AAA Championships, Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, 20-21 June 1986

I attended the AAA (Amateur Athletics Association) Championships on Saturday 21 June 1986 straight after a late arrival from a day trip to France.

This was my last major event which I wrote stats down in varying levels of detail until the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

I'm focusing on my notes on the shot ...
the reason being a former junior school mate, Neil Gray participated, although I was unable to say hello to him at the time.

 

 

The supplements were specially printed for Saturday's copies of the programme which reported on the previous day's events.

 

 

 

 

Billy Cole 19.01m (17.29m, 18.62m, 18.64m, 18.50m, 18.70m, 19.01m) [1st]

Mike Winch 18.10m (17.12m, 18.10m, 17.56m, F, 18.01m, 17.95m) [2nd]

Graham Savory 17.28m (17.04m, 17.28m, 16.89m, 17.20m, 16.95m, 17.13m) [3rd]

Mark Aldridge - 17.07m [4th]

Andrew Vince 16.99m [5th]

Neil Gray - 16.46m (16.04m, 16.22m, F, F) [6th - don't know in what order his best throw occurred, 1st or last, also one other throw not recorded]

Simon Williams - 16.44m [7th]

Anthony Satchwell - 15.47m [8th]

David Callaway - 15.43m [9th]

Shaun Pickering - 14.98m [10th]

Paul Edwards - 14.60m [11th]

 

 

I've checked scores against results listed in Athletics Weekly, 28 June 1986, which filled gaps in my coverage, also British Athletics 1989 for full first names, because competitors were listed under their first initials.

Data from the magazine has been added or corrected for the entries present in my log (in italics).

Overall, looking back, I got the winning scores and rankings correct, but Neil's best effort somehow got missed off .
However, not all scores were reported in that issue of Athletics Weekly; data from all six rounds for the top three ranked competitors were listed, but for the fourth-ranked competitor and below, only the best individual results were listed.

[Revised 11 July 2018 to reflect Neil Gray's change of name as found in Companies House filing history for EBD Solutions, Bournemouth and Autism Hampshire's annual review 2016/17]
[Revised 10 October 2018 removing Neil Gray's hyphenated surname as he prefers to be known by his original surname]

 

 

 

 

 

GRE/British Athletics League Division 1, Copthall, Barnet, London, 15 June 1986

This is my most comprehensive record of a GRE/British Athletics League competition which I attended as a spectator.
It was a Division 1 fixture, held at Copthall Stadium, Barnet, London, on Sunday 15 June 1986. 

I've tried my best to translate my shorthand created at the time. There are many gaps in the results and field event scores; despite consulting my British Athletics 1989 volume (National Union of Track Statisticians) and online http://www.gbrathletics.com/uk/ some peoples' first names aren't known.

However, I'm not providing fuller results and scores for this event, because they've been published in Athletics Weekly, 28 June 1986; even then, some results and scores were omitted, particularly in longer-distance events and individual attempts in field events.
The British Athletics League's website www.bal.org.uk/archive has so far published results only going back to 2004. Consulting 2004's Division 1 results, fortunately they include full competitors' rankings for both "A" and "B" strings, but no details of individual field scores.

Data from Athletics Weekly has been added or corrected for the entries present in my log (in italics).

 

 

                                                

100m - A string [wind -2.1m] - Michael McFarlane 10.58 [1st], Philip Davies 10.82 [2nd] 
          - B string [wind -0.23m] - Jonathan Ridgeon 10.88 [3rd]
200m - A string [wind +0.51m] - Ainsley Bennett 21.16 [1st], B. Watson 21.24 [2nd]

          - B string [wind +0.97m] - Philip Davies 21.12 [1st], Steven Heard 21.50 [2nd]     

400m - A string - Mark Holtom 47.49 [1st]

          - B string - John Herbert 48.13 [1st]

800m - A string - Anthony Morrell 1:49.25 [1st], Kevin McKay 1:50.58 [2nd]

          - B string - Paul Larkins 1:50.02 [1st], Simon Lane 1:52.25 [2nd]

1500m - A string - Alan Salter 3:48.50 [1st], William Dee 3:48.80 [2nd]

