80 years at heart of town’s sporting life
ATHLETICS CLUB’S LANDMARK ANNIVERSARY
FOR 80 years, Jarrow and Hebburn Athletics Club has been integral to the sporting life and times of South Tyneside.
On Monday, the club will celebrate its landmark anniversary with a special event at Monkton Stadium in Jarrow.
Older townsfolk will remember the venue as the Metupa, its name derived from the names of Jarrow’s main employers - Metalworks, Tubeworks and Palmer’s - who were the stadium’s custodians in its early days.
Since the late 1930s, generations of budding athletes have benefitted from being a member of the club in a part of the world which has not been without its tough challenges.
Jarrow-born teacher Michael McNally is a runner and long-time member of Jarrow and Hebburn Athletic Club.
Looking ahead to Monday’s event, he said: “Among those in attendance will be Steve Cram, the club’s honorary president, who set world records in the 1,500 metres, 2,000 metres and mile during a remarkable 19-day period in 1985.
“We’ll also have David Sharpe who won the European indoor championships over 800m in 1988, and Paul Cuskin formerly ranked as the UK’s top 10,000m runner.”
These are just some of the fine athletes who cut their teeth at the club.
Michael added: “The club will be presenting awards to these athletes and some who are sadly no longer with us.
“There will be a special award for the former world mile record holder and New Zealand athlete, the great John Walker, who raced in the stadium when it was officially opened.”
Meanwhile, looking back, the event will recall the economic hardship Jarrow faced in the 1930s, and honour one man who tried to help alleviate it putting money into Monkton Stadium in the process.
In partnership with South Tyneside Council, a plaque commemorating Sir John Jarvis will be officially unveiled in the stadium by his granddaughter, Tessa Preece, who will be travelling from Surrey.
Michael said: “His story is quite remarkable in the history of Jarrow, and his generosity in a time of great hardship perhaps isn’t known by many.
“An extremely wealthy man, Jarvis became High Sheriff of Surrey in 1934 and MP for Guildford a year later. “He decided he wanted to help the most distressed area in the land. “After being told it was Jarrow, he made anonymous visits and was horrified by the poverty he saw. “He set up the Surrey Fund to help Jarrow and
Among those in attendance at the event will be Steve Cram, the club’s honorary president Michael McNally
raised over £40,000 from Surrey residents to help the town - a huge amount of money at the time.
“He rehoused 600 ‘slum-dwellers’ at his own expense, underwrote and subsidised numerous business projects to create employment and, in total, gave £1m of his own personal fortune to help Jarrow - equivalent to £80m today. He never took a penny back!”
The Surrey Fund refurbished what is now Monkton Stadium and local men were employed to landscape the nearby Jarvis Park.
Michael added: “When Jarvis’s plans for new steelworks on the site of closed-down Palmer’s were scuppered by the government and cartels, he fought against it along with Ellen Wilkinson in Parliament, but growing frustration led to the Jarrow Crusade.”
The rest is history. Here’s to the next 80 years of Jarrow and Hebburn Athletics Club.