Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

A.A.A. JUBILEE SOUVENIR This was indeed something to gladden the hearts of those famous athletes who had started the Association on its career. It is interesting to quote the words of the first Hon. Secretary, Mr. Montague Shearman (as he was then), at the Coming-of-Age Dinner of the Association, when referring to the first two Championship Meetings:- " Unfortunately we had a very wet day, or perhaps the Hon. Secretary had not a very good business capacity, and we had a deficit. However, we kept going. I assisted to nurse the infant, and fed him on pens, ink and paper for a year and then we had the Meeting at Birmingham, and the American nation came to our assistance. We had a most successful Meeting: it put us in funds and it made the country and the world at large respect us for the way in which we conducted our Championship Meeting, and from that time until now I do not think we have ever gone one step backwards." The excellent financial position in which the Championship at Bir– mingham in 1881 had placed the Association, as a result ofwhich an invest– ment of £200 in Consols was made (to be sold later on to meet a deficit) would appear for a time to have disposed of the thought which was no doubt present in the minds of the Executive, that the administration expenses ofthe Association were gradually creeping up. It was felt that the Association should put itself in a position to meet such expenses without awaiting the problematical results of the Championships, but having experienced a poor return from the Meeting at Stoke-on-Trent in 1882, and a much poorer result in l 883 at Lillie Bridge, the question of finance was becoming important and a resolution was put forward to the effect that "All Clubs subscribe to the Association £r rs. od. per vote." In proposing this the Hon. Secretary stated that every Club applying for Membership "seemed to expect to pay a subscription," certainly' a very kind way of putting it! However, the necessity was not apparent to the majority, and the motion was lost, but in the following year ( r 884) another resolution was carried, with a limitation of ros. per vote. A proposition at the General Meeting in 1886 to increase this to £1 per vote was lost, but at a Meeting in r 888 a resolution to increase it to £r rs. per vote was carried. At the end of r 887, having suffered a heavy loss on the Championships held at Stourbridge and with practically no surplus from the two previous Championships, the finances of the Association had certainly got into a state which caused the Hon. Treasurer, C. N. Jackson, much anxiety, for the year wound up with a deficit of about £50 and the Consols were sold. No call or "Athletic Rate" appears to have been made to clear this off, but the Northern Counties and Midland Counties Associations each came forward with a grant, and the Southern Committee with a donation, which eased the situation, and with a profit of £104 on the General Championships at Crewe, the end of r 888 showed a surplus of £203, of which £r 80 was represented by" Cash at Bank and on hand." It is interesting to compare the figures in_ the Accounts for r888 with 96