Who we are
We've been running since 1981!
How Frome Running Club was formed
by Alan Berry
Founder members of Frome Running Club are Mike Palfrey, Alan Berry and Mike Rideout
The Beginning
January 11th 1981 was a Sunday. Not only was it a Sunday, it was a beautiful, sunny, Spring-like day that our quirky English weather occasionally throws at us. The fact that it was warm and sunny on that day was very important because that Sunday morning so many years ago was the day of the first meeting of what grew into Frome Running Club.
Really the history of the club goes back several years before that. I moved to Frome in the mid-70s and, because I had always run, I continued to go out for the occasional training run to keep fit. In those days running was a lonely activity. There were no fun runners. Then one evening I saw Mike Palfrey for the first time when our paths quite literally crossed. I was running along Rooks Lane past the tennis courts when I glanced up and saw a runner crossing the junction with Gypsy Lane. By the time that I got to the junction he was out of sight but at least I knew that I was not the only runner in Frome.
Alan Berry in the 1982 London Marathon
Mike Palfrey (In FRC Kit) at the 1982 London Marathon
How the Club came together
It was 1980 and there was a lot of publicity on TV and in the papers about the upcoming first London Marathon and that had triggered off what became known as the "running boom". Mike continued: "Why don't we get these joggers together and form a club. It's much easier to run in a group than on your own." And so the seed of the Running Club was sown.
We managed to secure a grant of £100 from the Sports Council towards expenses, Mike organised the printing of flyers which we put up around town on notice boards and in shops.
As the day neared we arranged for the local paper to send a photographer to record the first gathering of runners, and we also commandeered the services of Mike Rideout, a local runner who ran for Bristol A.C. Mike R's best 10 mile time was 50 minutes and 2 seconds so he was quite an elite athlete.
Picture right : David Tallin another early member at the same event
The first meeting - January 11th 1981
It was a brilliant sunny day, a stroke of luck, had it been an average English January day, cold, wet and miserable, then I am sure that no one would have wanted to leave the warmth of their fireside. The two Mikes and I went to the Sports Centre in plenty of time to welcome anyone who turned up. Did we get our half dozen? We were amazed when nearly 40 people poured through the doors, virtually filling the foyer. They ranged from 6 years old to parents in their forties who had arrived with their children
We had prepared for that fact that we would be splitting those who turned up into fast, medium and slow groups but we were completely overwhelmed by the sheer number. At you can appreciate, those first few minutes were extremely hectic because we knew no-one, we had no idea who ran fast and who ran slow so we had to go round talking to them all to determine how far and how fast they could run.
Picture left : Potential new members turn up for the inaugral meeting
Moving on
It became obvious to us, by talking with the runners, that some of them wanted more than just to go for a jog so we drew up a questionnaire asking what they wanted from the club. Did they want to compete? If so, would it be track, road or cross-country? The overwhelming reply was they wanted more training days and they wanted to run a marathon. As a result we started to meet on Wednesday evenings as well as Sunday mornings. London has a lot to answer for!
We proceeded to go through all the official channels and became a registered club. Very few of our members had any experience of running a club so it was left to me and Mike to be chairman, treasurer, secretary and, indeed, for a while we were the entire committee. We also had to have club colours and to that end we asked people to come up with a distinctive design. The winning design, which we still proudly wear today, was the brainchild of a teenager called Richard Butterfield. Soon after that he went to university
A Thriving club
The club thrived for many years. At one point we had a junior section of about 100 under 18s. By then several members had attained coaching qualifications and our junior sessions were held at Frome College on Monday evenings. It was maintained that the juniors were the future of the club, they would eventually join the senior ranks
At one point because we had people performing on the track and in the field events it was decided to rename the it Frome Athletic Club. This was just in case we had some potential throwers or jumpers in Frome who might think that we just ran.
After a short time we realised that this name change had an unforeseen effect. People were reluctant to join an athletic club because, to them, it sounded rather serious and elite, so we reverted to our original name.
Tough Times
By the late 90s the junior section had collapsed. It was hard to tempt youngsters away from their computer games. The senior section fared little better with the membership dropping. Here is where the next bit of fortune comes in! I met up with co-founder Mike Palfrey by chance.
The question was "Why?" Why should the club be struggling when we still regularly saw people training . Mike & I distributed flyers. When I saw a runner I would stop them and give them a rather sweaty flyer and a brief explanation of what we did and where we were. Most people took the offered literature politely, smiled and no doubt dropped it into the first waste bin that they came too!!!
Before long I had a phone call, then another and another. Slowly, almost painfully slowly, the club grew again. Before long training sessions had grown from the 2 or 3 average to 10, then 15 and eventually, when it climbed to 25 on a single night, I hoped that the corner had been turned.
A Reborn Club
It is a true saying that nothing succeeds like success. The club has kept growing steadily during the past 10 years. I used to ask new members how they came to hear about us. Some said that they saw newspaper reports, others that they had seen our web-site and yet others said that had seen groups which were obviously organised and they wanted to join in.
But attracting new members it only half of the battle. It is more important that we keep them, and that is where the friendliness of the club comes into its own. Anyone new turning up must feel very apprehensive, not knowing if we are an elite athletic club or just a group of joggers, so it is important that we welcome people, talk to them and make them feel part of the club from their very first night.
As I see it, with all the people in the club who are willing to take on jobs, all those who welcome new members, all those who contribute towards the friendliness of the club, then the story of Frome Running Club will run and run.