            - B string - Harrington 3:55.05 [1st]
5000m - A string - Dave Thompson

110mH - A string - [wind -0.99m/s] - Wilbert Greaves 14.11 [1st], David Nelson 14.24 [2nd], Daley Thompson DNF
             - B string - [wind -2.72m/s] - Anthony Jarrett 14.69 [1st], Ian Moore 14.71 [2nd]
3000m steeplechase - A string - Richard Charleston 9:03.76 [1st]
                                 - B string - B. King 9:24.21 [1st]

 

High jump - A string - Henderson Pierre 2.10m [1st], Trevor Whittle 2.05m [2nd]        
                   - B string - Leroy Lucas 2.05m [1st], Mark Jennings 1.95m [2nd]

Pole vault - A string - Keith Stock 5.35m [1st] [British Athletics League record], Daley Thompson 5.25m [2nd]
Long jump - A string - David Burgess 7.93m [1st] [British Athletics League record but wind speed too great to qualify at +2.2m/s]           
Triple jump - A string - Andrew Moore 15.68m [1st], Michael Brown 15.22m [2nd], Francis Agyepong 15.11m [3rd]
                    - B string - Femi Abejide 15.14m [1st], L. Neil 15.05m [2nd]
Shot - A string - Neil Gray 15.92m, NT, NT, NT [5th]
Discus - A string - Neville Thompson 55.08m [1st], Graham Savory 54.64m [2nd]
            - B string - Christopher Ellis 48.06m [2nd], Neil Gray 38.88m, NT [6th]
Hammer - A string - Michael Jones 68.46m [1st], Paul Head 67.32m [2nd]

DNF = did not finish
NT = attempt counted as no throw
 

I must say that the individuals quoted were competing for their athletic clubs AS A TEAM so some participated in events not in their speciality, in order to gain league points for the club as a whole.

 
 

Overall, looking back, I got scores and rankings largely correct, those added in italics were missed off in the first place, but misheard competitors' names.
It's challenging when there are three or four events going on simultaneously and understandably as I was inexperienced, errors crept in.
Because of that I subsequently rarely recorded data in my purchased programmes from each event.
 

[Originally posted on Facebook, 29 May 2018, revised 29 June 2018]

[Revised 1 July 2018 with introductory clarification on publication of results in print and online]
[Revised 11 July 2018 to reflect Neil Gray's change of name as found in Companies House filing history for EBD Solutions, Bournemouth and Autism Hampshire's annual review 2016/17]
[Revised 10 October 2018 removing Neil Gray's hyphenated surname as he prefers to be known by his original surname]

Westfield Junior School reunion, 21 June 2002

On Friday 21 June 2002, I organised a reunion at the now closed and demolished Westfield Junior School, Portsmouth, to mark 25 years since my year group left there in 1977.

Unfortunately most of the photos when returned after processing at the shop didn't come out well, but here are a few scenes from the event.

The photos were taken in the hall used for morning assemblies and PE, apart from one taken near the swimming pool. 

 

 

Tony Fisher, 2nd from right

 

 

Best photo available of the anniversary cake, plus buffet

 

 

Alf Wiltshire, in white trousers, on right

 

 

Darin McCloud, 2nd left of standing group, wearing waistcoat

 

 

Alf Wiltshire, holding open the door to one of the changing rooms sheds for the swimming pool

Ex-pupils (and partners/family) attended included:

Bruce Baker, Donna Bendell, Glen Cotton (organiser), Jayne Dollery, Richard Egerton, Tony Fisher, Jackie Gibbs, Victoria Gibbs, Jeanette Gray (nee Hawkins), Karen Jefferies, Mark Jones, Sharon Kirk, David Lawrence, Darin McCloud, Kevin Miller, Judy Lucas (nee Mould), Robert Moth, Phillip Pinhorne, Alf Wiltshire, Angela Wyatt.
 

I organised it from Leeds, involving visits to Portsmouth and the British Library, St Pancras, consulting old electoral registers in order to draw up a list of ex-pupils, writing to pupils' parents and emailing others.

