2024 Marks the Centenary of the club. Tony Childs has kindly curated a club history that can be seen below to mark this special occasion. Thank you to Tony for taking the time to put this together.
GGAC History
Godalming and District Athletic Club was founded in 1924 at a meeting at the YMCA in Godalming. The President was Sir John Jervis and the centre of operations Godalming Recreation ground. The club colours were to be black and green (as now) and the annual subscription three shillings and sixpence (in today’s money seventeen pence). The Club badge was to be the woolsack.
Guildford Athletic Club was formed in 1950, sixteen years later and they amalgamated in 1952. Interestingly, Aldershot Athletic Club wasn’t founded until 1965 and amalgamated with Farnham and District Athletic club in 1966. There was a proposal that they should merge with Guildford and Godalming, but Godalming as the oldest club insisted that their name should be in the amalgamated clubs name. Aldershot and Farnham thought this would be a bit of a mouthful so the amalgamation didn’t take place.
In Godalming Museum another minute book of Godalming Athletic Club came to light, dated 1880. The President was Major General Marshall the owner of the Broadwater estate (and also one of the founders of Surrey County Cricket Club). There were three other Marshalls on the committee. Inside was a programme for the eleventh Annual Sports to be held at Broadwater “with full military band in attendance” (maybe the influence of the Major General). Arithmetic shows that if this was the eleventh the first must have probably been in 1869 with the club possibly being formed before that. What happened between 1880 and 1924? My guess is that for some reason, possibly World War One. the club folded and was reborn in 1924.
Initially the new club of Guildford and Godalming Athletic Club trained and competed in Stoke Park, until Guildford Borough Council created a purpose-built cinder (red grass) athletic track at Bannisters Farm.
GGAC at The Spectrum
Until 1990 GGAC trained and competed at Bannister’s Farm. It was a cinder (red gras) track. In 1989 a move was made to replace the cinder with tartan and install floodlights. The residents of Ashenden Road objected and the project was put on hold.
After much political infighting (one councillor lost his seat over it) the site was sold to Tesco with the money to be used for building a leisure centre and track in Stoke Park. The swaying factor was probably the track.
Unfortunately, at the time, Margaret Thatcher’s government decreed that only half the money could be used for the Leisure Centre – the rest must be used to lower the rates. The result was that some things did not happen e.g. the “terraces” had concrete steps but no seats or cover and the clubhouse at Bannister’s was not replaced. There was an interim period of three years when GGAC trained at the Urnfield (the previous sports field of the Royal Grammar School – on the Downs).
The Spectrum and track opened in 1993. GGAC has a letter from Guildford Borough Council written at the time saying that there was no intention of having football in the middle. In1996 GGAC was approached and reluctantly agreed that football could be played on the infield in the winter. In 1997 AFC Burpham (the precursor, after several name changes of Guildford City) applied to move their competition pitch from Sutherland Park to Spectrum. After several meetings an agreement was drawn up re use and it was agreed that, where there was overlap in April and September, GGAC would have priority. After several years the football club said that, in order to compete in the appropriate league, the coming season, the pitch would have to be widened and lengthened by 10 yards. ln order to do this GGAC agreed that the front panel (not gates) of the hammer cage could be hinged (at significant cost to The Spectrum). It was also agreed that in the winter (October to March) the high jump mat could be moved off it’s concrete slabs on to the artificial surface, so long as it was moved back again in April. In order to widen the pitch many of the concrete slabs for judges stands on both sides of the track were removed, and the manhole covers for the irrigation points were re-designed and re-sited. In 2008, due to new regulations, a new hammer cage was required. The old cage (centrally placed for safety) could not be replaced/upgraded due to the necessity to encroach on the football pitch, so the corner cage at the other end was replaced and relocated.
Since then, there have been a number of changes and additions to the surrounding area to satisfy the football authorities and the track was resurfaced in 2019.
In 2023 in order to comply with IAAF regulations and qualify for a Competition Licence the hammer cage was again replaced with a new one.
The Club House
As there was no clubhouse GGAC raised money and applied for a lottery grant. Although it was one of the first applications, due to administrative problems, it was not considered for five years. During that time the goalposts had moved and unfortunately GGAC had not changed their application appropriately. The application was turned down. In the following years a number of plans were submitted to Guildford Borough Council by GGAC, but none came to fruition. In 2004 Spectrum invited GGAC to join them in building a clubhouse at track side and the subsequent building was twice the size, and included medical room, media room, club store and an increased size clubroom. The arrangement was that GGAC would pay half, which at that time was £25000. In addition, GGAC fitted out the kitchen with cupboards, a fridge and wall water heater, and a couch for the medical room. With the clubhouse in place, it became necessary to have a rail fence along the track edge. There would have been one originally but for the government spending restrictions. GGAC paid for half of this. Total GGAC outlay was about £38000 helped by a very generous donation from Chris Ingram who had previously been an athlete, Secretary, Chairman and then President of the Club.
We are still at the Spectrum and look forward to the next hundred years
The Hogs Back Road Race
In 1958 the Club organised the first Hogs Back Road Race.
It initially involved meeting in Guildford and bussing athletes to Farnham in order to run back to Guildford along the A31. There were 80 entries and the distance was 8 miles plus. Subsequently, when the A31 and A3 were upgraded a circular route was inaugurated, starting at Park Barn and finishing at Surrey University. Further changes were necessitated due to upgrading of the A3, finally resulting in a start and finish at Loseley.
Unfortunately, due to event clashes and other factors, the race has not been run since 2021.
In it’s heyday the race had approaching 2000 entries and attracted leading runners from around the country.. The race was listed as one of the top road races in the country and ran for over 50 years except for three occasions , one due to the aforesaid upgrading of the A3, one for the unavailability of a suitable car park and one for the weather.
Some Club Persona
During its history GGAC has had a number of international athletes, including an Olympic gold medallist (Stephanie Cook in the Modern Pentathlon at Sydney in 2000).
Adelle Tracy another famous member of GGAC, who competed for Great Britain before deciding to represent Jamaica, the country to of her birth in 2022. She has subsequently competed in the 2023 world Championships and 2024 Paris Olympics. In 2012 Adelle was one of the young athletes chosen to light the Olympic Flame in London.
Perhaps, however, the most well known club member was Austin Playfoot (an ex-President, who sadly died in 2023). Austin not only carried the Olympic torch in 1948 but also again in 2012. Following the opening ceremony in 2012 the flame had to be relocated from the centre of the arena to one end so that athletics could actually take place. This involved being strapped to a cherry picker carrying a torch and being elevated to the new location. Once again, Austin was the man.
