriers
| Chapter 4 1920-1929 |
History of Newport Harriers |
In 1923 with E.J.Edwards winning the Welsh Cross Country title and leading the club home to retained the title, his team-mates D.Richards 2nd, D.Phillips 3rd and B.Hammond 4th.
The Welsh CCA selected the following Newport Harriers to represent Wales in Paris at the International race, P.Waters(capt), E.Thomas, E.J.Edwards, D.Richards, D.Phillips, B.Hammond, unfortunately due to the lack of funds, the Welsh team did not go to Paris.
At the Monmouthshire AAA championships, B.Kinchington won the 220yds with another Newport Harrier in second place A.Gulliford, Gulliford was also second in the 440yds, B.Hammond won the 880yds from his team-mates E.Thomas 2nd, N.Hunt 3rd, D.Phillips also gained a second place in the mile and J.W.Benjamin was also second in the long/jump. Another Newport Harrier D.J.P.Richards competed in the Glamorgan AAA championships and duly won the 880yds and mile. In the Welsh AAA Championships Richards just held off E.Thomas his clubmate by inches to win the mile, the positions were reversed in the four mile race with yet another Newport man E.J.Edwards 3rd.
The Midland Cross Country Championship for Junior’s which as title holders we were hoping to defend was cancelled due to the outbreak of Foot & Mouth in the area of the race and unfortunately the re-arranged date clashed with the Welsh Junior championships and therefore we did not enter a team in the Midlands. Senior event of the Midland championships were held at Caerleon and the Harriers team of E.Thomas 4th, D.Richards 8th, E.Leyshon 19th, B.Hammond 20th, D.Phillips 28th, E.J.Edwards 34th we finished in 2nd place behind Birchfield with the third place going to Sparkhill Harriers. In the Welsh Cross Country novice race at Pengam Farm, Cardiff we had six men home in the first 13 runners with F.Day 5, T.Thomas 8, R.Richards 9, E.Hughes 10, but as the first four only counted we were placed 2nd behind Cwm Harriers who scored 9 to our 32, we were also beaten into second place by Cwm again in the Welsh Junior Cross Country event but we had the winner in E.Leyshon. The Welsh senior title was contested at the Roath Harriers coarse in Cardiff and although missing several notable athletes the club retained its titles as Welsh Champs, with E.Thomas leading the way by winning the title followed by B.Hammond 2nd, D.Richards 3rd, E.Leyshon 6, S.Howells 13, and F.Day as the scoring team.
In the International race the club had five representatives in the Welsh team they were E.Thomas(capt) who finished 11th, D.Richards 12, B.Hammond, E.Leyshon and D.Phillips were the other members of the scoring team.
Foremost amongst the track events was the success of the club in winning the Welsh Relay team Championship which carried with it the famous Dewar Shield and the Freedom and Reform 25 Guinea Cup, the members of the team were B.Hammond(880yds), B.Kinchington(440yds), H.J.Anderson(220yds), and E.M.Hughes(220yds). Also during the season DJP.Richards won the 4mile and mile Welsh titles both on the same afternoon, Richards also retained his Glamorgan County mile championship. B.Hammond was another to retain his 880yds & mile Monmouthshire titles and his team-mate B.Kinchington took the 440yds Monmouthshire title. In the Glamorgan Championships H.J.Anderson won the 100 & 220yds. A junior section under the guidance of Mr.B.Cox was formed and has a membership of nearly 40
The "International" was held at the Baldoyle racecourse in Dublin and five teams competed, France were missing. England were the winners with six runners home in the first eight, Ireland took 2nd by one point from a Welsh team which had as its scorers, Newport athletes in the top four scorers for Wales they were D.Richards 9, E.Thomas 11, E.Leyshon 13, B.Hammond(capt) 17th.
At the English National at Hereford, Newport finished in 2nd place scoring 138 behind the powerful Birchfield team who scored 70, in 3rd were Southern Champions Surrey AC with 178, Newport’s team was D.Richards 5, E.Thomas 9, B.Hammond 11, E.Leyshon 22.
The Midland Counties Cross Country Championships were held at Arley, near Nuneaton and will go down as the "Richards Race" for the Newport Harrier made the running from the first mile and gradually gained ground during the race, eventually winning by nearly two minutes ahead of the next man, A.Price of Humber Harriers who was the Midlands Junior Champion and 3rd was J.E.Webster of Birchfield who went on to win the International in Dublin and also came 3rd in the National. Splendid running by Hammond, Leyshon, Phillips, Ivor Thomas (Oxford U), and Ivor Thomas (Aberbeeg) enable the club to come 3rd.
