Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

A.A.A. JUBILEE SOUVENIR to come," and the Secretary of the A.A.U. said: "The thought upper– most in our minds will always be the furtherance of amateur athletics and good sportsmanship and the cementing of our cordial athletic relation– ships." There were two telegrams from their friends in Ireland, and letters of regret at absence from the Hungarian Athletic Association. They had also received an illuminated and framed address from Stock– holm, as follows: "On the day of your Jubilee we present our warmest congratulations, remembering your pioneer work gloriously carried out." Lord Desborough added: "These and many others are very satis– factory tributes to the work done by the A.A.A. in the past fifty years. I do not wish to trespass on what will be placed before you by the hard– working officials of the A.A.A., who have done so much to make the organisation the success it is. I will ask a gentleman who is not himself an athlete but a cricketer, and who is also the immediate past Lord Mayor of London, Sir Kynaston Studd, to address you. He has done much for the youth of this country by directing an organisation which has done a tremendous lot to build up the minds and bodies of those who have been able to take advantage of the Polytechnic Institute, and, perhaps, to help the Amateur Athletic Association. I should also like to say this publicly, and I see a good many gentlemen around me who would wish me to take this opportunity of referring to the matter. I know Mr. Percy Fisher sat up during the weeks of preparation for the Olympic Games in London in 1908 until 3 a.m., and I want to pay this tribute to the Polytechnic– they all stood by us with the utmost loyalty and did much to make the visit of those hundreds of athletes competing in the Games that year a pleasant one, independently of their nationality and claims on the athletic track." Sir Kynaston Studd said it was a great honour to be allowed to propose "Continued success to the A.A.A." He said he had never run in his life-not in the A.A.A. sense of the word-but between the wickets, which was a different game. There were eleven people to entertain the gathering with oratory, and he was to be the first wicket, and if the first wicket made a long stand, the last man was going to have a short stay. He would leave it to the Hon. Secretary to tell them about the work which the Association had done. The A.A.A. had helped clubs like his own Club, the Polytechnic, as well as others, to keep the sport clean, and given them a strong inducement to remain amateur clubs. "For every one champion you get from us you have hundreds of athletes who never will be champions, and yet they have trained from the highest possible motives." When he said that, he remembered that the Polytechnic had provided some of the greatest champions, and this year they held four A.A.A. Championships. If the Polytechnic had not captured them, some of them might have gone to the athletes from abroad. Again, if they wanted an Hon. Treasurer they went to the Polytechnic, and when they required a timekeeper they always had a good one in an old Polytechnic runner, Mr. C. J. Pratt. It was a good thing to be able to say to the 128