Most still lived in Hampshire; Tony Fisher came from London and Alf Wiltshire came from Brighton for this event.
 

I've forgotten everyone who attended, please add to the list!
 

 

In October 2015, I visited the area only to find the schools complex - there were initially four schools, Westgrove and Greenfields Junior Schools, Paulsgrove West and East Infant Schools - demolished and a new housing estate built on the site. However some remains existed, which I photographed. 

 

 

 

 

[Originally posted on Facebook, 21 June 2018; revised with added photos, 29 June 2018]
[Revised 21 July 2018 after I found my list of attendees]

Photos of me in 1977 and 1986, also Amiens trip, June 1986

Photo of me in 1977

 

 

This is my only photographic appearance in a newspaper in all my life to date.

Courtesy of The News (Portsmouth), 20 December 1977, the group photo was taken in connection with a "Mastermind" competition organised at Priory School in my first secondary school year, not long after I started there in September 1977.

However I didn't win ...

I'm the one in glasses wearing a light grey jumper and tie standing in the back row.

I started wearing glasses during my junior school years, because I was diagnosed with a "lazy eye", but stopped wearing them not long after this photo was taken.

 

When this was first published in The News, I didn't keep a copy, but subsequently located an original held in British Library's former Newspaper Library at Colindale.

 

Photo of me in 1986

 

 

Nowadays so many of us take selfies, but photographs of me are few and far between, before digital photography became widespread.

It was a rare find!

It's a portrait of me with auburn hair aged 20 on an old British Visitor's Passport issued 10 June 1986.

This was the first time I travelled abroad since a junior school trip to Normandy in July 1977.

I needed a passport in order to travel with a party of 1st year students from the BA Library and Information Studies course at Ealing College of Higher Education for a day trip to Amiens, France, on Friday 20 June that year.

We left early for the ferry crossing and many of us spent all day sightseeing in Amiens; only a few (including myself and Fiona Crudge) actually visited the university library. The trip was organised by Dr Stephen Roberts, a course lecturer.

The party didn't arrive back in Ealing until after midnight and yet I managed to get enough sleep and wake up in good time to attend the AAA Championships (athletics) at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre the following day.

An account of that day will follow in due course.

 

[Originally posted on Facebook, 8 May 2018, revised with extra background information for both photographs and Amiens trip, 28 June 2018]

 

 

 

 

 

Did you know that some of Priory School's sixth formers participated in a Channel 4 programme in 1983?

On Thursday 19 May 1983, straight after Countdown, I watched Channel 4's "Design Matters" programme at 6pm.

This half-hour documentary followed some of my Priory School's fellow 6th formers on a field trip addressing planning issues in a Somerset village.
I didn't participate, the only pupils I remember from this programme now were Ashton (then called Paul) Keiditsch, who did much of the voiceover and Claudia Thomas (now Lesage)

It was repeated at 2.35pm on Channel 4 on Monday 5 August 1985.
The TV Times for that week describes the programme as follows:
"Design matters: how can we cope with change.
A village changes as times change. Urban teenagers on a week's intensive course in a Somerset village are faced with a planner's problems, and finds that no "solution" suits everybody. With students of the Priory School, Portsmouth and the villagers of Stoke St. Gregory, Somerset. Programme consultant is Eileen Adams."

A few years ago, Eileen Adams wrote a book chapter about various arts education initiatives, including brief details of the school's field trip. The documentary was produced by Malachite Films.
Incidentally, the field trip actually took place in 1981.

There's a photograph numbered Figure 5.4 (missing on Google Books' online version) taken by her which shows students presenting their ideas to villagers.
I only have a hazy memory of the programme. At the time my family didn't own a video recorder. Neither did I see the repeat broadcast in 1985.
The only copy currently available to my knowledge is the original master copy held at the British Film Institute (BFI) Archive, no copy or excerpts exist on YouTube.
A search on COPAC (union catalogue of university libraries) also drew a blank.

Unless Priory School holds a copy, or someone else has access to another recording, I may be unable to see this documentary ever again.