The Welsh Cross Country Senior race was held at Caerleon, and Newport proved themselves worthy Champions as they had the first three men home for the third year on the trot scoring 33pts with Roath Harriers in second place with 83pts. A great race took place between DJP.Richards and his team-mate Ernie Thomas, they ran together until the last 100yds when Richards sprinted away to win by six yards, in third place was B.D.Hammond the club captain followed by E.R.Leyshon, E.J.Edwards 9th, D.Phillips 12th, Ivor Thomas unfortunately had an off day suffering from the effects of a severe cold.
We again finished runners-up in the Junior Championships run at Abertillery and was run over a road coarse, the home club provided the winner in A.Stainer, our team members were P.B.Abbott 6th, T.F.Evans, H.Couch, W.Tucker, Ivor Thomas (Aberbeeg) not Ernie’s brother and J.Parry.
The Welsh Novice Championships were also run over a road coarse at Cwm, and the club finished fourth behind Abertillery, Pontypool and Cwm, our counters were I.Thomas (Aberbeeg), E.Couch, J.Parry and E.M.Hughes.
The club won the Welsh Relay Team title, the members of the team were B.Kinchington(880yds), F.G.Pinchin(440yds), H.J.Anderson(220yds) and E.M.Hughes(220yds), the same team were successful in the Relay Trophy put up by G.F.Lovell& Co of Newport the sweet manufacturer at the Monmouthshire Police Sports. Foremost amongst individual successes was a Double win for D.J.P.Richards in the Welsh 4 mile & 1 mile championships at Pontypool on July 18th.
Our club captain B.Kinchington won the Monmouthshire County 880yds title and H.J.Anderson took the Welsh 220yd title and our secretary recorded his first Championship win taking the Monmouthshire County 440yds, while in the Glamorgan Championships F.S.Williams won the 100yds. A novel feature during the track season was a 4 mile Cross Country team race at Crickhowell on 19th August, and in placing four runners in the first seven we secured a win by 6 points from Cwm Harriers.
In the International which was held at the Stockel Hippodrome, Brussels on March 28th, France won with Wales finishing in 4th, the team had six Newport men running with Hammond 20, Leyshon 28, E.Thomas 29, the other members were Ivor Thomas 38, D.Phillips 46 and J.Prosser who was forced to retire due to severe stitch, the other Welsh members were Roath Harriers J.Guy 36, and E.Hopkins 37.
In the National held at Wolverton, Bucks, the Newport team of Leyshon 15, Hammond 25, E.Thomas 26, D.Phillips 26 and J.Prosser 41, S.Driscoll 47 finished in 9th place.
In the Midland Senior Cross Country championship at Coventry, the club was without last years winner D.Richards, but the club performed well to finish in 2nd place again behind Birchfield. The club’s scorers were E.Thomas 3rd, Hammond, Leyshon and Phillips all in the first 18 men home, and these were joined by two first season runners with the club, T.J.Williams 34, and J.Prosser 40th, in 3rd place were Tipton Harriers with 126 only two points behind the Harriers.
In the Midland Junior event at Nuneaton there was a field of 319 runners and Newport finished in 11th spot with a very inexperienced team, ten of the twelve had never competed in such a big event, the team was lead home by T.J.Williams 31, P.B.Abbott 42, J.Prosser 50, H.L.G.Davies, R.W.Bateman and C.Wesson making up the scoring runners. The race was won by J.Metcalfe of Derby&County Harriers who had run for England in the International.
The Welsh Senior Cross Country championships were again at Caerleon and Newport won the team title for the twentieth time, E.Thomas winning the race for the fouth time with B.Hammond adding support to the team in 3rd place the same as last year, E.Leyshon 5, J.Prosser 7, D.Phillips 8 and T.J.Williams 9th were the scoring team with 33points, Roath Harriers were runners-up with 46 with a new entry Welsh Universities in 3rd. After being second in the Welsh Junior Cross Country championships for the last two years, and both of the winning teams now ineligible, it was to be expected that our turn to win had come and this season saw Newport duly triumph by gaining individual and team honours. Ivor Thomas was an easy winner and in placing our counting men in the first eleven a runaway victory was recorded from the oldest of Welsh Harrier clubs now in existence, in fact the whole of our team in a field of 100 were all placed in the first 46. The winning five in the team were I.Thomas, TJ.Williams 4, Norman Hunt 5, P.Abbott 6, J.Prosser 10, and S.Edwards 11 whilst the remainder were S.Driscoll13,R.W.Bateman 19, S.B.Eggleton 22, T.F.Rees 27, Manuel Periera 35 and H.Couch 46.
