Humble beginnings

In 1906 Dukinfield Harriers was formed with Tommy Holden of Stalybridge taking the role of Honorary Secretary. Little is known of these early years but the records show that in 1912, Dukinfield won the East Lancs Junior CC Championships and were runners up in the Northern Championships.

In 1922 Dukinfield joined forces with another local club, Tintwistle Harriers to form East Cheshire Harriers. Tommy Holden was appointed secretary of the new club and held this post until 1935 when he became landlord of a local pub, the Crown Inn at Stalybridge. His interest in the Club never faded and he remained a Vice-President and Life Member until his death in the late 1950’s.

It was also in the 1920’s that Bill Fellows joined the club. Whilst never a leading athlete, Bill was a driving force within the club throughout his life. He held various offices within the club over a period of 50 years and continued to compete until his 79th birthday. Bills unique contribution to East Cheshire was recognised when in 1979 a new club house was named “The Bill Fellows Club House”

During the 1930’s the club headquarters was a small wooden hut on the Silver Springs behind Stamford Park boating lake. This was ideally located for cross country events making it possible to have a nine mile course over Hartshead Pike with virtually no major roads to cross.

It was in the early 1930’s that the Gaunt brothers, Teddy and Freddy, joined the club. Teddy was the more successful of the two, winning three consecutive East Lancs Junior titles starting in 1931. Freddy in turn won the Club Senior Championship in 1937, -38 and -39. During the late 1930’s a number of younger athletes began to make their mark and in 1938 the Junior team were runners up in the East Lancs CC championships. The following year the Juniors went one better when, led home by Harry Baxter in 2nd place, they took the East Lancs title beating Sale Harriers into second place.

War years, rise and decline

Within 12 months most members of that winning team were serving in the armed forces and athletics was in limbo. However the club survived thanks to the efforts of a few members who managed to keep the club together by meeting regularly despite long hours on essential war work and nights interrupted by air raids.

As the war ended old members began to return. Of the 1939 Junior Team, Arnold Shepherd, Bert Ashton, Bud Whitehead and Jim Parkinson all came back to compete again. Harry Baxter, however, whilst remaining a member never ran again and Norman Gough, whilst again retaining his membership, was unable to run having lost a leg during the war.

By 1946 the old club house on the Springs was demolished and the club moved into premises on Stalybridge Road, Cockbrook previously occupied by the Grafton Tennis Club. The wooden building needed repairs and the old tennis courts were overgrown but the place had potential. The task of realising this potential was given to a new member, Tommy Lees. Tommy had joined East Cheshire from Radcliffe Harriers and being an electrician and general handyman re-wired the building and installed a new bath and showers, aided (or handicapped) by enthusiastic support from a group of youngsters who had just joined the club and were looking for something to do during the school holidays. The new facilities enabled the club to host the Manchester & District Cross Country League and helped to raise the profile of athletics within the area.

Between 1947 and 1950 East Cheshire developed from being an average local club to being recognised as a major force at national level. The first person to make his mark was Jack Price, a boy from Hyde who joined in 1947 and went on to win the English Cross Country Youth title in 1948.

Other members who joined during this period and went on to win honours at County level included, Ivan Bradbury, Tom Smith. The Oldham brothers Eric and Neville, Gerry Haynes,Walter Brown, Nev Frost and in November 1949, Johnny Wild.
Another new member in 1949 was Fred Marsland. Fred had been an English International Cross Country runner in the late 1930’s, competing for a Manchester club that failed to survive the war. By the time he joined East Cheshire his best days were behind him but he knew what it took to succeed at athletics and he became an inspirational coach. He helped obtain agreement for club members to use the track at Denton Cricket Club and for the first time training on the track throughout the year became the norm for our middle and long distance runners.

The benefits soon began to show. In the 1949-50 cross-country season East Cheshire teams won the Cheshire County title, the East Lancs.Youth and Junior titles and the English Junior title. In the following two seasons they retained the County title and the East Lancs. Junior titles, came second in the 1950-51 English Junior Championships and in 1951-52 won the Northern Junior title. In addition John Wild won the English Junior C.C. championships in 1951 and was runner-up in 1952, despite losing a few weeks training when in December 1951 he broke his foot in an accident at work.

On the road the 11 man relay team finished 4th in the 1949 Manchester to Blackpool relay, improved to 3rd the following year and were runners-up to Birchfield in 1951.

On the track the 4 man two mile team were regular winners in events all over the North of England, whilst sprinter Aidan Brennan seemed certain to win international honours until he was given a two year ban by the AAA. His offence was to have accepted a cash prize of 50p for winning the 100 yards race at a small sports meeting! How things have changed.
In the mid 1950’s the Club began to decline both in numbers and in strength and team successes were few and far between. The situation worsened in the late 1950’s when one of the coaches left to join another local club, taking with him all his athletes. Despite these problems individual athletes such as Colin Broom, continued to achieve success at local and County level and Barry Davies won a Junior International vest in the Steeplechase.

