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| TRIBUTES | Added 5 January 2007 |
Peter Harding, a founder member of Walton Athletic Club in 1942, died in St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, Surrey, on November 18 at the age of 83. He had been suffering from cancer.
Harding began his running with a group of friends on the track at Stompond Lane, Walton, which had been completed just before the outbreak of the Second World War. While London was subject to intensive bombing, Walton-on-Thames was, in comparison relatively unaffected and while many tracks were taken over by the military or mothballed, the one at Stompond Lane was open and available.
Encouraged by a local council official, Harding and four friends formed Walton Athletic Club in 1942 and he was founder secretary from then until 1985. His running days were cruelly ended when he was struck down by polio while on his honeymoon but he never lost his enthusiasm for athletics or his club and was a familiar sight at Stompond Lane with a walking stick.
The new club thrived and in the 1950's boasted some of the top athletes in the country including former world 5000m record-holder Chris Chataway, former UK 1500m record-holder Bill Nankeville, four times AAA mile champion in 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1952, 400m international Malcolm Yardley, pole vault international Bert Hopkins, former UK triple jump record-holder Ken Wilmshurst, Irish cross country international Terry Keegan, discus international Mark Pharoh, steeplechase international Tony Llewellyn and Welsh international Bob Roath.
Harding was also closely associated with the Road Runners Club whose founder Ernest Neville lived nearby. Stompond Lane was the venue for a host of ultra-distance track races, in which top runners like Gordon Pirie, Joe Lancaster, Arthur Keily, Mel Batty, Gerry North, Jim Alder and Jim Hogan took part in the 1950's, 1960's and 1970's.
Harding also launched the annual Hewitt-Jones road relay immediately after the war named after two Walton runners who were killed on active service. The relay continued until a few years ago.
Harding ended his direct involvement with the club in 1985 when he resigned as secretary. A little while later other senior officers were ousted by a parents' takeover.
"He was really Walton Athletic Club and helped get the club on its feet and keep it going," said Bruce Judd, who joined Walton in 1949. "It was very sad the way he left the club and after 1985 he never really returned although he did occasionally walk round the track to see what was going on."
Tom Pollak