A major new digital archive preserving more than 45 years of Stroud’s athletics history has been launched – and the club behind it is asking the community to help uncover even more forgotten memories.
The Stroud & District Athletic Club (SADAC), founded in 1979, has unveiled its new online History Archive, a long-term project to safeguard the club’s heritage by digitising fragile photographs, handwritten logbooks, race programmes and other historic records before they disappear forever.
The archive tells the story of one of Gloucestershire’s longest-established athletics clubs, celebrating the volunteers, coaches and athletes who helped shape generations of local runners and competitors.
Among those featured are Jackie Taylor, whose behind-the-scenes work kept the growing club running during the 1980s, pioneering coach Colin Oberlin-Harris, who developed countless young athletes at Archway School, and Bill and Barbara Chandler, whose fundraising and dedication helped establish the club during its formative years.
The website also includes original hand-drawn cross-country course maps, including the demanding “Thirteen Stiles” route laid out around Archway School and Randwick in 1980, alongside detailed histories of landmark events such as the Stroud Half Marathon.
One highlight recalls the 1988-89 season, when the seventh Stroud Half Marathon attracted a then-record field of more than 1,600 runners, cementing its place as one of the county’s premier road races.
Despite years of work digitising the club’s records, organisers believe many important pieces of SADAC’s history remain hidden away in lofts, cupboards and photo albums across the district.
They are now appealing to former members, volunteers, race marshals, supporters and local residents to help complete the collection by sharing old photographs, newspaper cuttings, race programmes, medals, memorabilia and personal memories from the past four decades.
The project aims not only to preserve the history of the athletics club but also to document an important chapter in Stroud’s wider sporting and community heritage.
Anyone with material to contribute can contact the archive team by email at history@stroudac.co.uk or through the submission forms available on the archive website.
