There has been a Recreation Ground in St. Georges since 1883, when annual athletic sports were first held there. The Recreation Ground as we know it today, stands on a smaller site provided by the Lilleshall Company that has been extended on a piecemeal basis since its inception. It soon had the best cinder athletics track in the country. St. Georges had one of the county’s leading football clubs. It was formed in 1877, and by 1921 was based at St. Georges Recreation Ground.
The ground also provided for cricket, bowls, tennis and hockey, but no longer has a running track, tennis courts or football pitch.
The running track was one of the best in the country, back in the 1920s, when St Georges hosted the Midland Counties Amateur Athletic Association Championship in 1924. Harold Abrahams competed in the 100 yards race at these Championships, which he won and a week later went on to win the Gold Medal in the 100 yards at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. This plaque in the Social Club commemorates the event and was unveiled by his daughter in 2014.
Key milestones:
- 1921– Recreation Ground (currently the main cricket field) bequeathed by The Lilleshall Company.
- 1924– Recreation Ground Committee purchased field to the east (now the small cricket field).
- 1924- Harold Abrahams competed in the 100 yards race, which he won and a week later went on to win the Gold Medal in the 100 yards at the Paris Olympic Games.
- 1930’s – Old Social Club built* (see 2022 below)
- 1947– Cricket Pavilion opened
- 1965– New Public Hall & Social Club, second bowling green (top green) and redgra hockey pitch opened. Thanks in particular to Bob Tranter.
- 1965– The organisation was incorporated into a Charitable Trust
- 1990– Extension to Social Club opened by Billy Wright, CBE.
- 2004– New all weather multi-use sports pitch with floodlights opened.
- 2006– New drainage system installed on both sports fields with support from England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
- 2007– St Georges Recreation Ground was awarded the Queens Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community.
- 2012– New Cricket Nets opened, thanks to a legacy from the late Jim Heath and ECB grant funding.
- 2021– All weather multi use sports pitch re-laid with grant funding from English Hockey Association
- 2021– Cricket Club awarded Disability Cricket Club Champion status by the ECB, the only club in the county with this award, having provided cricket for disabled people for 30 years.
- 2022– * (See 1930s above) Old Social Club now used as changing rooms for hockey & cricket refurbished with the support of grants from The Veolia Environmental Trust & The England & Wales Cricket Board
Today the facilities include
- Memorial gates commemorating local people who died in conflict
- 2 sports fields used for cricket (Marked 1 & 2 on Site plan)
- 3 lane cricket nets (Marked 3 on Site plan)
- 2 bowling greens (Marked 4 & 5 on Site plan)
- All weather surface with floodlights used for hockey (Marked 6 on Site plan)
- Children’s Play area (Marked 7 on Site plan)
- Toilet Block (Marked 8 on Site plan)
- 4 changing rooms (Marked 9 & 10 on Site plan)
- Steward’s flat (Marked 11 on Site plan)
- Social Club including Bar (Marked 12 on Site plan)
- Function Room – Public Hall (Marked 13 on Site plan)
- Car parking (Marked 14, 15 & 16 on Site plan)
The New Recreation Ground
The Lilleshall Company, which owned this land, allowed it to be used for the Athletics and Cycling events before the Company ultimately bequeathed the land to the St George’s Foundation in 1921 for the use for the benefit of the local community.
In 1904, the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News of Saturday 10th September reported that:
‘Athletics and Cycling Sports at St Georges – A Record Attendance
Salopians in the manufacturing district of the county are certainly fond of sport. Proof of this is afforded by the large attendance at the annual sports promoted by St George’s and Oakengates Athletic Society.
The twentieth meeting on Tuesday was a record both for the entries and attendance. Over 8,000 people attended the sports, and there were 520 entries.
The ground at St George’s has been greatly improved, and is now admittedly one of the best in the country.
A splendid grandstand has been erected, the track is improving each year, and the enterprise showed by the committee has resulted in St George’s sports has being regarded by athletes and officials alike at the most important held at the back end of the season.’
The St George’s athletic events would continue into the mid-20th Century.
The Ordnance Survey of St Georges in 1925 recorded the athletics tracks with the it being shown across two 25-Inch maps – Shropshire XXXVI sheets 11 and 12.
The Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 Map that was published in 1958 (the survey for this took place pre-1930 to 1954 – the survey would have been interrupted by WWII) shows the Athletics Track on one map.