The Welsh novice team race held at Pontypool was won by the home club with Cardiff Univ nd, and Newport 3rd, J.Prosser was the first home for the club followed by H.Couch, Ivor Thomas(Aberbeeg) and M.Periera, there were a record entry of 13 teams.
During 1926 a number of Cross Country races took place, in October we won a match against Pontnewydd away by 69 points and week later we won away again at Pontypool by only 6 points, our home match against Westbury proved a lose for us by 30 points, but we got back to winning ways at Cwm beating them by 40 points, there were three more matches up to 1927 and they all resulted in wins for the club against Gellgaer away by 54 points, Pontnewydd (home) by 74 points and Pontypool (home) by 64 points.
The "South Wales Express" road race was run at Cardiff on May 8th, the club won every trophy and prize on the day, which were mainly Express Road Race Challenge Shield and gold medals for the winning team, which was E.Thomas 1st, E.R.Leyshon nd, B.D.Hammond 3rd and D.Phillips 9th.
The first Royal Gwent Road Race was organised by the club and great interest was aroused locally with thousands of spectators watching the race, the winners were as expected Newport Harriers, the team being E.Thomas 1st, his brother I.Thomas nd, E.R.Leyshon 3rd and D.Phillips 4th, the second team was Pontypool Harriers with A.Stone 8th, I.Newman 10, R.Symonds 12, E.J.Edwards 13, individual prizes valued Ł5,Ł2,Ł1 were won by the first three Newport men home, in the non-harrier section, Gellygaer AC won with a score of 64 from Llanbradach AC 76, and in the Harrier Novice event the winner was T.Stewart,( Newport) 2nd D.Pritchard(Spillers) and 3rd R.Symons(Pontypool).
On the track during the summer there were a number of successes, the club won the Welsh Relay
Team Championships for the third successive year, the team members were H.J.Anderson(220),
E.Hughes(220),W.C.Phillips(440) and Ivor Thomas(880), its interesting to note that both Anderson and Hughes have been members of every winning team.
The following members were successful in the Welsh AAA championships.
H.J.Anderson 1st. 220yds at Newport 2nd August.
2nd.100yds at Cardiff 24th July
He was also 1st 220yds in the Glamorgan championships at Cardiff 12th June.
E.M.Hughes 1st. 440 yds Welsh at Cardiff 24th July.
2nd. 880yds " at Newport 2nd.August.
D.J.P.Richards 1st. Mile Welsh at Cardiff 24th July.
D.Phillips. 3rd. Mile " " " " "
2nd 4 Mile " at Newport 2nd.August.
E.Thomas. 1st 4 Mile " " ".
I.Thomas. 2nd Mile at Cardiff 24th July.
Ernie Thomas time in the 4 mile was a new record, the time 20.04.
During the year only eight sport meetings took place owing to the industrial disputes.
Erik Hughes resigned his position as Hon Sec in August 1926, Mr T.Williams taking his place.
The committee have purchased a Hut that will be erected at Kimberly Park and will serve as the clubs HQ.
At the Welsh Novices Cross Country Championships on Dec 11th, our ‘A’ team came 4th with R.W.Bateman our first man home, the ‘B’ team were 25th.
The club had a full programme of Cross Country meetings with Pontnewydd,Pontypool,Westbury Cwmbran, Cwm, Gellygaer, Cardiff Univ, Bristol, Penarth and Splott YMCA. We lost against Westbury at home by 30pts, and again to Cwmbran by 16pts, we lost again away to Westbury and lost by 22pts, there were meetings with Cwm a win for the club by 31pts, another win against Penarth by 109,these were followed by wins against Gellygaer, Cardiff Univ, Bristol, Pontnewydd, then a lose against Splott YMCA by 2pts,but revenged two weeks later winning by 46pts, this showed a season of 10 wins and 3 loses.
The International took place at Caerleon Race course and the clubs only representative D.Phillips was 21st and the third Welsh runner.
At the Midlands Cross Country championships, the Junior event was held at Stoke and the club did not enter a team because of the distance to be travelled, but in the Senior event held at Austin Motor Company at Longbridge on Feb 19th, Birchfield were the winners with Newport placed 5th, D.Phillips was our first man home in 18th and the rest of the team all finishing in the first 68.
