40th Anniversary Celebration
Our celebrations took place yesterday at the Tamworth AC’s headquarters. An afternoon of fun and frolics was planned by a small team headed by our current President, Adrian Lloyd.
The weather was kind and the forecast of light rain fortunately didn’t materialise. John Walker, our Road/ XC Secretary, organised a “Torch” Relay from Halesowen ( the place where it all began) to Tamworth, timed to perfection, arriving at the start of the meeting and ending with a lap of the track consisting of a genuine Olympic Torch and plethora of past Presidents.
Seconded at the last minute for timekeeping duties with fellow past President, Derek Fellows, we were grateful that our tasks were not too onerous. The show kicked off with a two- man Paarlauf, 12 minutes in duration. What a pity only two teams participated because once everyone had ‘sussed’ out how it worked it proved to be quite a close fought contest. A mixture of techniques was used, run 300m; jog back 100m or run 200m; jog across grass, adding to the interest.
On the track, 1 mile handicap races followed both for race walkers and runners, whilst field events consisted of long jumps and shot put plus welly wanging, the latter proving the most popular! Obstacle races and family shuttle relays rounded of the track events and a demonstration of tug- a – war being the afternoon’s highlight.
After all these efforts everyone fed themselves on jacket potatoes with various fillings and a substantial buffet.
Presentations to the winners were then carried out by Sue Kneill-Boxley, one of the organising team who sorted all the obstacle races, bouncy castle and who contributed in such a tremendous way.
With darkness falling, our Treasurer, Martin Wilkinson, and small team prepared the firework display. Wow! What a way to see off our 40th year, a really beautiful display and I’m sure Tamworth enjoyed it too!
The evening was rounded off with music and dancing.
All in all a very enjoyable and entertaining day. Congratulations to Adrian and his team for organising such a great event.
I’m off now with a little break with the family in Cornwall, so the full report with pictures will appear on the dedicated page in a couple of weeks, my apologies for this delay. But I thought it important to get this post uploaded.
Please feel free to make comments on this or the dedicated page and I’ll do my best to get them all approved before I am back in action.
Tom Morris – Secretary
1st October 2012
Midland Masters Athletic Club 
Thanks very much, Tom, for this nice write-up of an enjoyable and memorable day. We’re sorting out photos as I write and thanks too for stepping in to take shots of the prize-giving.
It really is impossible to list everyone who contributed to making the event a success. It wouldn’t have happened without inspired ideas such as the Torch Relay, Tug of War display and a perfect mix of fun and serious competition on track & field, and then lots of work to make it all happen without a hitch on the day. I was hugely impressed – and relieved – at the way our Club officers and T&F officials quietly prepared and executed all the tasks needed to put on such an event.
Tamworth AC did us proud with their facilities, efficiently co-ordinated during the months of preparation by our MC for the day. I’m not naming names (with one exception) in this note, but will just say ‘Tamworth member and past president’.
To see, or at least hear from, our original members and past presidents at this milestone in the Club’s history was just what we wanted. I do want to thank George Phipps, first Chairman of Midlands Veterans AC from its formation at Halesowen on 17th October 1971, for the trouble he took to fill us in on the early days, and also to congratulate him on a fine V80 Mile to take third in a field of 10 in the handicap race yesterday. Do keep in touch, George.
Well done and thank you everyone. I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did.
Posted by Adrian Lloyd | October 1, 2012, 10:51 amFrom Irene Nicholls, Chair MMAC
To Organising Committee
Many, many thanks for all your hard work in making our celebrations such a resounding success on Sunday.
From the very first leg of the Torch Relay through to the fireworks and disco the planning was meticulous, the programme worked so smoothly and there was something for everyone. It was grand to see the involvement of families, to meet old friends and make new ones.
I hope that the warm glow that was generated will stay with us all for a long time to come and remind us of what a great Club we are privileged to belong to.
Thank you again for making it all possible………………………………….Irene
Irene Nicholls
irenenn@aol.com
Posted by Tom Morris | October 4, 2012, 8:03 am