Notes:
1. Broadcast date and production information from BFI Archive, schedule listing from Guardian Archive.
2. Online scanned copy of TV Times, 3-9 August 1985, page 47, viewed 14 May 2018
https://issuu.com/radiosoundsfamiliar/docs/aug_3rd_1985
3. From Eileen Adams' chapter in: Catherine Burke, Ken Jones (eds.). Education, childhood and anarchism: talking Colin Ward". London : Routledge, 2014, pages 65, 68, viewed 14 May 2018
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MarmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=%22design+matters%22+%22channel+4%22+priory&source=bl&ots=IYUHmxvUIu&sig=qSBQM-oSHxSuGSO9RgrnAnes9vs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwio7eLM6YTbAhVLD8AKHVjsAy8Q6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=%22design%20matters%22%20%22channel%204%22%20priory&f=false

[This post originally appeared on Facebook on 14 May 2018, revised 28 June 2018]

Have anyone ever compiled a bibliography of their school year group pupils?

As a trained librarian, I'm curious if anyone has ever compiled a bibliography (list of publications) of their school year group?

In the case of an average (English) secondary school year group, there would be around 250 to at least 500 pupils whose publishing activity could be monitored.

What would nowadays constitute to be a publication?
As well as books, magazine/journal articles, reports, other media publications including CDs, music and electronic media as defined by the 2003 Legal Deposit Act, would videos on YouTube and other media hosting platforms be considered "publications"?

Then there's the issues over name changes e.g. marriage.

I think in my year group, a minority of ex-pupils would generate the most material for a bibliography. In their younger days, mentions in their papers about sporting achievements would dominate.
As they get older, if they're employed by academia, then their academic output predominates. If they became prominent members of their local community, e.g. councillors, then they get more mentions in the media.

I think such a bibliographical analysis would be best done on a sabbatical basis, and preferably in close contact with their fellow year group (not me at the moment).

My main current interest(s)

I'm interested in trains - both model and prototype.
I model in OO scale (1:76) popularised by Hornby and N scale (1:148).

Some of my completed projects are included below:

Southgrove is my make-believe Portsmouth-based urban community modelled in N scale with structures named after fellow junior and senior schoolmates and teachers.
Some modules feature ex-pupils and staff from either of my schools, others feature a mix.
I've got plenty of work to model suitable representations for the rest of my life, because I can draw ideas from over 100 ex-junior and 300 ex-senior school pupils!

Below from left to right: Wainwright's Outdoor Activity Store, Halley & Newton Scientific Instruments, Adams Marsh Engineering

 

Diorama featuring (left to right) Devine 'N'Lightenment lighting store, Gray's Fitness World and Burge's Café all in order of where they lived along the stretch of road with appropriate 1920s/30s suburban semis

 

 

Goodall-Hillyer Athletics and Social Club

 

 

 

Westfield Priory terminus in OO scale with Pacific FC football stand (4 ft x 16 in)

 



Mum's old home

This image was taken in October 2015 - Mum's house is the middle one.
Our family - my late gran, Flo, mum and myself - moved from 18 Norfolk Street, Southsea, in November 1971. Flo died in St Mary's Hospital late on New Years' Eve 1986, aged 73.
Mum's home was finally vacated in December 2016 and sold in May 2017 to a first-time buyer.

My introduction

Welcome to Glen's blog


I'm creating my own blog because I want to let as many Internet users as possible access (and comment) on my material.
On Facebook, I've created posts covering previously rarely-known aspects of my life, set most posts for "public" view and searching, yet very few Facebook users, particularly those who knew me at school or college, actually read them, let alone comment.
As more people are leaving Facebook, I'm taking matters into my own hands and make my own content available here so that viewers won't need to sign up with FB in order to view (and comment) on my public content.
Bear with me, I'll provide background photos and material in the next few days.
Some content previously available on my Facebook profile may be revised and updated as necessary.

I took the image of Portsmouth Harbour from Southampton Road in October 2015, on my penultimate day living in Portsmouth.
This shows both Spinnaker Tower and Portchester Castle in the distance; fortunately, the tide was in!

I stayed for a week in late October 2015 at my mum's old address and it was the last time I visited Portsmouth.