In the Welsh Junior Cross Country Championships at Cwmbran we were 2nd. S.Driscoll our first home, while at the Senior event at Caerleon the club came 3rd in an event won by Roath after a lapse of 30 years and Ernie Thomas taking the individual title for the 5th time.
The "South Wales Express" Road Race title was retained by the club, the members were T.Stewart, Dan.Phillips, J.Bassett, and Phil Abbott.
The Royal Gwent Hospital Road Race was won Ernie Thomas, followed by E.R.Leyshon and J.Prosser both of Newport Harriers, the race for the "South Wales Argus" Trophy went to Pontypool Harriers who pushed into second place Cwmbran and Newport 3rd our scorers were J.Bassett 7th, C.Wesson 9, W.Cook 16, and S.Edwards 22. In the Non-Harrier section there were over 70 runners including a good number not in recognised Cross Country clubs, the winner was W.Jones Pontynewydd, Wes Thomas (Newport H) and a W.Short of the local scouts who later ran for the Harriers and also ran in the 1934 Empire Games in the marathon.
The team prize for the "T.H.Vile" cup went to 2nd Mon Territorial Regiment based at Cwmbran with a new club from Penarth, "Penarth County School Old Boys Association in second place.
On the 8th September the Mayor of Newport Frank Quick JP, official opened the new HQ at the Crindau (Kimberly) Park, officers of the club present were W.J.Carter(Chairman), W.E.Fisher (Treasurer), H.C.R.Roberts (Sec), P.B.Abbott (Asst Sec), and the ex-Sec Trevor Williams. The HQ which is a wooden building measuring 40ft x 20ft, has a large room which is 30ft x 20ft with seating all around, the other rooms are a trainers room with a sheet lined bath having four shower heads and a bath, plus offices. The training facilities at Kimberley Park include a very excellent 100yd sprint track and the Park has around 900yds parkland to run on, in the clubhouse there is a supply of hot water, all this can be obtained for a sum of 2/6d(12p) each season or 5shilling (25p) for a full years membership.
The Welsh Cross Country Novice Championships were held at Penarth, it was found that the coarse was well under the distance advertised for the event, the clubs "A" team were placed 4th with the scoring members A.Young 8, W.Hinton 16, R.Bateman 21 and E.Couch 29,the "B"team runners were H.Couch 19, G.Leach 35, T.Hinton 46 and G.Aldridge 49 placing them in 9th .
The Welsh Junior Cross Country Championships were held at Pontnewydd and was won by Llanbradach Harriers with 91pts, our team were placed 4th(157), Les Thomas being the first home in 13, N.Moses 17, Tom Thomas 19, Will Cook( I believe this is Bill Cook) 35, H.Couch 36, and H.James 37. Regards the Couch’s both E and H, could they be related to the Jewellers in Newport?
The Welsh Youth Cross Country Championships took place for the first time at Caerleon with nine teams entered, the Harriers had two teams entered, the "A" team had three in the top eleven, with H.Croome leading the way home in 3rd followed by A.E.Cole 10, R.Sully 11, for second place, the "B" team of K.Davies 30, C.Dunk 33 and W.Bamfield 34 were 5th.
The Senior Event took place at Caerleon also and was won by Cwmbran Harriers, with D.J.P.Richards running for University of Wales winning he is also a member of Newport Harriers, the club finished 7th with J.Bassett the highest placed in 15th. Richards also won the Inter-Univ title West Wales title and was the first Welshman home in the International at Ayr.
There were life-memberships awarded to F.Liddington Johns, W.J.Carter, and W.Taylor.
The "South Wales Argus" Championship Road Walk, promoted by the club for the "South Wales Argus" can go down in history as the greatest and most popular sporting event for many seasons. The great interest shown by spectators throughout the Eastern Valleys and Newport, when many thousands lined the route, was ample compensation for the work of the organisers and proved that the people of Monmouthshire are a truly wonderful sporting crowd and delight to welcome these events. In the non-harrier section 120 runners took part and all funds raised from the event went to the Royal Gwent Hospital Fete committee.
Following the revived interest in Road walking we staged an Inter-County Road walk between Monmouthshire and Glamorgan which resulted in a small win for Glamorgan and five members of Newport Harriers counted in the Monmouthshire team and gained their County vests.