Bring Me My Chariots of Fire
This line from William Blake’s poem would be used as the inspiration for the title of the 1981 Oscar winning film – Chariots of Fire.
The film told the the story of two British athletes – Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell – who would compete at the 1924 Paris Olympics and both would win gold for Great Britain.
What isn’t so well known, is that on Saturday 24th May 1924, Harold Abrahams qualified for the Paris Olympics of that year by winning the 100-yard race at the Midland Counties Amateur Athletics Association Championships in St Georges on that cinder track.
… is the title to William Blake’s poem that was a preface to his epic ‘Milton: A Poem in Two Books‘. But many will recognise it as the opening line to the Hymn ‘Jerusalem‘. Blake wrote the poem in 1804, with those words being set to music (by Sir Hubert Parry) in 1916. The hymn is now almost universally seen as an English patriotic anthem.
While being able to hum the tune of Jerusalem, along with the opening line, there are another two lines that many people will recognise and probably be able to quote ‘Among those Dark Satanic Mills’ and ‘Bring me my Chariots of Fire’.
Those two lines provide hooks to describe how the East Shropshire town of Oakengates and the village of St Georges (both are now integral constituents of Telford New Town) played a part in the path to Great Britain’s glory at the Paris Olympics in 1924 – 100-years before this year’s Olympic Games in the same City.
The Oakengates Wakes.
In the 19th-Century, when Blake was writing his poems, Oakengates was part of the landscape of heavy industry of East Shropshire. There were coalmines, canals, factories, furnaces & rolling-mills in abundance. In amongst this heavy industry, pit mounds and spoil & slag heaps gave that landscape a dark & foreboding appearance. Blake’s words of being amongst dark satanic mills could have easily applied to East Shropshire as to anywhere.
As one of the Leveson-Gowers (the local nobility) remarked in the early 19th-Century (while lamenting the infringements to their life of luxury) ‘we are in a manufacturing district and we must see smoke…the dove perhaps would not have rested here after the deluge‘.
In his book ‘Holyhead Road: The Mail Coach Road to Dublin‘ of 1902, George G Harper described the local scene as you approached from Shifnal ‘bresting a long incline of nearly three miles, the road comes to Prior’s Lee and Snedshill, and, reaching a commanding crest, looks down upon the industry and turmoil of Lilleshall on one side, and the equally busy and industrious Coalbrookdale on the other. The prettiness of Prior’s Lee is in the name alone. It and Snedshill are wastes of slag and cinder-heaps – some a century old, others the still smoking refuse from the blast furnaces that roar and whizz and vomit smoke on the left… It is the weirdest of scenes, the surrounding house-fronts and the tower of Prior’s Lee church standing out in the radiated glare against the blackest of backgrounds; spouting flames an angry red, turning the white light of arc-lamps down at the iron-works a wicked and debauched looking blue. Sighings of escaping steam like the groans of some weary Titan exhausted with labour, rise now and again, and are succeeded by thunderous crashings and huge clouds of steam and smoke, mingled with millions of sparks, as the molten metal is now and again discharged.‘
An illustration of Priorslee Furnaces from George G Harper’s ‘Holyhead Road: The Mail Coach Road to Dublin‘. The tower of Prior’s Lee (now Priorslee) church is on the left
In his 1935 book ‘The Vale and Gates of Usc-Con’, that described the history Oakengates, the Reverend J.E. Cartlidge also lamented that ‘the spiritual condition of the population of this valley in the days of its material prosperity was appalling… There is the silent witness of the parochial registers in the moral degradation of human life – the records of conditions which obtained the mining industry in past days – and the records of the pioneers of Non-Conformity, who refer to the “Bull-ring of Oakengates, an open space near the centre of the village, where thousands of guilty and depraved beings frequently rioted in the brutal sport of bull-baiting – a place where every kind of vice had been committed without a blush,”… There can be no doubt that the valley had become a veritable cesspool of iniquity’.
That ‘cesspool of iniquity‘ that Cartlidge refers to (but never mentions) was the escapes for the local workers from theirs labour within the proverbial Hades and an element of that respite was the Oakengates Wakes.
Wakes Weeks can trace their roots to religious festivals held in villages which marked & celebrated the date of the consecration of the local church or the feast day of a church’s patron saint.
If you listen to the 17th-Century Hymn The Shropshire Wakes (or Hey for Christmas) you will realise that the religious festivals were far from sober affairs.
