Items won by Longwood Harriers Athletes in the 19th and early 20th Centuries (page 1)
Longwood Harriers has a long and proud history of over 120 years. People have been enjoying running in Huddersfield for all that time and many have achieved great things. With a new generation of Athletes, we are working hard to ensure that history is not lost and people of all ages from the area can continue enjoying Athletics, as Athletes themselves, as Coaches, as Helpers or as Parents
To illustrate this proud history, this page shows a number of items recently bequeathed to the club from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. They were won by 'K. Brook' (and others un-named) who ran for our club during that time. Mr Kaye Brook was Longwood Harriers first winner of a Yorkshire Cross Country association medal for a third place junior in 1902. He was Club Captain from 1916 - 1922 and Secretary of the Club from 1924-1928. He continued running well in to the 1930s; this would probably make him between 40-50 years old at this time. He generally took the youngsters out (Juniors) on Saturday afternoons for a run.
His descendants had found them in 2010 after clearing the house of an elderly relative. They very kindly said the club could look after them on condition they were never sold. We are considering having them displayed in the Tolson museum in Huddersfield as they are valuable gold and silver items. We would love to display them in a club house of our own - but we don't have one and they would not be secure anyway!
It is fantastic to think that these items were proudly won so long ago by someone who was evidently passionate about Athletics and our Club - we hope it can inspire you to achieve great things yourselves too!
The images below were taken by myself ; the text was extracted by Ian Mitchell from the book "Longwood Harriers : Down the Years 1888 - 1988" by J. W. Percy
October 21st 1893 - 5 years after the club was founded
The club won a silver whistle for the largest muster at a monster meet of the combined Yorkshire clubs. It still works and issues a shrill note you couldn't ignore!
A 'muster' is a group of people gathered together for some purpose - in this case a race!
(Click the image to see a larger picture and the detail)
The engraving says:
"Yorkshire Cross Country association Monster meet at Huddersfield Oct 21st 1893. Presented to the club having the largest number won by Longwood Harriers"
Hallmarked in Birmingham as sterling silver (0.925)
1900
Longwood Harriers 6 mile road race won by K Brook in 35 min 21 sec.
Click the image to see rear engraving detail
Hallmarked in Birmingham as 9 carat gold
8 mile race (no date)
A medal again won by K Brook for an 8 mile race which he completed in 47 minutes
Click the image to see rear detail
Hallmarked in Birmingham as sterling silver (0.925)