During the summer we have to report a steady progress on the track, which included the Newport A.C Sports where Tom Thomas won the Novice half-mile scratch, this was followed by our "Novice" team in the Cardiff "Express" road race winning the race, W.Cook led the team to victory, winning the individual prize, he was well supported by A.Roth, R.Masser, and L.Thomas .Our senior team finished 3rd behind Cwmbran and Llanbradach, our scorers were B.D.Hammond, I.O’Brien, E.J.Edwards, and S.Edwards. On the Whit-Monday the club competed at Monmouth for the "Lady ShellyRolls Vase" which was awarded to the club scoring the highest number of points at the sports meeting, we scored a total of 21, against 11 by Cheltenham Harriers with the holders Newport A.C next with 8. The following members helped secure the trophy, 120yds. 1st G.Milford, 2nd W.Rees. 220yds. 3rd W.Rees. 880yds. 1st, W.Cook, 2nd T.Thomas. Mile 3rd P.Abbott. 2mile 3rd P.Abbott. Relay, 1st W.Rees, G.Milford, T.Thomas, F.Powell.
On August Bank Monday at the N.A.C sports, F.E.Powell beat a large field to win the 880yds. And at the London Sports W.Rees was successful in beating the best of the Railway Runners and becoming Railway champion, I gather that this meeting was for railway employees only.
A number of of club athletes ran in the Inter-YMCA sports at Cardiff but were beaten by by Port Talbot YMCA with the holders Splott YMCA 3rd. You can see from the type of competitions that were around at the time, that they varied from Sport days mainly to road races / walk events in fetes, to inter-club.
For the first time in the clubs history we won both the "Novice" and "Junior" Welsh Cross Country titles and finished 3rd in the Senior event behind Cwmbran and University of Wales. Our team in the "Novice" race was F.Powell, C.Rabbitt, R.Bateman, and B.Griffiths and the winning "Junior" team was F.Powell, C.Rabbitt, N.C.Moses, R.Bateman, H.James, L.Thomas, and to follow this the Youths came 3rd in the Welsh Championship.During the winter season we had meetings with Westbury Harriers who we lost to twice, but won the following meetings home and away against Pontypool, Pontnewydd, Canton(Cardiff), Wesley St.George(Bristol)
In the walking section of the club we were successful in winning the individual title in the first Welsh AAA Road walk championship with E.J.Edwards capt leading the club to share the team title with equal points with Glamorgan Walking club, scoring 16 points coming from S.Edwards 4th, A.E.North 11th, the club also won the the South Wales Argus Monmouthshire Championship Road Walk title, the winning team being 1st E.J.Edwards(capt), 2nd, T.C.R.Bromham, 4th F.Owen. Edwards along with Owen were joined by J.J.Giles and G.Ellaway to win the team award in the Penarth Publicity Assoc Relay Road Walk, with each member walking a distance of three miles. In the South Wales "Echo" Road walk we had to content with second place behind Glamorgan Walking club but we had the winner in Stan Edwards with his brother E.J.Edwards 5th, A.E.North 15th and his brother R.T.North 25th.
In the Royal Gwent Road race, International DJP.Richards won the event leading his club home into second place, the other runners were L.Wilce, P.B.Abbott, and R. Masser, and our non-harrier team team of S.Lewis, T.H.Shore, JH.Overton, and V.S.Williams tied with Corporation Road Old Boys AFC and share the TH(Tommy) Vile cup, the club also won at the Merthyr Hospital Road race, and the Cefn Forest Road race.
During the summer the club many club members winning honours, in Welsh Championship events the following athletes won titles, DJP.Richards- 4mile title. HJ.Anderson 100yds and entered under Port Talbot YMCA but was a member of Newport Harriers, EJ.Edwards 2 mile walk & 14 miles road walk. At county level W.H.Rees won the 100yds , F.Powell 880yds title and E.J.Edwards 14 miles "Argus" road walk championship. It should be noted that during the season inter-club matches were arrange with Cardiff College and also Newport Athletic at the NAC ground. At the UAU Championships DJP.Richards won the 3 mile title while representing University of Wales.
A number of our members were selected to represent Wales in the first National track event against Achilles Athletic Club at Swansea in August, the following ran for a successful Wales team, DJP.Richards, HJ.Anderson, and F.Powell received their National vests while Norman C.Moses represented the Achilles club in the 3 mile, Moses also represented Oxford Univ in the varsity match at Cross Country and again in the track team gaining a "Full Blue". During the year the club membership was 40 senior and 25 juniors, and the following members gained county vests during the year, F.Powell, A.Williams, K.Richards, H.Aubrey, L.Wilce,G.Cripps, JJ.Giles and G.Ellaway.
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