The 17th Century hymn ‘The Shropshire Wakes’
The term ‘Wake’ was derived from the late-night prayer or vigil in honour of the Saint, i.e. people were awake late into the night. These Wakes developed into secular festivals around the same time as the Industrial Revolution , particularly in Scotland, North-West England and the industrialised areas of the Midlands. That East Shropshire played a very significant part in the Industrial Revolution hardly needs to be mentioned.
During the Wakes Weeks, factories, furnaces and collieries would close for maintenance. The workers, who found themselves with time on their hands, took advantage to take holidays, relax and spend time with their families.
The Oakengates Wakes that were first held in 1801 became a week of lively frivolity, revelry, eating and gambling where the only God that was worshipped would have been Bacchus. The Wakes, usually held in September, could more accurately be described as a week of Fairs.
A short (unattributed) poem that is believed to originate from the Oakengates Wakes highlights that the town had a reputation as the place to visit if you were after a good-time:
Oh, Oakengates, Oakengates,
Where everybody congregates,
On Saturday night to wet their lips,
Smell the loverley fish & chips,
Beef and mutton, pork and tripe,
Rabbits and cheese and dates,
If you want to go to the hub of the universe,
Go to Oakengates.
I’m fond of a bit of suckling pig,
Especially on a Saturday night,
No matter how ill you feel,
It’s sure to put you right.
I’ve tasted pig in many a land,
Off loverley china plates,
But there’s none that can beat,
That that comes from good old Oakengates.
The first Oakengates Wakes were held at the bottom of Market Street on the area known as The Green. But with the coming of the Railways in the late-1840s, a new railway bridge was built that encroached onto the Green. The Wakes therefore moved to the top of ‘the Street’ to be held well into the mid-20th Century on an area known as Owen’s Field.
Oakengates would, by the 1860s, have two railway stations. This opened up the Wakes to a wider audience increasing the number of visitors to the Town.
The Birmingham Daily Gazette reported on Friday 29th August 1930 that:
‘The Oakengates Wakes begin to-day and will continue throughout next week. All works and collieries in the district close down for this annual event, which is looked upon as the chief holiday in the year...’
On 5th October, 1877 The Examiner newspaper carried the following report on ‘The Oakengates Wakes and Races’:
‘These events, which are remote antiquity, supposed to have originated soon after the coal and ironstone was commenced to be gotten in the neighbourhood by the miners, were celebrated on Monday and Tuesday last.
The usual mode of celebrating the occasion -when Oakengates was a very insignificant hamlet – about 40 years ago, was for a number of young men to ‘club’ together and train several bulldogs for the purpose of baiting a bull*, which they subscribed money to buy or hire.
The young women of the miners’ families – and, in some instances the wives of the miners – had used to go to London, to gather fruit in the gardens, during the summer and return home intentionally at the exact time to participate in the Wakes, dressed chiefly in gaudy attire.
Games, shows, dancing, eating and drinking of the best of Old English fare were the order of the day.
Very little can be said about the horse races at Oakengates, but the report is given by some of the ‘old sires’ that such sports used to be indulged in on the old land, siding the old turnpike between Hartshill and Oakengates; however nothing of the kind, at least of any insignificance, has been associated within the commemoration of the Wakes for many years, the present year excepted.
The sports were held on the united fields belonging to Mr. E. Pitchford, Wombridge; whose cocoa-nut speculations were very numerous and similar other amusements.
At twelve o’clock on Monday (the time appointed for the commencement of the affair) a large concourse of people had gathered together to witness the proceedings.
Refreshments were supplied on the ground by the Mr. J. Peplow, Coalport Inn. Ginger-bread stalls, potato roasters, and numerous ‘catch-pennies’ were plentiful in the town.
Special trains rain on each of the railways and conveyed many please-seekers from a distance, and though the trade has been dull of late in the district, the event on the whole was celebrated with much enthusiasm, and the public-houses well filled.’
The Examiner reported that the ‘proceedings’ consisted of:
The ‘proceedings’ of the 1877 Oakengates Wakes
*Oakengates was the last place in the country to stop the practice of bull-baiting. A Bill for its suppression was introduced into the House of in 1802, but was defeated by thirteen votes. It was not until 1835 that it was finally put down by an Act of Parliament.
But it is recorded that the last place to obey the injunction was Oakengates where the last bull-fight took place in 1836, having been omitted the year because of a cholera outbreak.