Move to Richmond Street

The present clubhouse was opened in 1979.

In 1963 the Club was forced to find new HQ when a fire destroyed the old premises. Ashton-under-Lyne Council came to the rescue providing temporary accommodation in the Municipal Changing rooms at Richmond Street. At the same time the Council constructed a new track adjacent to the changing rooms but, due to lack of space, made it a five lap to the mile track which was of limited value.

The next few years were difficult ones but the club survived thanks to the efforts of a few old stagers who were determined to keep East Cheshire afloat. The club colours were changed from Black and White to Green and Gold and the new name of “East Cheshire Harriers and Tameside A.C” was adopted. New members began to drift in and a few of the old members returned to the fold, including Johnny Wild, Tom Smith and Muriel and Walter Brown, but things remained difficult.
The first real break through came in the early seventies when Ashton Rugby Club decided to move to a new site. Their HQ building on Richmond Street was put up for sale with potential buyers required to submit sealed bids. The main parties interested were East Cheshire Harriers and Ashton Lacrosse Club. The East Cheshire Committee debated their bid long into the night and eventually fixed on a figure of £1055, the last £5 being added on at the last minute. It was just enough. Whilst the competing bid was never revealed rumour had it that we won by just £5! The new premises were constructed of wood and fairly basic but included two changing rooms plus a reasonable sized club room with a licensed bar. The bar provided a source of income and became a gathering point for members after training. The two changing rooms enabled the Ladies section, which had almost faded away, to find a new lease of life and led to the formation of a Ladies Hockey team. This in turn led to an annual Hockey match between the Ladies and the Gentlemen, the scars from which are still carried by most of the Gentlemen!

Membership began to grow with many young athletes joining and bringing their parents with them. Some parents became interested in coaching which in turn attracted more athletes, whilst others began to take an interest in the essential administration of the club. At the same time the “running boom” was underway and many people of all ages and both sexes who had started to jog for exercise decided to join a club and begin to compete. This led to a further increase in membership particularly at Veteran level and the Club began to be represented in Veteran Events all over the world. The most outstanding result achieved by any Veteran member was that of Muriel Brown who, in 1983, won the World Veterans 10K Championships in the over 50’s age group.

In the middle seventies it became obvious that the club house was no longer adequate to house the increased membership. Tom Smith, who was by then Club President, launched a bid for Sports Council funding to build new premises on the existing site. Another member, John Allcock, drew up plans, a series of fund raising events were organised and in July 1979 a new club house was opened by Robert Sheldon, the local M.P. The club house was named after Bill Fellows, a Life Member, then approaching 80 and still competing in Vets events. Bill died in 1980 but the contribution he made to East Cheshire cannot be overstated.

The interest in athletics continued throughout the 80’s and membership at East Cheshire continued to grow. Tameside Council recognised the importance of athletics in the area and in 1987 began to construct a new athletics stadium at Richmond Street. The stadium was opened on the 16th April 1988 by Robert Sheldon MP, with East Cheshire represented by Club President, Gerry Haynes. The new 400 metre track had an all-weather surface and the stadium include provision for all field events. Flood lighting was provided enabling year round use of the facilities. During the the 10 years that followed Club members and teams won titles and honours in the world of athletics at both local and national level. The following list is not all-inclusive but indicates some of the major successes:

A brief history of the East Cheshire Ladies team by Les Derbyshire

In 1973 my daughter Melany joined the club but at that time there was only 2 other females who were members. I decided to volunteer my services coming from an RAF background PTI. I was soon joined by Jack Dobson who coached middle distance and Malcolm Harding, Field events, there followed a number of successful years.

Firstly we joined the Cheshire league and consistently won that each year. Then we joined the Northern womens league which included the likes of Leeds, Liverpool, Hull, Gateshead to name a few. Between 1978 to 1984 the ladies won each tier of the division finally winning the Div 1 championship in 1984, without dropping a single match point and were acknowledge by Athletics Weekly to be a British record for the longest series of league wins by any athletic club.

During this period the club also produced many County,Northern and National Champions plus a Great Britain and England International.

Joanne Harding and Diane Brockley were part of the 4 x 400 national championships and Diane Anderson made it to the trials for the 200m Olympic games

East Cheshire is a club with a long and distinguished history but it is also a club looking to the future. We have improved and extended the facilities offered to our members further so that more people than ever can enjoy taking part in athletics at club level. This website is just one way in which we aim to attract new members and raise the profile of athletics in Tameside