Alan Mead Writes

Sadly we must report the death of our Vice President and long-time member Cecil Gittins.  He became unwell on the evening of Wednesday 12th November and passed away before he reached hospital.

Cecil, born on 30 December 1928, was first and foremost a loyal member of Queens Park Harriers, the club he joined as a 17 year-old on 19th September 1946. In 1953, as a race walker, he became a second-claim Belgravian, and for many years was a distinctive figure in our races on the road and track. He was a first rate race walking judge, time-keeper and track judge and one of the kindliest men to be found in club athletics – once one had braved the gruff exterior. For so many years he was one of the mainstays of our officiating teams, quite eccentric at times as he lay on the track to check to see if a walker was lifting or refusing to return his time to the Chief Timekeeper while an announcement was going out over the tannoy. Turning up at our club matches to help, his first question, before any greeting, was, “Do you want me over here (pointing to the time-keeper’s stand) or over there (nodding at the track judges)”. For his services to Belgrave Harriers he was made a Vice President a title no longer bestowed. Cecil travelled extensively to watch major athletic competitions and was well known in officials circles throughout the South of England.

By trade he was an ‘engineer’, as he occasionally mentioned to his closer time-keeping colleagues, but he was also a stalwart of the Liberal Party, always attending party conferences. At our own AGMs he was a stickler for precision always indicating to our officers that although he had a view on some matter, he could not vote because he was ‘second-claim’.

Cecil will be sorely missed.