The Pain’s Lane Horse Races
The Examiners’ report mentions the absence of horse racing in Oakengates prior to 1877. While accurate it was also an omission, for horse races were a very popular accompaniment to the Oakengates Wakes – the horse races were seen by many as a replacement for the bull-baiting. These horse races were held up the hill from Oakengates in the neighbouring village of Pain’s Lane (as it was known until January-1859) and then St Georges from then on.
Note: The name changed from Pain’s Lane to St Georges following the death of the 8-years old George the Earl Gower who was the eldest son of the Third Duke of Sutherland. The young Earl died in Lilleshall Hall. At a meeting in the George Inn on 19th December 1858 it was proposed & agreed that in honour of the young dead Earl, that Pains Lane should be renamed St Georges.
The horse races were a regular event in Pains Lane / St Georges for over thirty years from circa 1840 to 1874.
The report of the 1840 Pain’s Lane Races within the Bell’s Life of London and The Sporting Chronicle Newspaper – 4th October 1840
The centre of the course is roughly where the St Georges Church of England Primary School now stands, with the racecourse running along what is now London Road, Goulbourne Road, Ashley Road and a few more roads. If I could look back in time, I would see horses galloping past the front windows of my house.
The believed route of the course is shown in red over a current map of the area
The course was laid out on land that was leased from the Lilleshall Company with the Company reserving the right to nominate many of the Stewards for the races – it was seen as an auspicious role. The primary qualifications for the role were “to have been to a good school and to have no experience of riding a race.” I’m personally left wondering what use those qualifications would have been in the event of Stewards’ Enquiry.
A temporary grandstand, on School Street, was erected each year for the races. In 1852 it collapsed causing shock & minor injuries to some and almost killing one man who was sheltering from the rain.
It was assumed he was sheltering from the rain but in 1851, the Shropshire Conservative newspaper raised a concern regarding the protection of the dignity of ladies sat watching the racing “the grandstand annually erected at Pain’s Lane is formed of wood. From what transpired on Monday and Tuesday last, we should advise the builder to see that the boards, comprising the flooring, are more closely connected for the future; or the Bloomer costume will become a matter of necessity”.
A reconstruction of the potential ‘upskirting’ incident of 1852 – Putzie (in the film Grease) showing that he was ‘sick man’.
The horse races were normally run on the Monday & Tuesday of the Wakes Week with the main event being the Pain’s Lane Stakes.
Accompanying the purse for the Pain’s Lane Stakes was the presentation of a china racing cup to the winner – as referred to within the above race card.
The 1853 Pain’s Lane Trophy
The reverse of the 1853 Pain’s Lane Trophy
The 1852 Pain’s Lane Trophy. This sold at auction in March-2023 for £800
The reverse of the 1852 Pain’s Lane Trophy
On top of each of the above two trophies is a strawberry with gold-flecks representing the seeds.
The gold-flecked strawberry
One of the trophies is held by the Coalport China Museum in Ironbridge – sadly it is not always on display. But, the museum has produced a YouTube video showing the trophy > Coalport China Museum – Pains Lane Trophy
But all good things come to and end. The horse races, along with the behaviour of the crowd who would come to watch, drink & gamble, attracted an increasing level of criticism along with calls for the events to be brought to an end.
The last horse race was run in 1874 for, in 1875, the Lilleshall Company appointed a new General Manager – John Lloyd – “who from conscientious motives, objects to the races”. Without his support and, subsequently, that of the Lilleshall Company on whose land the horse races were run, they came to an end in St Georges.
It didn’t result in the immediate end of the horse races per se. The Examiner details the 1877 horse race in Oakengates and other races were held each year locally. However, the value of the purse linked to each race started to reduce as did the standard of the field. Eventually, horse races associated with the Oakengates Wakes came to an end.
St Georges Athletic Sports
But that wasn’t the end of the story. Eight years after the cessation of the horse races in St Georges, a replacement was found.
The Shrewsbury Chronicle of Friday 7th September 1883 ran an article:
‘St George’s Athletic Sports. The first annual festival will be held on St George’s Recreation Grounds on Tuesday 18th September 1883′.
The previous week on 1st September, in connection with the forthcoming Athletics event, the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News noted that:
‘two refreshment booths, each 75-ft x 30-ft, and Coffee Booth, 30-ft x 15-ft, will be Let by Auction, by Mr. T.W. Jones, on September 4, at Six o’clock p.m., at Mr George Rushton’s, Gate Inn, St George’s (Railway Station, Oakengates)’.
On Saturday 15th September, the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News confirmed that:
‘a substantial Grand Stand, 30 yards long by 10 yards wide, has been erected‘ and that a ‘new permanent Cinder Track has been specially laid down‘.
The published events of the St George’s Amateur Athletic Sports – Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News – Saturday 15th September 1883
There was also an athletics event being held across the village in Priorslee on 17th & 19th September – either side of the St George’s event.
The published events of the Priorslee Amateur Athletic Sports – Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News – Saturday 15th September 1883
I assumed that the St George’s event was being held on the Recreation Ground that is on Church Street (which was also part of Watling Street) highlighting the continuing connection with the ‘proceedings’ of the the Oakengates Wakes.
However, this assumption was challenged by an article in the Shrewsbury Chronicle of Friday 18th September 1885. The article’s opening lines were:
‘St George’s and Oakengates Athletic Sports
For years the annual wakes at St George’s and Oakengates have been honoured by the people with a week’s “playing”. But the amusements now are of a far different character to the horseplay of a quarter of a century ago.
For the past three years athletic sports have been held on the ground formerly known as the Pain’s Lane Racecourse, round which a capital track has been made.’
The Ordnance Survey Maps of St Georges between 1881 and 1901 do not show any detail within either area other than empty, featureless grounds with the odd footpath.
There is also no detail showing on the Tithe maps for the area other than the partition of the ground into various plots.
I don’t believe that the Recreation Ground on Church Street was ever part of the Racecourse. Therefore the Shrewsbury Chronicle’s article was the spur for some extra research looking for confirmation one way or the other. This came in Jim Cooper’s piece within the The Miners’ Walk website that confirmed that ‘the cycling and athletics track, which occupied the field between London Road and School Street from 1883‘.
This means that for me, if I could look back in time, I would not only see horses galloping past my front windows, I would also see athletes and men perched on Penny-Farthing cycles whizzing by.
The area where the Athletics & Bicycle races would have taken place is shown within the red area over a current map of the area
The Shrewsbury Chronicle’s article detailed that the 1885 event would be held over two days – Monday & Tuesday – and consist of athletics & cycling events on both days. Monday would be for locals, while Tuesday’s were open events.
‘The proceedings on Tuesday were open to the United Kingdom, and the valuable prizes offered for the competitions, attracted many of the leading athletes of the day.
The weather was highly favourable, and quite a contrast with that of the previous day. The attendance was very large, there being between three and four thousand people on the ground.’
Along with usual dignitaries, the guest of honour at the 1885 events was Dr. William Penny Brookes. Many people are familiar with the legacy of Dr Brookes who established the Wenlock Olympian Games in Much Wenlock in 1850 and the Shropshire Olympian Games that were held in Wellington in 1861. These were the genesis & inspiration for the Modern Olympic Games in 1896 after Baron Pierre de Coubertin (the founder of the International Olympic Committee) visited the Games in Much Wenlock.
The Chair of the St George’s Athletics Committee welcomed Dr Brookes to the event. The Shrewsbury Chronicle reported that:
‘Dr Brookes, in rising to reply, received quite an ovation. He said: “I thank you sincerely for your kindness, to which I am indebted and for the cordial reception you have given me.
I am always glad to be able to be present at these festivals, which in many ways are sources of much pleasure and advantage. There is pleasure in their anticipation, pleasure in their occurrence, and pleasure in their retrospect. They afford pleasure to all classes and to persons of all ages capable of appreciating them.
Although the working man, who discharges his duties conscientiously may truly be called the happy man, for man was made to be active, and he is, therefore, fulfilling his mission, yet he requires occasional recreation and enters into the spirit of these meetings with a zest and a benefit unknown to the idle man, who is greatly to be pitied“.
Nowhere in Dr Brookes’s lengthy speech (the above is the opening section) did he question the awarding of valuable prizes to the competition winners that would be a contradiction to the amateur ethos of the Modern Olympic Games.
To close his speech he proposed a toast:
‘I drink to you health and to the prosperity of St George’s Athletic Society. May it flourish for ages, increasing continually in public estimation and in power and influence for good‘.
And it did.
In 1890, the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News reported the events that would be taking place along with the cash prizes.
The Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News of 16th August 1890 reporting the events taking place in St Georges on 2nd September
The Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News of 23rd August 1890 confirming the availability of cash prizes against the events taking place in St Georges on 2nd September
These Athletic Events continued until 1899 when the Lilleshall Company sold the land to Oakengates Urban District Council. The UDC would use the land to build the housing on the School Street and on Goulbourne Road.
Will Ryder – Penny Farthing Champion of Shropshire
The first cycle races that accompanied the Athletics Events were undertaken on Penny Farthing with local man, Will Ryder, competing across multiple events and years.
In 1938, the Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News ran published an article about Mr Ryder’s achievements.
The Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News article on Will Ryder – published 26th February 1938
Will’s two rides in 1885 at St Georges with one first place and one second were reported in the Shrewsbury Chronicle of 18th September 1885
Race report extracts from the Shrewsbury Chronicle of 18th September 1885
Will’s four races in 1886 at St Georges with three first places and one second were reported in the Wellington Journal and Shrewsbury News of 18th September 1885
Race report extracts from the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News of 11th September 1886
Mr Ryder died in June 1948 and on his death he was still proudly the Penny Farthing Champion of Shropshire
The New Recreation Ground
The Athletic Events however would continue on a new Recreation Ground – the one which is on Church Street. The Lilleshall Company, which owned this land, allowed it to be used for the Athletics and Cycling events before the Company ultimately bequeathed the land to the St George’s Foundation in 1921 for the use for the benefit of the local community.
Note: The Recreation Ground is still managed today as a community resource by the St George’s Recreation Ground and Public Hall Charity.
In 1904, the Wellington Journal & Shrewsbury News of Saturday 10th September reported that:
‘Athletics and Cycling Sports at St Georges – A Record Attendance
Salopians in the manufacturing district of the county are certainly fond of sport. Proof of this is afforded by the large attendance at the annual sports promoted by St George’s and Oakengates Athletic Society.
The twentieth meeting on Tuesday was a record both for the entries and attendance. Over 8,000 people attended the sports, and there were 520 entries.
The ground at St George’s has been greatly improved, and is now admittedly one of the best in the country.
A splendid grandstand has been erected, the track is improving each year, and the enterprise showed by the committee has resulted in St George’s sports has being regarded by athletes and officials alike at the most important held at the back end of the season.’
A photo of a Boy’s race taking place at St Georges Recreation Ground on Church Street in 1905
The St George’s athletic events would continue into the mid-20th Century.
The Ordnance Survey of St Georges in 1925 recorded the athletics tracks with the it being shown across two 25-Inch maps – Shropshire XXXVI sheets 11 and 12.
The Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 Map that was published in 1958 (the survey for this took place pre-1930 to 1954 – the survey would have been interrupted by WWII) shows the Athletics Track on one map.
An extract from the OS 1;10,560 Map that was published in 1958 showing the Athletic Track. Copyright – The National Library of Scotland
Bring Me My Chariots of Fire
This line from William Blake’s poem would be used as the inspiration for the title of the 1981 Oscar winning film – Chariots of Fire.
The film told the the story of two British athletes – Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell – who would compete at the 1924 Paris Olympics and both would win gold for Great Britain.
What isn’t so well known, is that on Saturday 24th May 1924, Harold Abrahams qualified for the Paris Olympics of that year by winning the 100-yard race at the Midland Counties Amateur Athletics Association Championships in St Georges on that cinder track.
Alex Abrahams at the 1924 Paris Olympics
In the weeks before the MCAAA Championships, Abrahams had been in good form. On Monday 5th May 1924 the Athletics News paper carried a report on an event held at Wembley Stadium on the previous weekend:
‘The outstanding performance were those of Harold Abrahams, A.H. Rodway, and J. Dalrymple. The old Light Blue won the fastest of the three heats in the level dash.
Abrahams won the long jump with a fine leap, and went straight to his mark for the final of the level hundred. He was quickest away and kept ahead throughout, winning in glorious style‘.
On the 17th May, he also helped his Athletic Club – Achilles – win against the Royal Military Academy at the Queen’s Club. Again, the Athletics News carried a report:
‘Harold Abrahams assisted Achilles A.C. to win the medley race which was a great effort.
Abrahams had two tries in the Long Jump, 23-ft 11/2-inches and 23-ft 43/4-inches. Either enabled him to win for Achilles A.C‘.
With the MCAAA Championships less than a week away, the Athletics News confirmed that ‘Oakengates is possessed of a really good cinder track, a quarter-mile round and, in addition, a separate sprint path, 18-ft wide’.
Note: Against Oakengates you should read St Georges. The postal districts at the time, would influence the reporting of a place. In the early-20th Century, St Georges fell within the postal district of Oakengates.
The Athletics News confirmed the entry criteria and the events that would feature in the Championships.
However, in the week before the Championships the weather was poor with heavy rain falling on nearly every day. This hindered the work to prepare the cinder track and the grounds. The latter were reported to have been very soft which had a detrimental impact on the run-up for the Long Jump and Pole Vault, and the Discus, Hammer and Javelin throwers struggled to secure sound stances.
A contest between Abrahams and his main rival of the season, W.P. Nichol (of Nottingham), had been highly anticipated. But days before the Championships, Nichol had to withdraw because of an injury. This disappointment, along with the poor weather, was felt to be behind the poor attendance figures at the Championships of less than 3,500 people.
Despite the poor conditions, Abrahams prevailed in the 100-yard sprint. His winning time was 10.1 -seconds; he won by 2.5-yards.
He also won the 220-yards race in a time of 22.6-seconds and the Long Jump (also known as the Broad Jump) with a distance of 22-ft.
Harold Abrahams the long-jumper (date & venue unknown)
The results from all of the events at the MCAAA Championships were reported within the Reynolds News on Sunday 25th May.
The results from the events of the MCAAA Championships held at St Georges on Saturday 24th May 1924.
Not everyone was happy with the outcome of the Championships. The report on the Championships from the Echo Newspaper (of Gloucester) on Monday 26th May, included some sour notes about St Georges:
‘The Midland Counties Amateur Athletic Associations Championships were decided on Saturday afternoon at Oakengates, Salop, under unfavourable conditions, while the ground was not only a poor one, but also badly situated. The local contingent could not get back until day-break on Sunday morning‘.
The Paris Olympics of 1924
Abrahams would, on 7th July, go on to win the Gold medal for the 100-metres at those Paris Olympics. He was the first British athlete to win the Olympic 100-metres gold medal.
He would also win silver in the sprint relay.
Eric Liddell won win gold in the 400-metres race.
Note: the British Championships, e.g. the MCAAA, used Imperial measurements & distances. The Olympics used the Metric equivalents.
Their exploits would be immortalised in the 1981 film ‘Chariots of Fire’ with its Academy Award winning Vangelis soundtrack. The hymn Jerusalem is played at the end of the film during the scenes of Harold Abraham’s funeral.
St Georges Athletics Track disappeared in the later-1950s / early-1960s. This is illustrated by Historic England’s Aerial Photo Explorer hosts aerial photos of St. Georges taken by the USAAF in 1944 and the RAF in 1946 & 1962.
Local-man Peter Bradley (he played cricket for St Georges and football for St Georges JACS) remembers the village’s football pitch being sited in the ground in the middle of the track & next to the sprint path.
Pete recalls that by the 50s / 60s, the track was in poor condition having been left unattended. It was therefore decided to have it covered over with soil before the new Social Club was built.
But the Recreation Ground was & is still used for numerous sports other than Athletics and Cycling as per the charter against which the land was bequeathed to the community.
There was previously tennis courts, at least one gymkhana was held on the ground, and along with the football & cricket there was a children’s playground.
Where the tennis courts once stood is now the site of an all-weather sports pitch. The children’s playground was ripped up, with that area now a hard-standing car-park. But a new playground was built which is sited across the ‘Burma’ road to the rear of the neighbouring St Georges Church.
The original playground included a bandstand. This was dismantled and now stands in Telford Town Park.
The Recreation Ground is still the hub for the local community, used by St Georges Cricket Club, St Georges Crown Green Bowling Club, Telford and Wrekin Hockey Club, a Pigeon Flying Club and with Junior Football Clubs regularly using the ground.
Along with the above sports, the Recreation Ground is used daily by people out & about for a walk; there is an annual Summer festival of music & attractions and a Fireworks event to mark Bonfire Night.
The Sports & Social Club (often attracting the misnomer of the Cricket Club) is a fine venue that has received numerous awards from CAMRA as the local club of the year.
Harold Abrahams would become the doyen of British Athletics. He died in January 1978. In recognition of his connection to St Georges, the Sports & Social Club have a plaque that commemorates his victories at the MCAAA. It includes a replica of the medal that he was awarded for winning the 100-yard sprint.
The plaque at the Social Club was unveiled by Harold Abraham’s daughter – Mrs Sue Pottle – in 2014
History credit to Anthony Rowley